HELL'S SNOW by Thompson

About the book

Hell's Snow is a mainstream, mystery/thriller that tells the story of Anne St. Claire, an avid player of a computer based city simulation planning game called SyPlann. Created by PlayTyme, a Silicone Valley software development company, SyPlann's popularity quickly achieves a near cult-like following.

But rapid success and small fortunes are not enough to sustain the company's main stakeholders. PlayTyme's founder, Mr. Tony DeAngeles, a win-at-all-cost businessman, is locked in a bitter fight over the content of the game's next release with Mr. Scott Harding, the game's lead developer. Harding creates two versions: one for DeAngeles to review and the other for publication. However, DeAngeles discovers what Harding has done and fires him, but with his loss, DeAngeles looses the only hope of saving his company.

Years later, Anne receives a copy of SyPlann's near legendary next release. She readily agrees to participate in what she believes is the PlayTyme-sponsored trial.

At first, she finds the new version intriguing. But soon, clever innovations turn violent as the game's new sense of realism fully develops: A shopkeeper in a poor section of town is shot during an armed robbery, a college coed is sodomized, a young woman is savagely murdered. Then, to her horror, Anne discovers that someone is eavesdropping on her game play, watching her via the Internet and acting out, in the real world, the graphic violence the game portrays.

Anne contacts Detective Roy Hawthorne, a veteran police detective with a troubled past. Anne's first hand knowledge of the crimes leads Hawthorne to suspect that Anne is responsible for the crimes she is reporting. But soon, much to Hawthorne's relief, Anne is vindicated and together, they set out to find the truth.

Then, in a sudden twist, Anne's computer foretells her own kidnapping. But knowing it would happen proves a poor defense, as Anne's pursuer manages her capture. Hawthorne enlists the help of Dr. Richard Kerr, a computer science professor and former hacker, who breaks into the server running the game but knows little about the operating code inside. With time working against them, they solicit help from the one person who knows the software better than anyone else: it's developer, Scott Harding.

Scott sees this as an opportunity for redemption, and agrees to help. Once logged onto the server, he changes the game's outcome, thus manipulating the future and securing Anne's release.

With the case now closed, Hawthorne is able to express his feelings for Anne and they begin what promises to be a lasting relationship together.