The Mind Game — Hector Macdonald

The offer was impossible for Ben Ashurst to resist: participate in cutting-edge research for Oxford's most prestigious scientist, James Fieldhead, and spend three weeks in a tropical heaven with his bewitching new girlfriend, Cara. But as the experiment to unlock the secret of human emotions veers from abstract theory into terrifying reality, Ben finds there is no one he can confide in. Snared in a masterfully crafted labyrinth of cunning, in which each step can lead closer to a solution or deeper into chaos, Ben scrambles to learn why he was chosen for this project. Fieldhead's obsession with game theory suggests a possible course of action. But every time Ben thinks he has discovered the winning move, he finds another level of deception, another betrayal of his trust.