Tag You’re Dead
by J.C. Lane, a pen name for Judy Clemens, is a riveting thriller.
She takes the playground game and evolves it to fit into today’s
technology-oriented society. Readers might relate to this
as a darker version of the very popular new game, Pokeman
Go.
This is a game where the stakes could not be any higher, considering
the runners’ lives are at risk. It will play into people’s
worst fears, since it seems very plausible how someone can
be kidnapped and forced to run for their life by some mysterious
person in the Internet age. In this story, there are three
“runners” and three “its.” Almost
like a cat and mouse game where three are on the run as prey
and three are the pursuers on the chase.
When asked about the plot being open ended, Lane commented,
“At this point it’s just a standalone. I wanted
to write a book in the same mode as The Hunger Games
with a life and death scenario. My husband, a Physical Education
teacher was telling me about the type of games his students
play, including tag. I thought how could that game happen
in today’s technology world?”
The protagonists are likeable while the antagonists appear
to be psychopaths of sort. The “Its” are Brandy,
obsessed with destroying a naturally beautiful girl; Robert,
wanting to target his fellow teammate, a superstar of the
high school basketball team; and Charles, a brainiac who wants
a game with an intellectual equal. They are vicious and rich
people, unsatisfied with their own lives, who need something
to feel better about themselves.
On the other hand, the “runners” have a rich and
satisfied life. Laura is a sweet, caring teenager who makes
friends easily; Tyrese is an all-star basketball player who
has street smarts; Amanda is a geeky gamer extraordinaire.
With their lives on the line, they use their skills to win
the game, to reach home base first. What makes the story interesting
is how these three respond to the challenges placed upon them,
each in their own way.
Chicago is the setting where the game takes place. It becomes
a secondary character of sorts. Lane uses the city’s
landmarks to enhance the story. The author noted, “I
have always loved Chicago. I grew up in northern Indiana,
so when our family went to “the city,” it was
Chicago, where we visited. I also lived in Evanston for a
year while my dad was getting his doctorate at Northwestern
University, so I have good memories from that time. A few
years ago my husband took me to Chicago to celebrate my birthday,
and we stayed at The Palmer House, a National Historical Landmark
hotel, went to a play, and attended a recording session of
my favorite NPR show, ‘Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell
Me.’ The trip was a reminder of how much I love the
city, and when the idea for this story came to me, Chicago
was automatically the place I wanted it to be set. The characters
end up in so many of my favorite places, including the Adler
Planetarium, Wrigley Field, and the Art Institute, just to
name a few.”
As the story progresses the old cliché applies, money
can’t buy you happiness. This story definitely puts
a new spin on the old playground game of tag. It is the race
against time, which will make the reader frantically turn
the pages, wanting to find out what happens at the finish
line.
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