Every once in a while there is a story you purchase with high hopes of being something more. Gamenet: Into the Jaws of the Dragon by Michael Barnette was not that story.

The plot leaned heavily toward mediocre. Laredo, a bad ass who wants to kill the hero, Jason, sets a trap, using Jason’s wife as the bait. Disarming some of the Wasters’s tricks, Jason goes willingly toward the slaughter, Kimi at the forefront of his thoughts. Nasty gun battles ensue with lots of heads exploding leaving people “messily dead”.

Unfortunately, Laredo is stupid and not a worthy enemy of our hero who has a bit more street smarts going for him. The Wasters Laredo hires are just that–wasted characters who add little to the appeal of the story.

Illogical point of view shifts, incomplete sentences, thoughts and descriptions a character can’t or shouldn’t have as well as a lack of a clear foundation for understanding the story world further disappoint.

This is really too bad. The Gamenet series of stories had a lot of potential. Major plot and theme questions, like “Why has the population embraced the games of the Arena?”, “Why are there people with animal spirits residing within them?” and “What happened to create this alternate society?” are among a host of puzzles not answered. Gamenet: Into the Jaws of the Dragon did not deliver.