The Stranger Game defies ready categorization ... The Stranger Game is haunting, certainly one of the most paranoid-inducing tales that I have read in a while. It is faintly reminiscent of Philip K. Dick’s later work (without the religious overtones), even as it takes the concept of Facebook lurkers one step further and into the real world ... worth your complete and undivided attention.
Is there anything creepier than being stalked on social media? In The Stranger Game...Peter Gadol makes a convincing case that the real-world experience is much creepier and far more dangerous ... Gadol plays his own games here, shifting the novel’s focus ... It’s dizzying, after a while, trying to live inside these people’s heads, fabricating their intimate thoughts, listening to them breathe.
In his latest hard-to-categorize novel, Gadol creates a gauzy mix of suspense, distrust, and speculation ... This is Patricia Highsmith–style suspense, edgy and a little dreamy, with a sense of uncertainty lurking everywhere.
...engrossing ... The lack of place names and identifying features adds to the feeling of alienation and angst, as the story pulls the reader further into the game. Those with a taste for the offbeat will find this well worth reading.
Gadol’s...novel explores the inherent loneliness of modern life and suggests that, in our desperate search for meaning and connection, we are willing to do almost anything ... In other words, we don’t truly see other people for who they are; instead, we filter what we see through our own experiences, preventing us from learning new perspectives on the world ... Beautiful, thoughtful meditation on the invisible ties that bind us—even to strangers.
