Just a wonderful a read as the books the author previously published. The world building and story telling was expertly done. I felt immersed in the story.

J.D. Barker's "A Caller's Game" is a chillingly suspenseful thriller that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The story follows Detective Sam Porter as he investigates a series of gruesome murders linked by a chilling phone call to a mysterious killer. Barker masterfully crafts a complex puzzle, weaving together intricate clues and unsettling twists that leave the reader guessing until the very end. The author's vivid descriptions and gripping prose draw the reader into the dark underbelly of the story, creating a palpable sense of dread. While the pacing can feel a bit uneven at times, the overall intensity and captivating plot more than make up for it. "A Caller's Game" is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers with a healthy dose of gore and suspense.

Fun unique thriller, kept me turning the pages and on the edge of my seat. Would like to read more from this author in the future. Solid thriller!

High octane action! Lots of killing/death. Die Hard vibes to the MAX! Highly entertaining, especially if you like action movies! You have to suspend your disbelief but that's a given with a plot like this. Go with it and enjoy the action packed ride!

This book is action packed, thrilling and very intense but it's quite different from the series that launched his career. It's worth reading, just different, so go in with an open mind if you've read his earlier books.

One of my all time favorite books is by this author so I was so excited to get this book. He is a great writer but this was just not my cup of tea. Not the same type of book at all. This is a hectic, action packed ride. I am sure it will be a hit but just not any thing like The Fourth Monkey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hampton Creek Press for the digital ARC

Sooo good! One of my faves to read! Definitely would recommend picking this one up if you see it in the store!

I enjoyed this action packed thriller. Jordan was an annoying main character but I liked her because she fit the storyline well and was pretty hardcore.

Revenge at it's peak for a game gone very wrong. The killer takes his revenge over the radio!!!

Twists and turns at their best. I really enjoyed this one!

Got a free copy from #netgalley

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker.

Jordan Briggs is a talk show host who pulls no punches and says it how it is. So when she goes to work on a normal day, she has no idea how much everything in her life will change. Bernie has called in, offering to play a game, something that Jordan is eager to brush off as your everyday weirdo, but she has grossly underestimated him. Now people are dying, and Jordan can't understand what landed her at the center of it all.

This one punches right out of the gate. It's witty, exciting, brash, and violent. It did drag a few times, but overall I would say that this is just the ticket if you need a thrill ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

What a well written thrilling ride! Nothing is as it seems in this book. It starts off innocently with a phone call, about an innocent game, but its a lot more than that. It was an entertaining read, and I will read more by this author in future.

ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛɪᴛʟᴇ: A Caller’s Game
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ: J.D. Barker

"𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴."
⠀
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4.2)


Prepare for another action-packed, fast-paced movie in the form of a J.D. Barker suspense story.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘣…

Jordan Briggs as a radio talk show host doesn’t hold back, doesn’t spare feelings, and has no trouble sharing what's on her mind. That made her successful though but her marriage is in ruins and kept at arm’s length with everyone who tries to get close to her. Only her young daughter, Charlotte, matters to her at this point.

One day, when a man calls into her show and asks to play a game where she’s asked to make a choice she thinks nothing of it but a normal start to her day. But this mystery man has other plans.

Live on the air with an audience of millions, what starts out as a game quickly turns deadly—events long thought buried resurface and Jordan Briggs is forced to reconcile with one simple fact—All decisions have consequences.

---------

The first few sentences of the book were a bit confusing to me and I feel disoriented getting into the story. But when I did, I couldn’t put it down! It had, after reading his 4MK series, what I’d now call a Barker movie-l i.e. you’re reading a book but feels like watching a thrilling movie.

And despite what Barker is claiming (Author’s Note), literary popcorn or not there were a whole lot of the characters’ conversations that made me pause for a few seconds and think about life, love, humanity, compassion, integrity, power, corruption, greed, selfishness, forgiveness.

He said he just wanted the readers to enjoy and forget for a moment the heavy thing that their life is, but I wasn’t able to. And it isn’t a bad thing. Not. At. All. This is why I love this ‘literary popcorn’ they call it. It’s sometimes in the most unusual places, or stories, that an epiphany comes to you and I’m for it.

I have to say though that one of the reasons that I had difficulty getting into the story at the beginning had to do with Jordan. Writing a character that doesn’t identify with the same gender or sex with the author is understandably complex and challenging. And this time, it showed in the writing. The intention of the author on how each character developed could be seen and is getting through for most of the characters, except Jordan. There are moments that the writing distracts from her ‘character’ e.g., Jordan is this tough-talking radio woman but she sounds too much like a grumpy old man on radios in some instances.

Nevertheless, this book is something I would recommend. In my opinion, it would be a perfect read when you’re trying to stay awake for a couple of hours, say as a beach or airport read. It will keep you on your toes while you get that perfect tan, or if you need to redirect your annoyance due to flight/train delays.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Wow a good thriller/mystery. I think it is a good book for Halloween Month 🎃!

Such a well written action packed thrill ride! Perfect for fans of action movies. A cat and mouse type thriller filled with terrorists, bombs, corruption and revenge. While I only gave this 3 stars because it was a bit long and drawn out for my taste, it takes nothing away from how much I appreciated this author's skill at writing and accurately delivering "literary popcorn" as he says he's known for.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hampton Creek Press for this DRC.

„My sole purpose is to entertain you“ schreibt J. D. Barker im Nachwort seines Romans „A Caller’s Game“ – und an dieser Mission lässt der Thriller-Autor auch von der ersten Seite an keine Zweifel aufkommen. Dass es in diesem Buch wild und zügig zugeht merkt man nämlich bereits an der ersten Szene mit Radiomoderatorin Jordan Briggs, der zentralen Figur dieser Geschichte. Die Karrierefrau steckt mitten im berüchtigten New Yorker Morgenverkehr, hat nur noch wenige Minuten bis zum Beginn ihrer Sendung und feuert im Angesicht der drohenden Verspätung eine Salve ungebremster Flüche nach der anderen in Richtung ihrer Leidensgenossen im dichten Stau. Die Zeit tickt gnadenlos, irgendwann hat Briggs die Nase voll und lässt ihren Audi A8 einfach mitten auf der Straße stehen und stürmt Richtung Büro – unmittelbar vor den Augen eines verdutzten Streifenpolizisten, dem die unverblümte Dreistigkeit fast die Sprache verschlägt.

Vanity kills the radio star

Zwei Sachen sind nach diesem bemerkenswerten Auftritt klar: J. D. Barker hat es offenbar ebenso eilig wie seine Protagonistin – und Jordan Briggs ist nicht angetreten, um Sympathiepunkte zu sammeln. Genauso rücksichtslos, unverblümt, egoistisch und ungeduldig ist die Frau nämlich auch mit ihren Mitarbeitern und Zuhörern, die sich in ihrer täglichen Sendung ihren Ärger, ihre Sorgen oder sonstige Dinge von der Seele reden können – so lange es Quote bringt, denn entpuppt sich ein Gespräch als zu unspektakulär, werden die Anrufenden schnellstmöglich aus der Leitung geworfen. An diesem Tag hat sich jedoch ein Anrufer entschlossen, es mit der einschüchternden Powerfrau aufzunehmen und will Jordan zu einem verbalen Duell einladen. Die Herausgeforderte ist davon aber wenig angetan, sodass „Bernie“ zu drastischen Mitteln greift, um die gewünschte Aufmerksamkeit zu bekommen: er lässt in den Straßen New Yorks mehrere Taxis auf einen Schlag explodieren.

Yippieh-ya-yeah, Schweinebacke

„I’ve been told I write literary popcorn, and I’m fine with that“ ist ein weiterer Satz aus den Anmerkungen des Autors dieses Werkes und das beschreibt auch schon perfekt das, was J. D. Barker auf den rund 400 Seiten dieses Thrillers abfackelt. Die in die Luft gesprengten Taxis sind nur der Auftakt einer beispiellosen Zerstörungsorgie im „Big Apple“ – wobei „beispiellos“ streng genommen nicht ganz richtig ist. Denn je tiefer man in diese Geschichte eintaucht, umso offenkundiger wird das große Vorbild dieses Buches, das kein geringeres ist als vielleicht die Mutter aller Actionfilme: „Stirb langsam“. Dabei ist „A Caller’s Game“ allerdings keine modernisierte Nacherzählung, sondern vielmehr eine Hommage an die Spielfilmreihe und bedingt sich verschiedener Elemente aus diversen Teilen des Franchise. Die Szenen im Gebäude des Radiosenders erinnern an den berühmten „Nakatomi Plaza“, die brutale Hatz durch New York hat etwas vom „Simon befiehlt“-Spiel des Schurken Gruber im dritten „Stirb langsam“-Film und natürlich darf auch der in Ungnade gefallene Polizist, der im Angesicht der drohenden Katastrophe über sich hinaus wächst, in dieser Story nicht fehlen.

Die 1980er haben angerufen und wollen ihre Action zurück

Das ist vielleicht nicht unbedingt originell und schießt in vielen Momenten auch weit über das Normalmaß eines „realistischen“ Thrillers hinaus, dennoch erfüllt „A Caller’s Game“ ohne Zweifel seinen Zweck und sorgt für laute und kompromisslose Unterhaltung ohne Atempause. Zwar gelingt es J. D. Barker zwischendurch auch immer wieder, ein paar ernste und nachdenkliche Szenen einzubauen, dennoch liegt der Fokus hier eindeutig auf bombastischer Action, bei der man sich wohl keineswegs zufällig in die Hollywoodstreifen der 1980er- und 1990er-Jahre zurückversetzt fühlt – „literary popcorn“ eben. Wem das zu plump ist, der wird mit diesem Buch vermutlich nicht viel Freude haben, wem jedoch der Sinn danach steht, für ein paar Stunden im Kopf mal richtig „die Sau rauszulassen“, der kommt bei J. D. Barker ohne Frage auf seine Kosten. „A Caller’s Game“ ist sicherlich bei weitem nicht ohne Schwächen, nimmt sich aber ebenso wenig zu ernst wie der Autor selbst und das ist irgendwie auch sympathisch – ebenso wie Barkers sehr menschliches und lesenswertes Nachwort zu diesem Buch, das unter den Eindrücken der ersten Wochen der COVID19-Pandemie entstanden ist.

Do you listen to podcasts where you can call in and ask questions ? After reading this book I’m not sure I would ever listen to another one! This one is driven by the most demented caller ever, with the most sickening and devilish demands. As the book goes on they just get worse. You want to put the book down but you just can’t. I wish you luck! You have written a very warped book!

I want to thank Net Galley for the copy in exchange for my opinion. I wished I had read more of the reviews before i requested this book. I don't care for shock jock radio. At all. Can't stand it. the fact this this book is centered around a female version of Howard Stern makes me dislike it even more. I also did not care for the way the 11 year old daughter was written. The only person that was kinda interesting to me was Cole, the cop. But the book starts out with him in trouble and half way through I still have no idea why? I am at the half way point and I am done. I do not care for this at all.

This was a pretty exciting ride. I liked the originality of the storyline as well. I will definitely be looking into more from this author.

A radio station presenter is posed a question by one of the callers if she is ready to play a game and thus begins the heart racing thriller – there’s never a dull moment in this book, mind blowing!!

4.5 Stars. A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker is another exciting thriller. Jordan Briggs, an obnoxious and controversial radio host finds herself in danger after a caller sets a dangerous game in motion. Jordan and her daughter find themselves in the fight for their lives. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital copy.

I'm going to offer you a choice.

Those simple words start a high octane deadly game. As is usual with this author, the reader is taken on a ride at breakneck speed with plenty of twisted plots.

I LOVE this author's writing and have read all his books so far. He creates believable characters and draws you in until you are there in every heart stopping moment, at every cliff hanger, your blood pounding with every thrill. What's not to love when a book does that to you? Coupled with brilliant writing, this book has it all.

Thank you JD Barker for yet another brilliant read.