Rating: 
Summary: Hitchcockian beginning, desinit in piscem, I'm afraid
Review: The beginning is superb,and,well,the soiree whit those blase' Oxfordians and their naive hosts is beautifully written, and the dialogue is worthy of a dramatist like Pinter. Following it, a more plausible, politically conscious version of "the Beach" (if you care to compare two very different novels). Then, you have a series of "revelations" and "twists of the tale" that leaves the reader baffled, incredulous, doubting of being put-on. Really,there's a limit to the suspension of incredulity... and credulity. You feel admired by the writer's ability to startle. Then the book wawers on, the plot and the gist lost in dubious speculations and improbable settings. Conclusion: a good enough first novel, but there's plenty of room for improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: I Don't Buy His Dream
Review: The first half of the book was very boring and uninteresting. It got to the point that I found myself asking "Is there any point in reading this book?" But then, suddenly, the momentum of the book shifted. It took a left turn into something more interesting. However, don't be too glad, because by the last quarter of the book, it lost all the momentum and dove into something boring again. On a surface, the idea behind the theme of the book seems fascinating, but if you have just a little knowledge about psychology, biology, or any branches of sciences for that matter, you would know that the theme of the book is really dreamy and illogical. At the end, in his Acknowledgment section, the author seems to reference and prove that he did do some research, but obviously, his research was pretty bad. He seemed to take knowledge here and there out of its context and mix it up, making his idea believable. Take the way an "experiment" was run, for instance, (without revealing too much detail for those who decides to read this book anyway) there are some major points that the author got it wrong. First, it should be called a case study, not an experiment. It involves only one participant. Second, there are endless numbers of confounding factors that could influence the study. The character who was the "experimenter" was written up to be a zoologist who, in real life, should know better than that. Third, according to the story line of how the data from the "experiment" will be used, no scientist in the right mind would go through all the research project with only one participant. Each human is unique. If the generalization shall be made, more participants is a must. Even though I could go on and on about how bad the book is, I do realize that this is a fiction after all. So the author has his right to dream whatever he could imagine. But, I personally don't buy his dream.
Rating:
Summary: I Don't Buy His Dream
Review: The first half of the book was very boring and uninteresting. It got to the point that I found myself asking "Is there any point in reading this book?" But then, suddenly, the momentum of the book shifted. It took a left turn into something more interesting. However, don't be too glad, because by the last quarter of the book, it lost all the momentum and dove into something boring again. On a surface, the idea behind the theme of the book seems fascinating, but if you have just a little knowledge about psychology, biology, or any branches of sciences for that matter, you would know that the theme of the book is really dreamy and illogical. At the end, in his Acknowledgment section, the author seems to reference and prove that he did do some research, but obviously, his research was pretty bad. He seemed to take knowledge here and there out of its context and mix it up, making his idea believable. Take the way an "experiment" was run, for instance, (without revealing too much detail for those who decides to read this book anyway) there are some major points that the author got it wrong. First, it should be called a case study, not an experiment. It involves only one participant. Second, there are endless numbers of confounding factors that could influence the study. The character who was the "experimenter" was written up to be a zoologist who, in real life, should know better than that. Third, according to the story line of how the data from the "experiment" will be used, no scientist in the right mind would go through all the research project with only one participant. Each human is unique. If the generalization shall be made, more participants is a must. Even though I could go on and on about how bad the book is, I do realize that this is a fiction after all. So the author has his right to dream whatever he could imagine. But, I personally don't buy his dream.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting new writer
Review: The Mind Game is a psychological thriller that exercises the readers powers of deduction within the framework of Game Theory. Taken together with the utterly believable characters and beautiful locations, this creates an exciting and intelligent page-turner. MacDonald's writing brings every page to life and makes the book an absorbing journey into the murkier side of scientific research. A thoroughly recommendable read. I am already looking forward to MacDonald's next book!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel
Review: The mind game is an excellent first novel by Hector Macdonald. A young undergraduate student is convinced by his charismatic professor at Oxford to be part of a study into emotions, at a resort in Kenya, with his assertive girlfriend Cara. The experiment is going well until Ben (the student) is wrongly arrested for buying drugs and thrown into jail...Overall I thought it was an excellent novel. There was plenty of action at the start that slowly evolved into a psychological thriller. The clues to the twists, I found were a little obvious, except I must say that I didn't see the final twist coming. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a thriller away from the stock standard medical, crime, murder thrillers that seem to flood the market.
Rating:
Summary: a great debut
Review: This is a great debut novel by young British author Hector Macdonald who impresses immediately with his great and very involving style. His characters are well-drawn and the concept of the book is immediately highly intriguing. Oxford student Ben Ashurst is your average Oxford student who leeds a fairly uneventful life all the way down to his fairly dull girl friend Jenni. Trying to keep up with the ritzier and glitzier crowd in town he attends the parties of his aquaintance Pierce who leeds the life of a rich dandy. When the exotic and very attractive Cara turns up at one of these events, Ben is smitten and drawn into a stream of events that soon is beyond his control. To gain Cara's interest he tells her about an exciting emotions study that his tutor, Professor Fieldhead is planning, and for which he refused to be the guinea pig. In no time Cara has changed his mind and the two of them are on a plane to Africa, courtesy of Dr. Fieldhead and the research on his breakthrough emotion sensor. But what starts as an apparent dream holiday in a paradise resort to study the somatic responses to pleasure, very soon turns into a shocking nightmare for Ben, as he finds himself caught in a cobweb of lies and paranoia. The storyline of the book is very imaginative and well thought-out, impossible to figure out even for the seasoned suspense buff. Every time you think you know what will happen, there is a well-designed twist, and the author effortlessly keeps you going to the highly entertaining conclusion. A very enjoyable book and an impressive debut for a young author. One hopes that more of these will follow
Rating:
Summary: what if emotions could be quantified and qualified?
Review: Totally unique, psychological thriller, built around the question "What if emotions could be quantified and qualified? The subject of this "emotions research" is placed in increasingly nerve-wracking situations, in which every thought and feeling is monitored for science's sake--or so he thinks. unfortunately, the protagonist is unsure if his predicaments are orchestrated or real and he begins to question his relationship with himself and others. The settings altermate between, Oxford University, the coast of Africa, Silicon Valley, and the dark recesses of the mind. With more twists and turns than an Irish byway, "The Mind Game" explores the human capacity to understand fear, deceit and the search for truth amidst very complex relationships. Excellent read!
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