David Morrell, Scavenger

Scavenger

David Morrell

Vanguard Press, March 2007, $24.95, 368 pp.

ISBN 1593154410

When a hand written invitation to attend a lecture on time capsules given by the Manhattan History Club arrives, Frank Balenger and his live-in lover Amanda decide to go. During the lecture, people start getting up and leaving in the middle of the speech; Frank zones out and wakes up in Asbury Park, and Amanda is nowhere to be found.

She awakens in a house in the middle of nowhere, while the same speech given by the lecturer is playing. Four other people are with her, and in one way or another they are all heroes. The game master expects them to go on an obstacle race and scavenger hunt, and find the time capsule, the Sepulcher of the World if they want to live. The game master has ways of keeping track of them, and is able to kill them long distance if they don't obey the rules. While they race against time to find the time capsule, Frank is following clues that will lead to Amanda if he deciphers them correctly. Their goal is getting out alive before the game master's time limit expires.

David Morrell is a thriller writer on a par with Dean Koontz, Greg Iles and P.J. Tracy. His protagonists are ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances, but they are determined and strong-willed enough to help each other survive the game. The author writes about characters under fire, and how it brings out the best in some and the worst in others. There is plenty of action in this fast paced, pulse thumping powerful thriller.