Prisoner X by Anne Nocenti finally brings Longshot into the X-Men novels. This is again another book that doesn't utilize the whole of the X-Men. Cyclops' team and the professor are at Muir Island doing research so the other X-Men have a chance at some downtime.

All the present X-Men, by a quirk of fate, seem to stumble onto the same problem. Something fishy is going on at UltraMax, the new prison, and it's connected with a new virtual reality game. There is also a virtual reality game that is tied in somehow with several mysterious disappearances. Then Rogue sees a familiar face on MAXROX, the prison-run television station, Longshot is Prisoner X and he's going to be executed live.

Suddenly everything makes sense; Mojo has entered the X-Men's dimension and is using the prison to film his idea of entertainment. So the X-Men send one of their own to UltraMax to find out what Mojo's plan is so they can stop him.

Overall I liked the story in this book, but I found it tedious to read. What I didn't like was the author's constant criticism of the prison system in the United States. Now I know that a book is often where an author gives his or her opinion on a subject, but I do not like being beaten over the head with an opinion. I would also like to point out that a novel such as this is not necessarily the place to voice such opinions because it is primarily for a reader's entertainment.

In the end, the author's personal opinion and constant voicing of it detract greatly from the book and make it a chore to read. A book that would normally take me about 3 - 5 days to read took well over 2 weeks and as a result I'm not recommending it.