The F-Word Reality Show by Chris Westlake

 

289 pages

You can buy The F-Word Reality Show...Here

You can find out more about Chris Westlake...Here

• The Blurb...

Andrew Macintosh is one of fifty seemingly random individuals offered the opportunity to appear in a reality show, to be aired to millions of viewers across the world. There is only one catch: the contestants must not – under any circumstances – tell anyone where they are going.

Before entering the show, each contestant chooses their F-Word reward for winning: Fame, Fortune or Freedom. Transported to a giant glass hall in the middle of nowhere, guards patrol the hall and cameras watch their every move. There is nowhere to hide.

As the days pass and the events unfold, Andrew discovers that not only is he fighting for his freedom, but he is fighting to stay alive. The choice is brutally straightforward... Andrew must kill, or be killed.

The F-Word Reality Show is a compelling thriller that will leave you wondering whether the cameras watching your every move are your best friend, or your worst enemy.

• Our Review...

In the F-Word Reality show. Andrew is a man socially adrift and a little lost. He is offered the chance to take part in a reality game show, where he can win fame, fortune or freedom. There is one condition nobody must know he has agreed to take part.

So far, so good. Andrew jumps at the chance of something, anything happening in his life. But be careful what you wish for.  Andrew is housed with 49 other "contestants" who simultaneously discover they  must battle to the death, completing various themed rounds over the next seven days. Only the last contestant left alive wins. Literally death or glory!

I don't know where to put this book on my shelves. Is it science fiction? Well probably not. There isnt any science in it as such. Is it just general fiction then? Yes but only just. Game shows are getting more and more extreme in an effort to capture an audience who have become dulled to contestants breaking legs in TV game show ski jumps, extreme physical beastings as in SAS training and so on. Life is cheap and given where we are as a society it would not surprise if the scenario of the F-Word Reality Show became a real game show during my children's lifetime. 

While writing the review for this book I did some research about extreme game shows. Have a read of this website, it will blow your swede...Here

There will be obvious comparisons with this book and the recent Korean TV world wide hit Squid Game. Indeed you can see the narrative is heavily influenced by the show. However the book is very British in it's persona. The TV show was bright colours, symbols and quirky. This novel is introverted, gritty and post-industrial. It's like Squid Game has been written by George Orwell and Andrew is our Winston Smith. 

What elevates the simple story is the way the author encapsulates two things about society.

Firstly the seemingly relentless, monotonous daily grind at the bottom of society including the isolation and lonliness of a society that is well on its way down the slippery slope of losing its soul and sense of camradarie. 

Secondly he displays a keen eye for the depravity and lack of moral standards intrinsic to the upper reaches of society. I would be surprised if both these themes were not honed during the pandemic lockdown when scandals of PPE and parties were at their height. I think the pandemic cleared the mist of rhetoric, the scales fell from our eyes and  many people saw what society was really like and not the myth they had been sold. I think the author has really taken this on board.

If you enjoyed Squid Game read this book. If you didn't see or enjoy Squid Game still read this book. It'll make you fear and cheer for the protagonist and it'll make you weep for society.

• Selected Quotes..

Sometimes as I walk the soulless, deserted streets I imagine that I’m living in an apocalypse.

I’m haunted by yesterday’s words, the most brutal of them all. What exactly do you have to lose, Andrew?

“And now I live in a bleak, one bedroom flat on my own. Sure, I get to see the kids every so often. But you know what? You know what really gets me? I get the distinct impression that they don’t want to see me. Not really.”

Do you really think those people out there are living? Or do you think they are dying slowly?”

We said that viewers could pay to watch fifty suicidal contestants fight to stay alive for seven days. The irony of it all never fails to make me chuckle.”

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Duel by Stephen Havard. review...Here

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

The Running Man by Stephen King.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy.

• About The Author...

Chris’s page-turning novels will make you doubt what happens next, but leave you in no doubt that you sure as hell want to find out. His thrillers toy with your mind and play with your emotions.

Chris has published five novels, including three thrillers. His latest novel, THE F-WORD REALITY SHOW, is a compelling thriller which will leave you wondering whether the cameras that follow your every move are your best friend or your worst enemy.

30 DAYS IN JUNE is a serial killer thriller, and I AM HERE TO KILL YOU is a psychological thriller, with a key focus on cults, the power of manipulation, and brainwashing.

After completing a Creative Writing course in 2010, Chris Westlake's short story, Welsh Lessons, was awarded 1st place in the Global Short Story Award (not bad for the first writing competition he had entered). He followed this up with 1st place in the Stringybark Erotic Fiction Award and 2nd place in the HASSRA Literary Award.

Chris is determined to write many, many more novels - his main regret is that he didn't start writing earlier. He is always looking to make his next novel even better than the last. He is continuously experimenting with different styles, different genres.