The Mind Game » (Unabridged, 6 Cassettes)

Hector Macdonald was born in 1973 in Nairobi, Kenya, then educated at Eton and Oxford. He received his degree in biology from Merton College, and he divides his time between London and Africa. The Mind Game, his first novel, will be published in fourteen countries in 2001.

When Ben Ashurst agrees to participate in a study of the biology of human emotions for this charismatic Oxford tutor, he can't begin to imagine what lies ahead. With a luxury resort on a beach in Kenya as the site of the experiment and his beautiful new girlfriend along for company, it seems the perfect way to spend the Christmas holidays.

But paradise starts to lose its luster when Ben runs afoul of the local police and discovers that his girlfriend may have another agenda in coming to Kenya. Without warning, Ben finds the experiment veering from abstract scientific theory into terrifyingly real danger. Snared in a carefully crafted web of deceit, he scrambles to learn who is controlling his fate. His tutor's obsession with game theory suggests a possible course of action, but every time Ben thinks he's discovered the winning move, he finds another level of deception and betrayal.

About the Author:
Hector Macdonald was born in 1973 in Nairobi, Kenya, then educated a Eton and Oxford. He received his degree in biology from Merton College and his MBA from INSEAD in Paris. He divides his time between London and Africa. The Mind Game is his first novel.

Publishers Weekly

First-time novelist Macdonald delivers twists and turns with the ease of an old pro in this brainy, exotic suspense thriller. Oxford undergraduate Ben Ashurst is smart but impressionable, and this reputation earns him the opportunity to be a guinea pig in a study his biology professor is directing, funded by a multinational drug company. If Ben and his beautiful new girlfriend, Cara, agree to have tiny experimental emotion-sensors sewed to the back of their heads, they'll be sent on a free beach-resort vacation in Kenya, designed to stimulate their emotions and thoroughly test the sensors. For the first few days, the vacation is all Ben had hoped for. But then a case of food-poisoning, suspicions about Cara, incarceration in the local jail and a possible drug-trafficking frameup make Ben wonder what is going on. It becomes clear that he has not been let in on the full nature of the experiment, and he begins to question who is actually behind it. Tangled in a web of deception, Ben watches as his life falls apart around him, but refuses to go down quietly. Right up to the very end, we are kept guessing: how high are the stakes of the experiment? And who among Ben's friends is involved? Macdonald, a 27-year-old Oxford graduate born in Nairobi, Kenya, convincingly depicts Ben's cliquish, upper-crust partying at Oxford and hedonistic African adventuring. The novel's maze-like plot may take a few turns too many, but straightforward prose and a well-developed protagonist buoy this promising first effort. (Mar.) Forecast: A touch of intellectual macabre, la Secret History, gives this thriller a sexy twist. With foreign rights already sold in 14 countries, film rights sold to Heyday Film and a five-city author tour in the offing, the book is poised to score. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.