The novel regularly switches narrative perspectives, but the main characters who drive the plot forward are teenagers Andi and Ro. Andi is a part-time employee of Home Video World, and Ro is a regular at the arcade who crushes on Andi from afar.

When Home Video World acquires a new arcade cabinet of unknown origins, players, including Ro, immediately become transfixed by the advanced graphics and gameplay. Though not a gamer herself, Andi is a programmer with experience fixing the machine boards. After observing the obsessive and concerning behavior from Polybius players, she opens the cabinet to learn more about its tech and code. Believing the game is dangerous, Andi and Ro begin searching for the answers they need. All the while, Tasker Bay descends further into madness with each passing day.

Polybius does a great job of turning the town of Tasker Bay into a compelling character of its own. Armstrong accomplishes this, in part, by utilizing numerous third-person perspectives beyond Andi and Ro, including Home Video World’s sketchy owner, the town doctor (Andi’s mom), the sheriff (Ro’s dad), and multiple of Andi’s and Ro’s friends. These subplots are interspersed throughout, giving the novel a panoramic structure that showcases the different ways in which Polybius creates pandemonium.

Even as someone who was already well-versed in the Polybius urban legend before reading the novel, the story’s strong execution more than makes up for those “spoilers.” That said, if you don’t know the ins and outs of the urban legend, which dates back at least 25 years, you might as well read the novel without any additional research. I’ll leave it at that.

Bestselling horror author Richard Chizmar compared Polybius to Stranger Things in a blurb that appears on the dust jacket. After reading all 352 pages in two late-night marathon sessions, I can definitely see the similarities between Tasker Bay and Hawkins. And just like Stranger Things, amidst carnage and chaos, Polybius feels like horror-sci-fi comfort food.