Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Reviews
Book Review: Echo's Revenge
By Sandy Amazeen May 1, 2012, 2:25 GMT
Fourteen-year-old Reggie and his eleven-year-old brother Jeremy lived in constant fear of their mother’s abusive live-in boyfriend Asa and frequently sought escape within the safe confines of the on-line video game Echo’s Revenge. Shortly after achieving Master’s status in the game, Reggie is invited to a meeting at the game’s corporate headquarters to add his input into an upcoming version of the Echo. Reggie defies Asa’s orders to the contrary and attends the meeting. When Asa discovers the deception, his attack on the boys is so vicious they run away from home in Meadowbrook, Washington, determined to live with their biological father in Pasadena, California. At first, luck seemed with them as they hitchhiked their way south down the freeway but soon the boys discovered several Echo’s Revenge gamers had been kidnapped and they are likely to be next.
Making steady use of his laptop, Reggie kept up with the news and realized they needed to get away from the freeway if they were to avoid becoming the next victims. For all the careful planning, nothing could have prepared them for the grim discovery that their hunter was none other then Echo, the top predator from the video game made real. With all his superhuman abilities and strength, Echo had no trouble keeping over seventy kidnapped gamers working deep underground on a massive scheme. The rules of the game have changed and the brothers will have to rely upon each other like never before if they are to come out of the mountain alive.
Written under the pseudonym of gaming investigator Sean Austin, Hart Getzen has created a terrifying tale that will appeal to young male gamers. Reggie and Jeremy are wonderful characters as they support and come to rely on each other throughout the story. The shockers are a scary touch that assist Echo’s diabolical plans. All manner of technologies and secret research projects add a cutting edge feel to this graphic illustration of how instant connectivity may not always be a good thing.
