The Games by Ted Kosmatka (book review)

‘The Games’ was the first novel by prolific short form author Ted Kosmatka. First novels are always interesting. Will this author make mistakes or will they spring perfectly formed into the long format? Anyway, the cover proudly announces ‘Blends the best of Crichton and Koontz’ being a quote from ‘Publishers Weekly’. A bold announcement to be certain. This reviewer has read Michael Crichton, but not so much as Dean Koontz. The cover on my review tradeback copy shows a double helix in front of an arena with the tagline ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger, Deadlier’. Hmm, could this novel be that rarest of things, a biological SF?

Indeed, a quick search of the Internet highlights that, as well as writing fiction, Kosmatka also writes for video games and, in his other life, been employed as a `laboratory research drone’ and, oh boy, it does show in the writing. Your intrepid reviewer has, in the dim and distant past, graduated in biochemistry. So, when I read terms like ‘affinity chromatography’, ‘restriction enzymes’ and ‘stain the newly attenuated DNA with ethidium bromide’, I tend to sit up and take notice. Occasionally, Kostmatka likes to dazzle the reader with terminology that only microbiologists are likely to make much sense of. Luckily, this only happens maybe three times so hopefully this lends the text an erudite verisimilitude.

It is certainly fair to say that Kostmatka can weave a near future tale with a lot of solid reality to it. In this way he can indeed be compared to Crichton. The tale itself is mostly told from the point of view of Dr. Silas Williams, who is the director of the USA’s Olympic Commission for genetically engineered gladiators. The Olympic Commission has solved the problem of genetic engineering and the application to sports by creating a whole brand-new category of contest.

While naturally talented athletes compete on the usual games each participating country is invited to genetically engineer a creature using only non-human DNA which will compete in lethal fashion against the other entries. The US has won this competition handily for three years. Last year, the US entry outlived the Chinese one by 47 seconds, a critical time but a win nonetheless. This year, the Chinese entry appears to be formidable and Stephen Baskov, US Olympic commissioner and Silas’ boss, has told Silas that they cannot lose under any circumstance due to the political and financial conditions. So how to ensure a win by taking things to the next level?

Enter Evan Chandler. He is written the way most autistic people tend to view themselves, your reviewer was only diagnosed thus seven years ago. Thoroughly backward in some ways and a total genius in others. Chandler struggles to count to 20 but has a genius for looking at computers in a totally new way. With government sponsorship, he has built the Brannin device which is a new kind of computer that Chandler interfaces with via a VR setup. Chandler keeps secrets about what the Brannin device really is doing. So the Olympic Commission gives a bunch of parameters, the last of which is ‘Design us a creature that can survive the games’. The Brannin computer dutifully spews out a set of DNA to express. DNA that births a truly nightmare entry for the games which confuses the scientists due to the excess of unexpressed DNA the creature seems to have.

Other characters come and go, notably Vidonia Joāo, a xenobioligist roped in to try and work out exactly what the Brannin device has designed. Vidonia quickly adds a helpful extra angle on the scientists’ research which demonstrates a very practical nature. After a while, the relationship between Silas and Vidonia warms up but luckily Kostmatka knows not to force this. In fact, Kostmatka does have the happy knack to make each phase of the story seem to naturally flow in a logical and reasonable manner.

In general, the whole book feels realistic and solid. As events take their inevitable course, Kostmatka builds the tension in a skilful fashion. The characters are well-defined and realistically proportioned. It is fair to say that there is no direct villain in the tale and even the pushy Baskov only seems so driven by his focus on success that he ignores the glaringly obvious dangers right in front of him. The gladiator itself is terrifying to be sure but the reader always has the sense that it is simply doing what it was designed to do without malice aforethought.

So am I going to give this book a glowingly positive recommendation? Alas, not quite. Impressive a debut novel from 2012 that this is, unfortunately Kostmatka makes a fatal mistake towards the end. I think this is because Kostmatka has, up until that point, only written short form pieces. In a short story, the reader is not going to attach themselves overly to the characters and so you can use and abuse them as you like according to the whims of the plot. However, in the longer form, the reader is going to start to invest in the characters, especially those that we spend a lot of time with. Without wanting to spoil the book, one of the main characters, who will remain nameless, dies at the climax in a fairly heroic manner. Kostmatka is a good enough writer that I did not see this foreshadowed even though the circumstance seemed dire. As such, this turn of events jarred my involvement, right when I should have been most glued to the text. Alas, this has marred my enjoyment of this novel.

However, I am aware this was Kostmatka’s first novel and that he has written two more since. Given the obvious skill the Kostmatka has to write text with a deep and affecting realism it might well be worth checking out some of his other works. But those works need to be conscious of the reader’s investment in order to fully succeed.

So, in conclusion, this is a reasonably thrilling tale with biological verisimilitude and those don’t come along too often. I think the comparison with Crichton is fair as this is a similar deal and close to Crichton’s level. No mean feat in a first novel. Just keep in mind that if you want to read this book, don’t invest too heavily in any of the beautifully portrayed characters lest yea be suddenly disappointed.

Dave Corby

August 2024

(pub: Titan Books, 2012. 420 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-78116-414-3)

check out websites: www.titanbooks.com