I found this book almost unreadable because of the formatting and grammatical and spelling errors. Is it a first draft? Im surprised an author of this calibre would release this version.

A pager turner with good characters, well-written characters, and most importantly an interesting, solid plot. I'm not a very avid gamer but I do play certain games and I enjoyed the descriptions and the details. I liked Colter Shaw, who is a glorified bounty hunter, but unlike bounty hunters doesn't hunt criminals but tries to collect rewards by finding missing people. I enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next book in the series, A big thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for giving me this book in exchange of my hones review.

I read the first few of Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme books back in the 1990s/early 2000s and really liked them. I was also a big fan of his WW2 thriller ‘Garden of Beasts’. I was excited, then, to read ‘The Never Game’, which is being touted as the first in a new series from him. Unfortunately, my excitement was misplaced. 20 years ago, ‘The Bone Collector’ felt fresh and compelling; by comparison, ‘The Never Game’ is tired and distinctly uninvolving.
The plot is okay, but no more than that. Someone is kidnapping upstanding citizens and imprisoning them in bizarre locales where they have a slim chance of escaping. Deaver’s new hero, Colter Shaw, is an investigator who finds missing persons for a reward. He’s also a slightly weird survivalist type with a lot of back story and a bad case of much better at most things than anyone else. In other words, he’s like the heroes of a thousand other low rent thrillers. That’s disappointing, because Lincoln Rhyme was such a great creation, by comparison Shaw is massively uninteresting.
The kidnappings are linked in some way to a popular video game, and the book ends up adopting a structure similar to levels in a game. This was reasonably successful, but the overload of information about gaming that accompanies it was not. It feels like Deaver decided that the video game industry would make a good backdrop for a mystery, set his researcher off to find out about it, and then felt compelled to use every single fact they came back with, whether it was relevant to the plot or not. We end up with tonnes of detail which slows the story down.
I feel like I often end up saying this in my reviews, but I think a good editor could have tightened it up enough that I’d have enjoyed it more. That wouldn’t have solved the problems with Shaw, but it might at least have meant that I got to the end of the book actually caring whodunnit.

Start of a new series for J Deaver with the reward seeker Coulter Shaw. Interesting character with good back story that has only scratched the surface. Book has lots of red herrings which keep you guessing until the end. Good focus on real world stories with some subtle political references. We you like Jack Reacher you will enjoy this book. I look forward to next instalment.

Sadly I never made it past the 1st chapter as the formatting was askew, thus I'm unable to post a review.

Jeffrey Deaver thriller, engaging and a bit different.

Colter Shaw (not a policeman, nor a bounty hunter but a collector of rewards) gets involved in a kidnapping and rescue attempts. The plot includes a lot of interesting well-fleshed out characters, some trustworthy, others less so. From survivalism to video gaming, it covers a variety of topics and can get quite complicated. It’s engaging writing and an enjoyable story. Any fan of the author should find the book worth a look - as I did. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well written (as you’d expect from this author) book with a difference. I struggled with it, mainly due to my not having any interest in the world of gaming. However, I’m sure it will be enjoyed by those who do, as well as by his legion of fans and I wish it every success.

Many thanks for the opportunity to preview.

I am a fan of Deaver's books, particularly Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance, and I could certainly feel his style in The Never Game. Because I know his work, I knew the obvious culprit wouldn't end up being the culprit, nor the next obvious culprit, and so on and expected a few twists on that and got them. Overall, I liked this book. I did find it a tad hard to get into, and the formatting was terrible so I had to reread many bits when words were jammed together, but the latter is not going to be an issue when the book is out (one hopes). The former, though... It wasn't the dire situation at the get-go, which of course became the frame—present leading to how we got here and then how it's resolved—it was what followed that dire situation, and again, just at the beginning of the story. It took a while, but once I got into it, I was into it. And although I've played very few video games and nothing in the last 15 years, I could follow all the computer and gaming lingo and I thought Deaver did a good job of explaining it by repeating it and describing what's what. The gaming details might not be to everyone's taste, but they were fine for me. I think Colter Shaw will be a good character as the author writes more in the series and gets closer to him. Looking forward to the next one.

I didn’t get off to a great start with this book, as it wasn’t properly formatted, making it very hard to read. However, I persevered, but unfortunately my efforts were not rewarded. Colter Shaw is a two-dimensional, unrealistic character, who appears to have an unfortunate fixation with expensive writing tools. The story is rather tedious, with too-long passages, which will only be of interested to gamers. I found the whole book far-fetched, and certainly won’t be rushing to read another Colter Shaw story. Thank you to Galley and Harper Collins for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review

This is the first book in the Colter Shaw series by author Jeffery Deaver. I am a an avid reader of this authors novels and love the Lincoln Rhyme series so was keen to read this new one. I enjoyed the new character investigator Colter Shaw, who I am sure will develop in time to another excellent addition to Jeffery Deaver's repertoire. But tbh I struggled getting into the plot in this book, I am not into video games etc and couldn't really connect with the story-line. Colter Shaw however shows great promise and there are lots of sub plots and secrets to let loose there. Not for me this time but will continue to read the series in the future as enjoy not only the authors writing but also Colter Shaw.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Harper Collins for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by Jeffery Deaver and I quite enjoyed it it was a fast paced thriller and the start of a new series featuring Colter Shaw who is a interesting character with a lot of issues from his past to deal with, a guy who looks for missing people for the the reward money which makes for a pleasant change from the norm. I guess for me the issue I have is that I prefer British thrillers mainly and found at times this book a little hard to connect with made all the harder with the awful formatting of the arc but I persevered and on the whole thought it was a good read and I am sure others will enjoy it more.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved Jeffrey Deaver’s previous books & was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review this introduction to a new series.

Sadly for me this didn’t live up to expectations. There were many editing errors that stopped the flow of the story as I had to pause to surmise what the correct sentence should be.

The new character is interesting and intriguing so I’d definitely read the next book in the series even though this one wasn’t to my taste.

I have a new series to enjoy! The premise of this book sounded so exciting, i wasn't sure the story could live up to it but it definitely did. Colter Shaw is a great character i found fascinating and seeing how his childhood shaped the man he is today and what he chooses to do. The female characters were very well written and i enjoyed the interactions between Colter and Maddie as well as his working with Detective Standish. I'm not a gamer and there is a heavy gamer element to the book but i didn't struggle to follow it as Deaver's explanation were very good. I look forward to the next in the series.

Jeffery Deaver is the master of mis-direct and twisty. Time and again the reader (and the characters) thinks they have it all worked out, not so. In all his books he creates unique, plausible characters who you care about. He also describes industries and settings in such a way that you are gripped by things you might previously have thought you had no interest in and this serves to make you understand obsessions and motivations of both heroes and villains. Don't start this book unless you have
time to finish it as you will not want to put it down. Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me with this free ARC which I greatly enjoyed.

"The Never Game" is the first in a brand new investigative series written by renowned thriller writer Jeffrey Deaver and featuring a fabulous new character 'Colter Shaw'. Shaw is an itinerant 'reward-seeker', someone who finds missing people in return for the reward money and makes a refreshing change to the run of the mill, private investigator/bounty hunter stories that normally relate in the hunt for missing persons. Shaw is an exceedingly well developed character and Deaver's precise attention to detail is totally remarkable and unlike any other author indeed. The descriptions of the locations featuring in the story allow for perfect clarity of vision and the way the story is told in such immense detail, you immediately feel a part of the intriguing story and know exactly what is going on in each intelligently written chapter.
There's plenty of information on Shaw's background to keep you intrigued and I look forward to learning more about him in future books. He’s a trained survivalist (not ex cop or military), quietly spoken, strong both mentally and physically, has personal standards, empathy and respects other people regardless of their stature. His trademark way of attempting to solve crimes and dangerous situations by assessing percentages relating to each circumstance is very clever and typical of a Deaver character.
Jeffrey Deaver really is one of the best thriller writers in town and I have personally been a fan of his intellectual crime stories for many, many years. I suspect Colter Shaw will be another iconic character like the author’s other very successful character - Lincoln Rhymes- and I look forward immensely to following this series further.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its complex plot and engaging characters. It also offered something of an insight into the video gaming industry, past and present, and took a realistic look at where things might be heading.

The book introduces a fascinating new character called Colton Shaw, raised in the wilderness by survivalist yet academic parents. As a result, Colton has unique skills and insights which make him ideal for his chosen career as a finder of missing persons and reward hunter. His character is the best thing about this book - he has a heart and morals, but is quite able to take decisive action and deal with the bad guys as necessary. He's an expert tracker and knows a lot about forensics and psychology.

There is a very strong sub-plot about Colton's father - how and why he died, and the big secret he took with him, leaving only clues. So much more to be revealed! I'd happily read the next in the series as it's so intriguing.

Having read Captivated, the introduction to this series with Colter Shaw as the main character. My apologies to Mr Deaver but Colter Shaw is no match for his previous books.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK for the ARC.
This was a fascinating and enjoyable read and so glad this is a start of a series - it's going to be just soooooo good!
Colter Shaw is a man of (as yet) undisclosed private means. He earns money by finding people in return for offered rewards - but he has a heart and a certain integrity which means he'll accept lengthy payment plans or waive a reward entirely if he feels it's the right thing to do. Raised on a vast 'compound' by previously academic but turned-survivalist parents with his brother and sister, Colt has been trained in bush-craft and wilderness survival skills by his father Ashton. He now travels the country in his RV pursuing any investigation taking his interest, but with a unique skill of assigning percentages to the likelihood of actions and scenarios.

It all begins to kick-off in Silicon Valley where a 19yr-old student, Sophie Mulliner, has been abducted. Her father, Frank, has offered a $10,000 reward. A keen bike-rider, she was last seen at a local café where, like everyone in Silicon Valley, customers are glued to their laptops. With the police not appearing to investigate Colt does their job for them, ultimately leading to an abandoned warehouse.
In the same area another kidnapping takes place, of a blogger; now working closely with the police, Colt's investigation leads this time to a forested area.
A further kidnapping occurs, leading to a slowly-sinking ship in the harbour.

We are led through twists, turns and red-herrings and taken into the world of computer gaming, fake news and possible election-rigging. We really get the picture of gaming-obsessed people, the tech giants who produce them and the amount of money involved.

What's the connection between the kidnappings and the provision of specific helpful items at each scene? Can Colt get it worked-out to avoid a death?

A mystery of a back-story is also developed around the death of Colt's father Ashton, and I'm certainly looking forward to being able to follow that through in the future series.

Yes, I really like Colt Shaw and his unique mind.

Big fan of Jeffrey Deaver, but this copy must be in the very early stages. The number of spelling and grammar mistakes and the randomness to the line spacing on the first few pages has put me off already. I’d rather wait for the final issue to be released.