James Frey’s ‘Endgame: The Calling’ Puzzle And 6 Experimental YA Novels That Twist How We Think of Books
What do you get when you cross two writers, Google, and three MIT Ph.D graduates? A YA book that is about to start a real-life treasure hunt. James Frey, in conjunction with his co-author Nils Johnson-Shelton, created Endgame: The Calling (HarperCollins) as an armchair treasure hunt, a novel that would include secret codes and clues to the location of — wait for it — a key that will unlock a bulletproof glass case filled with $500,000 worth of gold coins.
I’ll pause while you run to go buy the book.
OK, now that your Goonies-style treasure mapping supplies are in stock, there’s more. It’s not going to be easy. Those three MIT Ph.Ds? They are the ones that designed the puzzle and hid the key, so I hope your math skills are top-notch. And Google Niantic built the accompanying mobile game. This is no nonsense.
And, yes, I have read the book, but no, I am not already halfway around the world digging in abandoned wells, because my copy did not have the final puzzle. No hints. No spoilers. It’s up to you.
The story within Endgame: The Calling follows 12 teenagers who are all fighting to save their line of the human race in a game against each other. They’re solving riddles, as well, and the one who finds the key will survive. The other 11 and the rest of their heritage lines will be extinct. So, yes, their stakes are higher than yours are.
The teenagers’ story is a page-turner in itself, so just make sure you don’t pass by those clues too quickly.
Frey isn’t the first writer to test the bounds of what readers consider a novel. In the adult world, we have loads of experimental fiction from people like Shaun Tan, Italo Calvino, Ali Smith, and others. In YA, it may be more rare, but these six authors are stepping up to the plate with some novel (I had to) takes on creating books.