I've loved W.M. Akers's writing since his Deadball (game) books and his Westside series of novels. The writing style is vivid, laced with unexpected twists, and studded with humor. Critical Hit brings something new to the experience, it is inspired by the universe of Old School RPG's.

On my Kallax shelves, near my 1st Games Workshop edition of Talisman and the much-newer Gloomhaven I have a prized book on a display stand; it's my 1st Ed. AD&D Dungeon Master's Manual. I grew up playing early TSR Dungeons & Dragons and still occasionally find myself in a Pathfinder session with my daughter and her friends on Zoom. Video games? I have stacks of JRPGs. The dungeon crawl is a world I am familiar with. In Critiocal Hit Akers shows that it is his world as well. It's an adventurious "what if?" story of that world of graph paper and polyhedral dice and smudged character sheets coming real. Gamers, mystery buffs, fantasy/adventure fans have got themselves a real page turner here.