Life Hack - S. J. Wills

 

Playing Apocalypta is something Jay loves to do, so when he finds the ultimate cheat code (Life Hack), he jumps at the chance to get ahead of everybody else; however, Jay slowly starts to realise that something is wrong.  Wounds he received in the game start appearing on his actual body; his friend has vanished; and his world begins to look exactly like the post-apocalyptic world from inside his computer game.  The only thing Jay can do is to uninstall the cheat code, but this could be the most dangerous challenge yet.

I'm a huge fam of S. J. Wills books (you'll find reviews for the Bite Risk series and Python on my blog) so discovering that she had written a book for Barrington Stoke put the biggest smile on my face!

Jay's world revolves around his favourite game but things really do take a very dark turn when he installs the cheat code.  Things happen slowly at first, so he doesn't realise what's happening, but the more things change, the more he realises that something is very wrong.  In a world where playing computer games is an everyday occurrence for many, this book subtly reminds readers of the dangers of installing unknown elements onto devices, as well as the dangers of becoming too consumed by a game.  Although this is a sci-fi book, it felt scarily believable in paces and is a completely gripping read.

At 71 pages, the book packs a punch and Life Hack is a book I know will be in demand as soon as it hits my office library in school.