Introduction

Former topnotch attorney Parker Stern, still crippled by courtroom stage fright, takes on a dicey case for an elusive video game designer known to the world only by the name of "Poniard."  In Poniard's blockbuster online video game, Abduction!, a real-life movie mogul is charged with kidnapping and murdering a beautiful actress who disappeared in the 1980s. Predictably, the mogul--William "the Conqueror" Bishop--has responded with a libel lawsuit. Now it's up to Parker to defend the game designer in the suit.

In defending Poniard, Parker discovers that people aren't who they claim to be and that nothing is as it seems. At one point, his client resorts to blackmail, threatening to expose a dark secret about Parker. Then, many of the potential witnesses who could have helped the case die prematurely, and the survivors are too frightened to talk. Parker begins to feel as if he's merely a character in a video game, fighting malevolent Level Bosses who appear out of nowhere and threaten to destroy him.

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Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Judicial Alternative Dispute Solutions employs three kinds of mediators. There are the retired judges—former jurists who are sick of government bureaucracy and civil servants' wages. They get the most lucrative cases. The title Judge and the salutation Honorable can make an imbecile seem credible. Then there are the idealists, mostly law professors and young lawyers with undergrad psychology degrees who naively believe that they can transform the legal system from adversarial to conciliatory. They do almost as well as the ex-judges—many cases need a touchy-feely facilitator who can convince even the most misguided litigants that their legal positions matter. On the bottom rung are the burnouts like me: the once-driven trial lawyers who can no longer cope with the stress of a courtroom, though I'm not yet forty and supposedly just hitting my prime. We get the dross—the slip and falls, the unlawful detainers, the Worker's Comp disputes. No matter. There are no winners or losers in mediation, so no pressure. If the case settles, fine. If not, let the judge and jury decide. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Why is anonymity so important to both Parker Stern and Poniard?

2. How does Parker’s assumptions about people interfere with his quest for the truth?

3. Movie mogul William Bishop makes traditional Hollywood movies, while video-game designer Poniard makes art by employing new technology. What does their death struggle represent?

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