Sudden Death [Book Review]

Genre - Horror
Year Published - 2016
Length - 121 (digital) pages
Written by Theresa Jacobs

Tagline: "Play if you dare. Once you enter you cannot leave."

Plot Summary:
Death. There's An App For That.
When James’ roommate vanishes, he begins to investigate.
After finding his friend’s phone, frozen, locked in a mysterious game loop, James elicits the help of fellow students to uncover the mystery.
They soon discover that this is no regular game.
What they find is more than a game. Much more.
Whatever you do, don't click ‘download now’, or you’ll be next.

Review:
I first read Theresa Jacobs' "The Followers" in the anthology 'Shrouded Voices'. I loved that story, and I was excited to read what she came up with next. I became even more excited when I read that 'Sudden Death' was written in honor of Richard Laymon. (I would, most likely, read anything written in honor of Laymon!)

Alas, I was let down in disappointment.
'Sudden Death' has a great concept. I just feel that it would have been better written as a script to a supernatural/horror television show than this story.

Rather than immersing me further into the story, the dialogue of the characters (a group of college students) quickly became immensely annoying. On top of that, I felt that there was minimal character development. (Not feeling empathy for the characters was another huge disconnect.) While the story started out with a 'The Ring' kind-of vibe to it, it soon became extremely monotonous, and the plot took a ludicrous leap from point A to point B. (I cannot really explain without spoilers.)

On top of the above, this story could really use some professional editing. Aside from numerous grammatical errors, the font would randomly change color, which again, would take me out of the story.

Having previously read Jacobs' "The Followers" I know that she has some great stories in her. This one just wasn't for me.

Jason