What do you get when you combine the Internet with the kind of virtual reality stuff seen in old movies and sci-fi novels? 
 I don't really know, but according to James Dashner, you get VirtNet (aka "The Sleep"). This "place" serves as the battleground of "The Eye of Minds," the first novel of The Mortality Doctrines -- a place where money can buy you any online experience. And while Dashner has a few rough spots in his writing, this ends up being a fast-moving, twisty cyberthriller. 
 Michael is a hardcore gamer, spending most of his time on the VirtNet -- a network that allows people to experience anything they want, anywhere they want, with anyone they want, while their body sleeps in a Matrix-like "coffin." Even more important, he is a hacker who can make his way around the restrictions that hamper regular people. 
 Then he sees a friend being hacked, which causes her to literally kill herself -- in and out of the game. Dead for real. And she's not the only one -- more and more people are dying in the VirtNet, and more malfunctions are leading to death. 
 Well, as in real life, the government can't do anything about this sort of thing unless they have a hacker on their side -- so they select Michael and his friends Sarah and Bryson to find and stop the hacker known as Kaine, in the VirtNet. Unfortunately, this requires him to leave the parts of the VirtNet that he's familiar with, and venture out into strange, unpredictable areas. And if he doesn't watch himself, the REAL WORLD might be affected by the mysterious Kaine's work. 
 I've read/seen a fair number of people-in-VR-networks stories over the years, ranging from "oh come on" ("Caverns of Socrates") to "this is AWESOME" ("Epic," "Summer Wars"). And "The Eye of Minds" is definitely on the better end of the spectrum -- and a lot of this comes from Dashner's expansive imagination, and his knack for creating sci-fi adventures that are both exciting and thrilling. In other words, if you liked "The Maze Runner," you will probably like this. 
 Dashner does stumble over some issues early in the book, such as awkward dialogue and too-slow pacing -- it feels like he's struggling a bit to get to the parts of the story that he really wants to tell. Unsurprisingly, his writing and plotting both level out nicely once he gets to the meat of the story, and succeeds in flowering out a world where nothing is real, except when it might kill you. 
 But there's also a dark, gruesome edge to the story, from the creatures that threaten Michael to a girl who bloodily kills herself by removing her Core. It adds a sense of urgency to the story, and frankly it's pretty spooky. 
 Michael is a pretty standard hero -- he's clever, innovative but has a heart of gold, and he has an easy, strong bond with the others in his little gang. There's a little hint of romance forming with Sarah, but it isn't really intrusive at this point -- instead it's a little gang with a girl, a fun guy, and the hero. The characters are not hugely original, but Dashner does them fairly well. 
 "The Eye of Minds" is a solid if flawed start to a promising new trilogy, and those who enjoyed Dashner's prior books will probably get a kick out of this one. Just be warned: it leaves you hanging for Book Two.