It’s just a game, but there is a lot at stake…

Synopsis

In a waiting room hidden high away from everyone, six disgraced celebrities are desperate to recover their heavily tainted reputations. An incredibly controversial new gameshow is offering them a route back to the big time, along with a $7.2 million cash prize. But with no consolation prizes and serious consequences every time someone loses out, will signing up prove their salvation or their downfall?

My review

6 celebrities are waiting to learn if it is their turn on the spinning wheel. The gameshow they are participating, is one with a big jackpot, but as all the contestants have fallen into disgrace for one reason or another, they believe that this could be their chance for redemption. But to have a chance to win, they need to face their biggest fears, something they didn’t known when signing the contract. With big dreams, will it also be a case of big falls?

I think we can all name some celebrities that we saw rising up to fame, and we have also seen how deep they have fallen. There is something voyeuristic in seeing them and seeing them fail. So what when six of such celebrities are in show, trying not only to win a big amount of money, but are also seeking a chance to undo their mistakes?

I didn’t know what to expect from this book, as it sounds like a gameshow I would never participate in, no matter how much money they would give me if I were the winner. Because even if the participants don’t know it beforehand, living through my worst fears, is not something I want to experience!

There are six different kind of people, and while I could sympathize with a few of them, I also felt that I never could ever get to know the real them. Yes, we see them interacting with each other, even annoying each other, but we never get to get to their core, we never know what they are truly – truly feeling.

While the prospect of money can be very alluring, signing a contract for a gameshow, without knowing what to expect, sounded a bit vain and even gullible from each celebrity. They should know better, right? Especially thinking that they have signed several contracts in the past, and should know which pitfalls there can be in a contract…

I have to admit, that seeing the celebrities facing their own fears, I found my long list of fears just expanding… I had several palpitations myself, had some cold sweat and I could feel the panic attacks nearly coming up…

This is absolutely not a story for lighthearted people, as anxiety and fear for sure will grow more and more as the story evolves. The author shows us that fear and anxiety are stronger than the will of not only mere people like us, but even celebrities are not immune to those feelings.

Alexander Raphael had made me sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was a bit petrified by fear, as it just came of the pages, combined with the urge of keep on reading. Even if I should know better, I was hoping that some fears would be ‘okay’ and not have me terrified. But alas, my hopes were truly in vain…

This may not have been perhaps the longest story to read in pages, but it for sure felt like it, as the wheel of doom just didn’t stop for one moment… The author manages to even silence the biggest and boldest of characters, by letting them face the most terrible imaginable things they could encounter.

It made me realize that not only fears are something that everyone of us have, and it made me realize that I had some uncovered fears myself. But it also and mainly made me realize and understand that people claiming to want redemption, are still able to do stupid things, like signing up to be on a gameshow without knowing what they will have to face… all for the shine of fame and money…