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The Savior's Game    by Sean Chercover Amazon.com order for
Savior's Game
by Sean Chercover
Order:  USA  Can
St. Martin's, 2017 (2017)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD
* * *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

It's always a challenge to jump into a series when you've missed the earlier books, which was the case here for me. The Savior's Game (following The Trinity Game and The Devil's Game) is the third episode in Sean Chercover's Daniel Byrne trilogy.

Daniel Byrne used to be a Vatican investigator of miracle claims. He debunked them, until case #722, that of his estranged TV evangelist uncle, a con man. Speaking in tongues, Reverend Tim Trinity predicted the future, and he got it right. How? The new phenomenon, called Anomalous Information Transfer (AIT), spread to thousands around the world.

The aim of the Council for World Peace was to monopolize AIT. After they sent Conrad Winter to kill Trinity, Daniel was recruited by the Fleur-de-Lis Foundation, under Carter Ames. Their mission was to stop the Council from doing more harm. Daniel quit after killing Winter. He loved physician Kara Singh, who had kept journals of six years worth of voices in her head. She was attacked, her building torched, and is now officially dead.

As The Savior's Game opens, Daniel has visions of his own. He moves between his own world and a parallel one. Others who have crossed over call it Source, and it operates under different rules. Unfortunately, killers are after him in both worlds. Fleeing assassins, he gradually learns more of the workings of Source from archaeology professor Dana Cameron.

Daniel's best friend Pat expounds a dark view of our world: 'Planet's getting hotter, less arable land, pretty soon we gonna have water refugees on our doorstep, and we're still burning dead dinosaurs to run our machines. There's gonna be a disease pandemic in the next century 'cause we destroyed antibiotics ... look at the villains and con artists running for high office. And winning.' Hard to disagree.

After an earthquake is engineered to destroy a major US city, Daniel finally learns who is behind it, and why - and it's a shocker. Can he stop the triggering of global war? This is an extraordinary SF thriller, and I just might have to acquire the first two episodes, to read it all the way through!

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