In the second installment in a new international thriller trilogy, a young man is on the run to escape a “game” that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. Murder is such a buzz kill. . . . It’s been four months since HP Pettersson was dragged into a ruthless Alternate Reality Game that nearly cost him his life. Although he now has everything he ever wished for—freedom, money, and no responsibilities—he isn’t satisfied. He’s plagued by insomnia and paranoia, and misses the adrenaline rush of the Game. He misses the attention. At times, he even hopes the Game Master will find him. And when HP catches the eye of a rich and powerful CEO for all the wrong reasons, he may get his wish. But he quickly learns that sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for . . . Following the events of Game (2013), the first volume in de la Motte’s crime-fiction ­trilogy, HP Pettersson is on the run. And with good reason. After he learned that the mysterious Game, a sort of real-world role-playing exercise, wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, HP cleaned out the Game’s bank account as payback for all the misery he’d been forced to inflict on innocent people. Now he’s flitting around the world, living under various assumed names, trying to find someplace where the Game can’t find him—and, oh boy, do they want to find him. In Dubai, HP hooks up with a beautiful woman who almost immediately vanishes. Believing this could be the Game’s way of getting its revenge, HP determines to find out what happened to the woman. The English translation, again by Neil Smith, is smoother and more colloquial than Game’s. The story here is just as exciting as in the first book, and the prose itself is more fluid. A definite improvement on its predecessor and reason to look forward to volume three. --David Pitt “Incessantly astonishing.” ― Sydsvenskan (Sweden) “Anders de la Motte [is] among the bright spots in contemporary Swedish crime fiction.” ― Dagbladet (Norway) “The plot is so well crafted and effective that it keeps you enthralled until the very last page.” ― Politiken (Denmark) “Relentlessly escalating intensity and suspense.” ― Boras Tidning (Sweden) “As the dual story lines pinball off one another, the author, an IT security consultant, provides an insider’s peek at stealth corporate manipulation of social media while maximizing the rush of this heady, hallucinatory trip.” ― Publishers Weekly “The story here is just as exciting as in the first book, and the prose itself is more fluid. A definite reason to look forward to volume three.” ― Booklist “The Game Trilogy continues to be one of the best tech thrillers currently around.” ― The Novel Pursuit Anders de la Motte, a former police officer, made his debut in 2010 with the award-winning thriller Game and has since then been one of Sweden’s most beloved and popular crime writers. He is the author of several acclaimed and bestselling crime fiction series, among them the suspenseful Skåne Quartet. The Rust Forest is the third installment in his bestselling Leo Asker series. Buzz 1 NEVERLANDS HE WAS ON her in two quick strides. She didn’t even have time to react before he had dragged her out of her chair. Her back against the wall, one of his hands in an unshakeable stranglehold around her throat—so hard that the tips of her toes began to lift from the soft carpet. There was a clatter of porcelain and gasps of horror from the other diners—but he didn’t care. The lounge was on the sixth floor and it would be at least three minutes before the security staff got there. And three minutes were more than enough for him to do what he had to. She was gurgling, desperately trying to ease his grip, but he tightened it instead and felt her resistance draining away. The color of her immaculately made-up face dropped from bright red to chalk white in a matter of seconds, suddenly matching her little pale suit. Blond businesswoman—my ass! He released his grip enough to let a small amount of blood reach her brain, while he fumbled for the object on the table with his free hand. A sudden badly aimed kick at his crotch made him jerk, but she’d lost one of her shoes and without Jimmy Choo’s help the kick wasn’t hard enough to make him loosen his grip. He tightened it again and pressed his face right next to hers. The terror in her eyes was oddly satisfying. “How the fuck did you find me?” he hissed, holding the cell up in front of her eyes. A shiny silvery object with a glass touch screen. Suddenly the phone burst into life. Out of reflex he held it farther away from him, and to his surprise saw his own face reflected in the screen. Staring, bulging eyes, sweaty, bright-red face. The cell must have a camera on the other side because when he moved his hand her terrified, pale face moved into the shot. Beauty and the blasted beast, in podcast! Totally fucking mad! What the hell was he actually doing? He was supposed to be a superhero, a savior of