Book review: The Dying Game by Asa Avdic

The Dying Game by Asa Avdic (first published in 2017 by Penguin Random House)

This is a story that feels cold from the get-go. From the cover to the complex and creepy/eerie nature of the world(s) Avdic creates, navigating between the harshness, almost inhumane environment and the hope that the protagonist can be figured out, is perhaps one’s biggest challenge.

From our initial introduction to mid-30s Anna Francis, a seemingly brilliant yet emotionless workaholic with a 9-year-old daughter who she ‘sometimes visits’, we are gripped by the lingering feeling that there’s always something that’s not said.

Thus, we are always kept wondering and wanting more clarity.

Brought to a small island, Isola, to participate in a 48-hour challenge along with 6 other recruits, she is briefed to ‘play dead’ while the others are observed reacting to her suspicious death.

A secret assignment designed to test them to their limits, Anna and her colleague Henry soon realise they might also be in on the joke.

Were they also brought there under false pretences? Why test them – and for what? Why keep them out of the loop when they are supposed to be the ones ‘behind the scenes’, watching from the outside in.   

You’ll enter a unique world where the idea of a paradigm shift is never far from one’s mind, so stay awake and aware.

There is a constant struggle in this novel between perception and reality as we are constantly given two versions of the same event.

A riveting and an excellent read for those who enjoy entering a world where psychological torture is but a game.

Purchase a copy of the book from Loot.co.za

WATCH: The Dying Game trailer