Virus by Chris Bradford (Virtual Kombat #2)

8/10

In Chris Bradford's last book, Gamer, Scott nearly lost his life playing the game Virtual Kombat, thanks to Vince Power's evil plan to rule the world by using others. Now that Scott has escaped, he is having to look over his shoulder every step of the way in Virus but he isn't alone for long.

Scott knows it is only a matter of time before he is captured and killed by businessman and mass murderer, Vince Power, though things might be looking up for Scott when he catches up with a gang of techno hackers who have created a virus that could take down Virtual Kombat, and Scott wants to help them reach their goal. There is only one snag, Scott has to go back into the game again and risk being killed.

Gamer's tag line was "So real it hurts, " made me wonder how far computer games  could come if able and the idea if one that could kill truly horrified me. It also made me want to read more of how Scott would avoid being killed to free other players from the game. Now that the truth about Vince is out, there is a new tag line to Virus; "To play is to die," and it also meant death for Scott's friend, Kate, so taking down VK would be the only way he could make it up to her.

Virus starts by giving us a recap of what happened in the first novel using bullet points for easier reading. And to make the whole experience feel like you were in a video game, the further you read chapter wise, there is an energy bar at the side of the number that goes up each time. Virus is as exciting as the first novel and keeps the dark feel running through it even though there is hope Scott will come out alive.