It's Only a Game - by Sam Rebelein (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"If Jigsaw wrote a rom-com, it might read something like IT'S ONLY A GAME. Sam Rebelein tugs on your heartstrings while pulling every rusty lever in this thrilling house of horrors." --BRIAN MCAULEY, USA Today Bestselling Author of Breathe In, Bleed Out

A propulsive puzzle box novel by Sam Rebelein, where a recently split couple must solve a haunted escape room together--or die trying.

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A year after a bitter breakup, Julian and Millie are thrown back together by a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: an invitation to play a legendary 72-hour survival experience with a huge cash prize. The challenge: solve a series of elaborate puzzles inside the remote and reputedly haunted Clate Hill Lodge. Only one other contestant has ever successfully escaped, and Julian and Millie are desperate to make history.

But as the weekend begins, the line between performance and paranormal quickly blurs. The puzzles are impossible, the ghosts feel undeniably real, and the hotel seems to have a mind of its own. Caught between confronting the horrors of the hotel and the unresolved issues of their own past, Julian and Millie begin to wonder how much of the Lodge is only a game and whether the prize isn't money--but their own lives.

Sam Rebelein's newest is both a satisfyingly inventive puzzle box and an equally terrifying thriller that readers won't be able to put down until the final clue is solved.

"Once you open [IT'S ONLY A GAME'S] pages and start reading, there is absolutely no putting it down. Just pray you can make it to the end in one piece." --Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

Review Quotes

"In my best Stefon voice I say: this book has everything. It's a rom-com. It's a thrill-fest. It's scary and sweet and funny and f**king weird, and all of it trapped in an escape room from Hell. Dare I say: this book is gonna HOOK you." - Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author

"If Jigsaw wrote a rom-com, it might read something like IT'S ONLY A GAME. Sam Rebelein tugs on your heartstrings while pulling every rusty lever in this thrilling house of horrors." - Brian McAuley, USA Today Bestselling Author of Breathe In, Bleed Out

"Only A Game sends a bittersweet love story on a terrifying roller coaster ride, dodging ancient evils and newer threats like surveillance, secretive corporations, and uncanny algorithms. This page turner is Sam Rebelein's best yet." - Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia and The Night Parade and Other Stories

"Sam Rebelein has crafted such a devilish mechanism, a literary Rube Goldberg-Overlook Hotel, a Machiavellian booby-trap of a book that blends Lauren Bekes' The Shining Girls with Chuck Wendigs' The Staircase in the Woods and written by Jigsaw. Once you open its pages and start reading, there is absolutely no putting it down. Just pray you can make it to the end in one piece." - Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

"Marvelous. An epic novel bursting with imagination, about the slippery nature of faith, grief, and enduring courage, brought to life with spectacular prose and exceptional heart and I'm certain pure magic, by Rebelein's signature strange, brilliant voice." - Rachel Harrison, USA Today Bestselling author of Play Nice and So Thirsty

"Rebelein sprinkles his wild and unpredictable narrative with pop culture references and a gleeful smattering of profanity, setting his voice apart." - Publishers Weekly

"Edenville marks a riveting debut that positions Rebelein as a noteworthy talent in the horror genre...an essential read for horror enthusiasts, especially fans of Grady Hendrix and Paul Tremblay." - Booklist

"Rebelein (The Poorly Made and Other Things) takes readers on a wild ride, asking them to buckle in while also offering a pointed critique of organized religion and unquestioned faith. The book draws on lots of late-2000s nostalgia and shows readers (or reminds them) what it felt like to be a teenager in 2009." - Library Journal

"A Sam Rebelein book is guaranteed to scare you sh*t less and give you a great time. Rebelein creates such rich and unique worlds you'll start to wonder if they're real" - CJ Leede, USA Today bestselling author of American Rapture

"Taken on its own, each tale is horror perfection, as dread seeps in slowly until it explodes, and readers are left in breathlessly horrifying awe...A stellar collection." - Library Journal (starred review)