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Jen Cole is an Aussie primary school teacher, who specializes in computing. Over the years, she has written a number of software programs for her students, including TTAPS - a touch-typing program, which sold around Australia.
Play or Die, her first novel, was begun in 2007 and completed in 2009. After positive feedback from friends, she made the decision to publish it in 2012.
Jen is currently working on her next novel and has written a number of short stories for adults and children, two of which are scheduled to be published by Penguin Australia in 2013.
Reviewed by Laura Carter for Readers' Favorite
In the future society presented in this story, the world has been nearly destroyed and the survivors have to spend all their lives in cramped silos only getting to go outside to do the brutal work of cleansing the earth. What better way to make their lives more tolerable than to blend entertainment with revenge against those that they blame for their troubles! This is the basis for "Play or Die", a brutal game show where someone from our time is chosen to be the prey and is hunted by a sociopath whose aim is to kill them to win $50 million. Jo has recently lost her family making her the perfect candidate to be the prey as her death will have no effect on the future, but Jo isn’t like any prey ever chosen before. She cares about the future and the people in it and so this game might just change everything.
"Play or Die" is amazing. Be prepared for tension that you have never experienced before as Jo tries to evade the psychotic Hunter determined to kill her. The book alternates between nail-biting suspense, action, and stuff that really gets you thinking. Jo is a great character and a good person; whilst fighting for her life she is also trying to discover the truth about her father’s death and learn about the people who want her dead so that she can understand them. This book is very fast-paced and the action is almost constant. Whilst most books span months or even years, "Play or Die" only shows a couple of days of Jo’s life. This makes it feel as if you were experiencing everything that Jo goes through and it makes you feel really involved in the book. Despite the main character being quite young, this doesn’t appear like a YA book. There also isn’t really any objectionable content to make this book inappropriate for non-adults. So I would recommend this book to both teenagers and adults.
