Roberta Ritter has been waiting for a knight in shining armor for most of her humdrum life. She’s a doormat, a nobody whose mother died a few years back, a smart girl who wastes her afternoons working in a failing arcade in a failing shopping mall. And then a Crusader arrives. . . .

Only this Crusader is a virtual reality war game, one that does a booming business at the arcade, despite—or perhaps because of—the controversy over its racism and violence.

Roberta’s boring life explodes. Onetime friends become bitter enemies, strangers reveal themselves as allies, and Roberta discovers the truth about her mother’s death. In uncovering what’s real and not just virtually real, Roberta learns to stand up for herself—and, maybe, to become her own crusader.

As the line between the game and her life blurs, Roberta must confront hard truths about her family and find her own courage.

• A Throwback 90s Setting: Set in a failing shopping mall arcade, this novel perfectly captures the feel of a pre-internet era where virtual reality was a strange and controversial new frontier.
• Finding Your Voice: Roberta starts as a quiet doormat, but as she digs into her family’s past, she discovers a strength she never knew she possessed.
• A Strong Female Protagonist: Readers will root for Roberta as she transforms from a passive girl waiting for a hero into a crusader in her own right.
• Uncovering the Truth: Roberta was told her mother died of a heart attack. The arrival of the Crusader game forces her to question everything she thought she knew about her family and herself.