Trying to remember the name of a book about a game that turns dark.

February 28, 2017 3:53 PM

This was a book I heard reviewed a few years ago. The protagonist is initiated into some kind of psychological game, maybe as part of hazing at college. It is initially innocent, but every time it seems that the game has ended it turns out there is another layer. Years go by, people go crazy and die, driven mad by the game. Ring any bells?
posted by molla to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

It's not really about a "game", but maybe you're thinking about The Secret History by Donna Tartt? Does have some of the same elements.
posted by sprezzy at 4:09 PM on February 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Or maybe Black Chalk, which was reviewed on NPR.
posted by sprezzy at 4:15 PM on February 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ender's Game. (For very, very loose interpretations of "college" and "innocent". And with the stipulation that the author makes this, at best, an exercise in "how to be a fan of problematic things".)
posted by sourcequench at 7:37 PM on February 28, 2017

Maybe The Rule of Four?
posted by sparrow89 at 8:30 PM on February 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's very definitely The Secret History by Donna Tartt, one of my favourite books ever.

I'm answering both to back up sprezzy and because, in the unlikely event we're wrong, I want to read the book in the correct answer!
posted by daisyk at 12:49 AM on March 1, 2017

I'm positive it's Black Chalk. It's exactly as you describe and is of the right vintage.
posted by bluebird at 2:44 AM on March 1, 2017

The Quorum by Kim Newman?
posted by themadthinker at 7:48 AM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

My first thought was that it absolutely has to be Black Chalk, but it also sounds a bit like Will Lavender's Dominance.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 9:52 AM on March 1, 2017