Ratings157
Average rating3.8
I loved this. It didn't go where I was expecting it to and the audio version gets five stars for the narration. I'll have to think about how to expand this review without giving anything away. :)
Contains spoilers
DNF
Lost is my favorite TV show, so seeing the blurb on this and reading the synopsis got me so excited.
I can't believe how fast I stopped caring about anything.
This reads so overly dense and descriptive, but also extremely young. We're pummeled with characters in the first TINY bit of the book. With the introduction of Xela, I knew this was not for me. It absolutely reeks of man-writing-hot-woman-because-she-is-hot-and-different. It's absolutely insufferable. Talking about her “t!ts” and how she doesn't mind being topless because she's hot and “it's just a body”. Bleh bleh bleh “make sure you bring enough beer for the whole class next time”. Couldn't roll my eyes any farther back into my head.
She's the most pick-me girl I've read in my adult life, and in the most surface-level teen B-movie script way just made me want to never read again.
Between the dense descriptions on every page and the characters that make me have to take an Advil, my disappointment in this book is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
A young man, down on his luck and working a dead end job, finds out from a passing acquaintance at a party about an LA apartment building with outrageously low rent and great views. After looking into
it he agrees to rent an apartment in the very old brick building known as the KAVACH. As the main character Nate begins his stay at the KAVACH he meets other residents of the building and soon he and they begin to trade notes on the building's many mysterious peculiarities (padlocked doors, other apartments with strange dimensions, cold spots, electrical anomalies, etc.). Nate and his cadre of other residents start to explore the building's mysteries, ignoring eviction threats for continuing to go down this path leveled by the building's manager. However, as they begin unlocking the building's secrets they are ill prepared for the “Pandora's Box” they are about to open. I found this story to be well-written and fast paced. It falls into the Sci-Fi/Horror genre and is a satisfying modern day Lovecraftian tale.
This was described as Lost set in an apartment building and I think that is apt.
Every few pages some new weird thing would happen.
Our hero notices some odd things about the layout of the apartments and eventually gets to saving the world.
I read “The Fold” first and then this instead of the other way.
I think you can start with either book and get the same number of surprises.
I enjoyed this a lot and will be reading more stuff by this author.
Being a horror book is already a no no for me, but this book received very good reviews so I decided to try it out.
Not only the exposition was too slow for me, some other things in the brief content I listened to tested my patience. The overly description of every detail and strange thing the protagonist experienced in his new apartment made me think that he author was going nowhere with that particular thread of story. It turned out I was right as the the review I refer to bellow says, ‘mystery for the sake of mystery'.
Also, what is so frightening about a ridiculously cheap apartment where the previous owner was uncomfortable living in and the neighbors are not so keen on their own apartments as well?
I agree with this review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/425855639?book_show_action=true. The things this guys rants about are all the thing makes me mad in a story as well.
Read 42:54 / 12:34 6%
It was ok. I liked the beginning better than the ending, lots of questions unanswered and a few glitches, but I did like parts.
Over-the-top ridiculous, gets worse and worse the longer you get. Still i couldn't put it down, guess thats something
3,5 stars
So the thing is, I'm generally not a horror fan. I guess I love starting my reviews with being honest about my not-so-nice characteristics, eh? But hey, that's life, I get things out of the way. I am not a horror fan. What I like is suspense and mystery, so I guess this book was more up my alley than for people who enjoy serial killer clown and cannibal incestuous hillbilly clans.
Nate Tucker is an (I assume) early thirties guy in LA, working some mind-numbing, dead end tech job, having no money and no girlfriend. Generally not a happy existence, eh? One day he gets recommended some place to rent in a huge, old, creepy-ass building for good money and as he has nothing going for him, he takes it. But as any person would have done, he gets suspicious when roaches are bright green, apartments are random size and shape, some doors are permanently locked and his building manager dude not only dodges questions, but gets pissed. In his defence, as the story progresses, he discovers that a lot of tenants have noticed things already. So they start investigating.
Man, there were some really cute little connections with real life! I enjoy that. I enjoy authors taking real life facts and incorporating them to make the story actually seem more real. To me running to the nearest device to go online and do some research on some name or place. Do it more often, I will buy your book forever. Like... if you ever write a book and you... care about the opinion of one random weirdo. Eh.
Another thing I personally love is a good cast of people who are all kinds of crazy. Yes, I want to see people who would NEVER hang out in real life fight doom together. It can possibly turn into a stupid quirk-fest, or it can go this way and be awesome fun. Retired super awesome cool guys, artists, tech people, carpenters. Without going down the rabbit hole, I love this kind of a “diversity”, the kind that means different point of views in skills, strengths and weaknesses, ways of dealing with issues to form a team I can root for. Skin deep stuff doesn't cut it to me, sorry. But whatever.
What made me deduct some stars was... the writing, though. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't some horrible, nonsensical prose that makes you want to claw your eyes out, but the thing about mystery and suspense is that it can be really supported and taken to a whole new level with some kickass writing. Here... I was missing that thing. Sometimes the descriptions felt really pragmatic and lacked that uneasy feeling that would have made this an at least a 4 star read.
Another slight issue was the end of the book. It was a bit rushed, a bit abrupt. Some things could have been explained a bit better, with more inventive tools. Again, not the worst thing I've ever seen, I just can't say I was 100% pleased with it.
I wouldn't want to call it disappointing, but some polishing here or there would have done good. Maybe I'll try to look for something similar. It was actually a pretty pleasant read. Still, I'll keep looking for something with a similar concept, but a bit more of a polished execution. I would definitely recommend it as a light read, something fun and a bit of a palate cleanser between long series.
So long and keep the monsters at bay!
I really enjoyed 14, but not as much as The Fold. Each of his books keep missing the 5 star mark for me, but I think they are totally worth it.
Wat was de review van de Aarde in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ook alweer? “Mostly harmless”, juist.
Da's zo ongeveer wat dit boek was: “mwof ja”. Niet zo bereslecht als Dan Brown, maar nooit in de buurt van even goed als pakweg Charles Stross' Laundry Files.
Nate is een data entry-loonslaaf in Los Angeles en compleet toevallig (niet echt, blijkt achteraf) krijgt hij een gouden tip: een oud appartementsgebouw waar een plaats vrijkomt, en dat het bijna niets kost.
Het appartementsgebouw is oud (nu ja, wat heet, het is en blijft Amerika natuurlijk: 1890 is de prehistorie), zijn appartement is ruim, er is een hele reeks medebewoners, en al snel blijkt dat er iets fishy aan de hand is.
Er zitten vreemde zevenpotige insekten in zijn appartement, elke lamp die hij in zijn keuken indraait blijkt een blacklight te worden, er is een appartement waar het constant dezelfde (koude) temperatuur is, ongeacht of de vensters open staan en of de airco aan staat, er is een deur die bij nader inzien helemaal geen deur is maar een paneel in de muur, er is appartement 14 met een resem mollesloten aan de deur: mysterie, mysterie.
Nate en een aantal van zijn companen trekken op onderzoek uit, Scooby Doo-gewijs.
Het duurde allemaal heel erg lang om to the point te komen, en de ontknoping was al met al zeer snel over. Ik zag het allemaal nogal aankomen, en er zaten een paar horrorfilmclichés te veel in.
Maar bon, onderhoudend.
The book was not bad. It just lacked a lot. I really liked the overall mystery/thriller/horror premise, and quickly got through the first third of the book. I liked where it was going.
Sadly overall I didn't enjoy the book. I still liked the adventure, but I didn't get attached to any of the characters. I got lost a lot in the “his/her” of sentences, the overly verbose-ness of some of the minute details. I found myself skipping paragraphs then doubling back when I realized I had missed something.
Overall I wouldn't advise people away from the book, but I wouldn't go around recommending it either. I think it overall felt a bit forced.
Pros: very interesting mystery, well paced, some great twists
Cons: characters don't consider that the past dangers might still be around, don't really get to know any of the characters
Nate Tucker's new apartment has a few issues. The kitchen light always shines as a blacklight, no matter what bulb he puts in, the cockroaches are green, and the elevator doesn't work. But the price was unbelievably low for L.A. and his data entry job doesn't pay well. The mysteries of the building intrigue him and he slowly gathers a group of other tenants who want to know why it is the way it is and why so many rooms are padlocked.
When I requested this for review I thought it was a horror novel. It's not. The cover's calling it an “Apocalyptic Mystery” is accurate. There are no jump out of the closet scares. But, the last third of the book has a lot of horror based imagery (and location) in it. The book is predominantly a mystery regarding the apartment building. Why does each room have a different layout? Why does room 14 have four padlocks on it? What's up with the mutant cockroaches? Where's the elevator? Some famous people are mentioned, including an important horror author, whose works the last few chapters reference.
The mystery is very intriguing and is well paced so you never get bored. And this building is WEIRD, with a lot of minor and some major issues the group discovers.
The characters themselves are interesting, with all sorts of backgrounds. You don't learn as much about them as you'd like, but it makes it feel real as how much do you know your neighbours?
Most of the twists were completely unpredictable, though I was surprised that, given what they'd discovered, the tenants never considered that the danger that faced the people who built the building might still be around.
The ending fit all of the build up, being appropriately freaky and challenging.
The first two thirds were different from what I usually read and entertaining. But then when it got to aliens an alternate dimensions I was really put off. Not what I was looking for, and barely jived with the earlier part of the book. The ending was acceptable even after the last third went off the deep end.
Young Nate Tucker moves into the weird, old Kavach building. He begins to notice all manner of strange things: padlocked doors; weird light fixtures; mutant green cockroaches that don't eat. He begins talking with fellow tenants and learns they all have weird things about their apartments as well. Also, no two apartments are the same. When he investigates further, more and more weird things begin coming to light. And it starts getting dangerous.
I was looking for something a little bizzarre, a little horror, a little weird, and 14 delivers on all fronts. Halfway into the story the weird/dangerous factor amps up and then at the end, I'm all “ZOMG!” It was a fun read and the last 40 pages flew by.
This book lacked all the things I loved about the other Peter Clines books I've read. The plot barely crawled forwards at times, and the characters were throughly generic and uninteresting. There were occasional moments where things seemed like they were going to pick up and keep some kind of consistent energy, but it was never sustained for any real length of time. I think I'll stick to his books about superheroes fighting zombies in post-apocalyptic Hollywood.
This book lacked all the things I loved about the other Peter Clines books I've read. The plot barely crawled forwards at times, and the characters were throughly generic and uninteresting. There were occasional moments where things seemed like they were going to pick up and keep some kind of consistent energy, but it was never sustained for any real length of time. I think I'll stick to his books about superheroes fighting zombies in post-apocalyptic Hollywood.