"There's nothing more fatal than believing a lie is the truth," declares the director of the Net Force Explorers, James Winters, and this is the major theme of The Deadliest Game. Throughout the novel, distinguishing between what is true and what is not is crucial to the solution of the crimes committed against game players and to the survival of the main characters, Meg O'Malley and Leif Anderson. Is Wayland a gamegenerated character or a representation of a real-world player? Is Rodrigues the creator of Sarxos or the bouncer? Telling who is real from who is not is a difficult task for Megan and Leif, but the bouncer seems to have a way of identifying whom he is playing against. Even so, the bouncer's criminal acts are motivated by a failure to distinguish truth from lie. The land of Sarxos has come to mean...