I would like to thank Netgalley & Bloodhound Books for this partnership.

It all starts when a group of six teenagers playing in the woods spot a man who is burying drugs. It will change life forever. They are going to unearth the drugs, except that the dealer is dead and the dealers will at all costs want to find their drug. Police will investigate this mystery because teens will be targeted by gangsters.

A captivating story with fluid writing and endearing characters, eager to read other books by this talented author.

Excellent book, dark & disturbing, but I like that ! Kids, secret hideaways, drugs, gangsters, death & revenge. What more could you want ? I wasn't sure what to expect, it sounded good but I wasn't sure it would stack up but I really enjoyed this book. I read it in a day. If you like mysteries and thrillers add this to your TBR list. You will be glad you did ! Plenty of twists and turns to keep you in suspense.

Just when I thought Anita couldn't get any better and along comes Game Players.

The story line was so well written, you had laughter, tears, deaths and more tears.

There were plenty of twists and turns to keep you wanting to read more, there were edge of your seat moments as well as just wanting to give those kids a big hug because of what they were going through.

I have read all of Anita's books and I just want to keep reading more, I definitely recommend reading this and the rest of her books if you get a chance, you won't be disappointed

At the beginning of this i was a little worried that it was not going to be a book for me. Glad I continued and finished. I really enjoyed this book and had fun reading it. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this title!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Bloodhound Books for an advance copy of Game Players by Anita Waller.

This was my first meeting with Anita Waller, and I have to say I did enjoy the fast pace, the twists and the turns of this "gripping thriller". I also enjoyed the Sheffield setting, although people outside of South Yorkshire need to know that Yorkshire folk don't just shorten the word "the", they omit it altogether. So the "t'-this" and the "t-that" interfered with the narrative a little. Yes, they even drop the "t".

The book raced along and kept me turning pages ... until what I felt was a clumsy twist. Right up until the point whereby Kenny received his email I was there, all the way. But I was so disappointed that one of my first thoughts was actually a major plot twist that I almost gave up as it did feel a tad contrived.

I *did* get over it, though, and I did enjoy the rest, but I felt that the author rushed the wrap-up at the end and I'm not sure the church meeting was in the right place.

Great storyline otherwise, though. Great characters. Great setting.

Book Review: Game Players by Anita Waller
It's the summer holidays and a group of kids are playing in the woods, when they spot a local thug burying something. So, what do they do? Well, as kids are kids, they do the exact opposite from what most of us would do and they dig up the package and realise it's drugs. Now, their dilemma is, what should they do with the drugs? I know, I know you're all yelling 'Dob in the Dealer' - but, well, kids are kids aren't they? And it's not as easy for them to make this decision (It's all to do with their pre-frontal cortex, you know?) So, they spend time in their den trying to work out what to do .... and it's then that Waller, as only a devious minded crime writer can do, ups the stakes dramatically, making the kids' dilemma even more fraught.
From there on in, Waller delights us with twist after twist, her acerbic humour and her edge of the seat tension. She doesn't shy away from the gritty sordid world of gangs, henchmen and drug trafficking, but rather embraces it in a realistic, if sometimes shocking way. Game Players twists its way into your subconscious and this makes for compelling reading.
Waller's characterisation is delightful, from the ten year old children, to the couldn't care less father, to the evil criminal. This book was a delight from start to finish - not sure delight is quite the right word for a novel with a pretty hefty body count - but you get my drift. You'll love it. Go on give it a go!

Yes I would recommend this book I liked the plot although I did guess the ending which I liked. I will probably read more of this authors books

A really good read. Six children playing in their den in the woods watch someone hiding drugs. They dig up the drugs and set in motion a catalogue of events which touches all their lives in the most brutal way. Really well written. A good plot with some surprises thrown in.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Another excellent read by this author who always makes you want to keep reading in one session. I loved the authors interpretation of telling story through children and their innocence but also common sense. Very sad at times when criminals get desperate but couldn’t wait to get to the end.

I've never read this author before, I found it bit slow in the middle with what all the kids were doing and playing but it speeds up and turns to a page turner, I have even bought another book by here as well.

I really enjoy Anita Waller books. This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it, perhaps because of the 6 main characters being children and the others being part of the 'mob'. What will happen to the children with each new twist? What decisions will the children make. I loved the pull the children had to each other - great "gang' of loyalty. The reason I can this a three instead of a 5 is because I wanted more -- when the book ended I wanted more , I wasn't quite ready for it to end yet. I still want to know what happened to a few of the characters.

Gritty, menacing, and meticulous!

Game Players is a well-paced police procedural that introduces us to a ruthless mob boss, a relentless police officer, amateur criminals, flawed parents, and a tight-knit group of six innocent children whose inquisitive nature will unintentionally trigger a chain of catastrophic events that will lead to a trail of dead bodies.

The writing is dark and intense. The characters are secretive, impulsive, and in over their heads. And the complex plot told from multiple perspectives interweaves into a compelling story with lots of twists, turns, surprises, violence, and murder.

Overall, Game Players is an intricately woven, engrossing mystery with lots of action and a great cast of characters that is highly entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable.

This was such a disappointment. The premise sounded good but I was immediately unsure whether it was being written by a child trying to be an adult or an adult trying to be a child. The result was such superficial writing that it was not really credible. Reactions and responses of the characters were totally unrealistic and I cannot recommend this if you want any type of reality or sincerity in what you read. Sorry.

I have read all the books by Anita Waller and I really enjoyed it. Anita has very quickly become one of my favourite authors!
The story is about a gang of six children who have a den in the woods and one day they see a man hiding a bag of cocaine in the ground. Later they find a man dead. The story is filled with lots of twists and keeps you guessing and it is very hard to put the book down!
I can't wait until the next book!

This was my first book by Anita Waller. You have a group of kids, friends, doing what all kids should do over the summer - playing. Until they witness a crime and their lives get flipped upside down as they try to do the right thing. It's a situation no kid should be put in. It's a nice story about friendship and a community shook up from drugs and murders. I kept waiting for a big twist or turn in the story. Something to make this more of a thriller than just a decent story about friendship, murder and drugs. There was no guesswork on who the bad guy was, no big shocker of an ending. It was a good story, the author did a great job with character development, I just didn't see the "thriller" aspect of this book. Having said that, it is a fast read, and if the author decides to continue the story, I would be interested to read what happens next.

My thanks to Bloodhound Books and Anita Waller for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley - thank you Bloodhound Books!

Enjoyable, well-written murder mystery - but I'm not sure I'd classify it as a thriller. It makes a nice change to read a book for an adult/teen audience written from a child's (children's) point of view, although sometimes I found the dialogue a little too grown-up for the nine-to-eleven-year-old children who are the main protagonists.

Plenty of twists and turns, with some shocking moments among them. Well-developed story line - all in all, a good absorbing read.

Spannend erzählte Geschichte um ein paar Kinder, die ohne es zu wollen, zu Zeugen eines Verbrechens werden.Voller twists and turns wird der Leser atemlos in das Buch gezogen. Leider ist das ganze ab und zu ein bisschen zu angestrengt umgesetzt.

Wow. I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery. It started by reminding me of the Famous Five. Kids getting the better of adults, who are not very bright. But then the murders kicked in and the action kept going. I devoured this book in hours. It kept me engaged right to the end. Excellent!!!

This is my first time reading this author. I have two of her books, still unread on my Kindle. I really enjoyed it. I thought the title was okay but could have been a bit stronger. Game Players uses different narrative viewpoints to tell the story including the kids. This works really well. Sometimes the kid’s narration seemed uneven and they sounded younger or older than they are supposed. This only happened a couple of times and worked well overall. I enjoyed getting different perspectives on what was happening. The pacing works really well, slow burning at first and gradually increasing as events unfolded. Game Players has a lot of twists and turns and fairly rattled along.

Loved the story line and twists and terms. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy when I first started reading this, but it was a great read. Would thoroughly recommend this book. 😀