If you can hang in there through the slow beginning and all the flashbacks, this science fiction book is worth reading. This book has it all: mystery, suspense, love, loss, and a huge plot twist. Some plot twists you can see coming as I did this one, but I did not see the full extent of this one. I merely saw the tip of the iceberg so to speak.

At first I thought I would not recommend this book to anyone because of the slow beginning and difficulty understanding who the main character is. For example, throughout the story, there are flashbacks to the Immersion Virtual Reality, IVR, creators which was confusing at first, but then I realized they have a separate story line preceding the main story line of the ones in IVR. After all, they created the school in which the others now attend. Hopefully knowing this tidbit ahead of time help you all. Within the school, it is difficult to know who the main character is because he has amnesia. I like to be able to paint a picture of who my main character is such as personality traits and physical features, but it was difficult to do in this case. However, it does allow the reader to feel like they are discovering who he is at the same time the main character himself is discovering it.

He is Halloween. He is in an IVR, Immersive Virtual Reality, school along with others who are made to be the best and brightest; the future doctors and scientists of the world. However, there seems to be some issues with the program. Take, for instance, Halloween’s amnesia as a result of some power surge. Also, around the same time, another student, Lazarus, goes missing. The virtual headmaster, Maestro, says he graduated. Halloween, who has a morbid fascination with death, feels like he’s been murdered. Simone, Lazarus’s girlfriend, feels as if something bad has happened as well since he never told her bye or that he was graduating.

So the investigation begins. Now we follow Halloween through his investigation of finding out what really happened to Lazarus while still figuring out who he really is and which of the others he can trust.

As the book progressed, I found myself thinking along the same lines as Halloween. Sabotage. Who killed Lazarus? Who tried to kill Halloween? How is this school safe? Halloween and I were not the only ones thinking this way. Throughout the book you’ll see “Pace transmissions” from the security measure, Pace, built into the system. Pace is also investigating to learn what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

Can Pace prevent it? What if nothing is what it seems? What if only Halloween can prevent it by going even further than he ever imagined?

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