Published Jul 13, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.
Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.
Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno.
The deadly game show of Squid Game meets the post-apocalyptic struggle of The Last of Us in a new sci-fi thriller, where one hundred players compete for immense wealth and the possibility to save the world.
Lethal games are a hallmark of modern sci-fi, with iconic franchises such as Battle Royale, The Hunger Games, Squid Game, Alice in Borderland and more depicting desperate people engaging in organized games with their lives on the line. Now, it's the whole planet.
Across an array of artificial environments, the characters of this new thriller will take part in lethal challenges similar to the real-life content of creators like James Donaldson, aka MrBeast. And there's a reason that name comes to mind...
James Patterson and MrBeast Team for THE MOST DANGEROUS GAMES
The Most Dangerous Games is a new novel coming September 1, 2026, from James Donaldson and James Patterson, in an unlikely partnership few people saw coming. The story follows a deadly game show with apocalypse on the line, promising "a thrilling, high-stakes survival competition where contestants compete for a one-billion dollar prize and the chance to save humanity." The novel's synopsis reads:
In a world on the brink of collapse, one hundred players face off in a ruthless, high‑stakes competition with everything on the line. The reward? The chance to save humanity - and one billion dollars. The stakes couldn't be higher.
Across brutal environments and relentless challenges, players are pushed beyond every limit as the stakes escalate - and survival becomes the only rule.
The iconic author of thrillers and crime novels including Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls, James Patterson is known for working with unusual co-authors. Past projects include The President Is Missing with Bill Clinton, Run, Rose, Run with Dolly Parton and Judge Stone with Viola Davis.
'The Most Dangerous Games' is a pun on 'The Most Dangerous Game' - the title of a 1924 short story by Richard Connell in which an aristocrat hunts humans on a private island. The story has been adapted multiple times for film and television.
While critics have speculated the project will involve extensive ghostwriting, Donaldson and Patterson have spoken about their collaboration, with Patterson stating "Jimmy Donaldson has the best storytelling instincts of anyone I've ever worked with." Speaking to Harper Collins, Donaldson says:
Growing up, I thought books were boring. As I got into my 20s I realized I was just reading the wrong books and they can be exciting if it’s the right match. Writing this book with James – who’s literally one of the greatest storytellers on the planet – was an opportunity to create a story that I would’ve been obsessed with as a kid. I wanted to make something that would draw young people in and get a whole generation psyched about reading again. I think we pulled it off, and I’m so proud of what we made. I hope our fans love it.
MrBeast Is the Perfect Partner for a 'Hunger Games' Style Book
While Donaldson is a polarizing figure, it's hard to deny he's the right person to partner with Patterson for this project. Even outside of being the most popular YouTuber in the world with a massive pre-existing fanbase, the MrBeast brand is heavily associated with Donaldson's reality content in which contestants engage in physical and mental challenges for outsized prizes.
In 2024, Donaldson co-created the Amazon reality show Beast Games, simultaneously praised and criticized as Squid Game without the executions. Other viral videos have seen MrBeast challenge contestants to spend one hundred days in a nuclear bunker and thirty days chained to a stranger, with payouts of $500,000 and $250,000 respectively.
While he may have little experience as a writer, Donaldson has become one of the most successful media figures of all time thanks to challenges like those promised in The Most Dangerous Games. With Patterson's proven skill and brand as a writer, the subject matter makes this a match made in Heaven.
Indeed, reality and fiction have arguably overlapped, with Donaldson facing online criticism and lawsuits for alleged mistreatment of contestants in various projects including Beast Games, with a lawsuit from five anonymous contestants alleging misrepresentation, sexual harassment and a lack of medical care and food on the set of the show.
The Most Dangerous Games Promises 'THE BLOCKBUSTER BOOK EVENT OF THE YEAR'
Advertised with the tagline "100 players. $1 billion. ARE YOU THE ONE?", The Most Dangerous Game combines the reality show creativity of James Donaldson's MrBeast with the thriller writing of James Patterson, for a new Squid Game-style sci-fi thriller novel that's likely to be one of the big commercial hits of the year.
The Most Dangerous Games is coming September 1 from William Morrow.
English (US) ·