The Mind Game Book

Heartbreak, betrayal, blind animal terror--emotions are events in the brain and the uniqueness of our feelings is one of the things that makes us human; Hector Macdonald's debut thriller The Mind Game is a virtuoso exploration of those emotions. Oxford student Ben finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of happenstance--he is seduced by Cara at a party and Jenny, who loves him, cripples herself attempting suicide; he is asked to participate in an experiment by a don he hero-worships and finds himself shipped off to a Kenyan resort with Cara, a large expense account and sensors picking up his every feeling; he is framed for drugs charges and flung into a hell-hole jail. Ben discovers that there is no fact of which he can be sure, and almost no one whom he can entirely trust--and he swears vengeance on those who have tricked, corrupted and betrayed him. Macdonald's novel is a twisted maze of ambiguous motives and hidden meanings; it is an impressive display of virtuoso plotting and vivid local colour. It is also an intelligent and inventive display of the author's readings in evolutionary psychology and his concerned musings on where science may lead us. --Roz KaveneyRead More