You is a tale of video games, obsession and the coming-of-age of five young computer nerds who started an award-winning game design company as teenagers in 1983. Austin Grossman's novel flashes back to high school, summer camp and the tentative friendships among the five while also telling the story from the perspective of Russell, the 28-year-old game designer who returns to Black Arts Games after an aborted attempt to put his nerdy youth behind him.
Simon, the genius-level programmer of the group, is dead, while Darren, the charismatic yet self-loathing leader of the company, has just left to start his own game company. Lisa, the polymath token female of the group, Don, the hanger-on middle manager, and Russell must find the truth Simon hid deep in layers of code and game mechanics before his death.
Grossman (Soon I Will Be Invincible) is a video game design consultant with a long history in the gaming industry, and he's filled You with authentic atmosphere and personality types. Alternating between third- and second-person voices, he captures the narrative choices of modern gaming as perfectly as he describes the arc of game development from beta to conference demo to ship date. His characters, leading and supporting alike, act with honest behavior and true emotional insight. These folks, even the video game characters that round out some of the dream sequences, both live and breathe. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor