Skip to main content

The Malice Box Quest

Michael Joseph have unveiled a bold and highly creative marketing strategy to support The Malice Box  - their lead adventure thriller for 2007.  The Malice Box Quest, a five-week interactive scavenger hunt drawing on themes from the book will launch two weeks prior to publication on 15th January at www.maliceboxquest.com

The publisher has also acquired an unprecedented array of high value prizes (details below) to entice as many participants as possible.

 Players are invited to join the Quest and help save the world from eternal damnation by completing seven trials to locate sources of Red Gold, the mysterious source of energy that fuels the Malice Box. 

To do so, they will crack clues, answer puzzles, break codes and navigate around the world using The Quad, a slick GPS device that operates via Google Maps. For each trial they complete, players will earn points, which can later be exchanged for chances to "dig" - Battleship style - for the main prize, a luxury safari adventure holiday for two! Other prizes include flights to Spain and Portugal, TomTom Satellite Navigation Systems and a year's supply of Penguin Books.

Designed by BAFTA award-winning creative company Poke, www.maliceboxquest.com will fascinate and delight the online community, as will the totally original use of Google Maps within the game. Digital strategy experts Holler, who have masterminded campaigns for Big Brother and More 4, are working closely with the Michael Joseph publicity team to create an utterly unmissable online campaign which will generate enormous hype and drive sales. 

The nature of the online game is such that it will hook players into the world of Robert Reckliss, hero of The Malice Box, and spur interest in the novel itself - a thriller of conspiracy and quest that links back to the alchemy of Isaac Newton. Likewise, readers of the novel will be encouraged to play the game and win one of the many fantastic, high value prizes on offer. The game's conceit stems from the novel's plot, whereby Robert needs to complete seven trials in seven days to find the seven keys necessary to prevent detonation of the Malice Box, a terrorist weapon of unimaginable power.

Visit www.maliceboxquest.com, live from 4th January. The quest begins on 15th January. All terms and conditions available at www.maliceboxquest.com from 4th January. 

For further information please contact Sophie Mitchell at Penguin Books on 020 7010 3259 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.