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Book Review of 14

14
nrlymrtl avatar reviewed on + 297 more book reviews


Nate needed a new place to live, a cheaper place to live, so when he landed this apartment in an older building, he didn't look too closely at all the little strange things. Later, he wishes he had made a closer inspection before moving in.

I didn't really know what to expect from this book, except that it would be fun. I really enjoyed Clines's The Fold and so I jumped right into this book without even reading the description. I was not disappointed. While the story starts off tame, it gets a bit creepy, and then twists into a wild ride towards the end. The initial mystery of the building pulled me in and the hunt for the truth kept me fully engaged.

The characters were fun though I can't say that I was particularly attached to any of them. I liked that several ethnicities were represented, as well as ages, and we had a good gender ratio. Perhaps Veek was my favorite as she is so prickly but also the brainy one. Xela was often the comedic relief with her preference for nudity.

The unraveling of the mystery was my favorite part of the book as it was a delicious slow burn to figure out the truth. There's the mutant cockroaches and then the odd messages hidden under layers of paint in some of the apartments. The landlord is strongly against any of them figuring out anything, so Nate and his fellow tenants become rather suspicious, and also curious, about him.

Once they finally figure out the mystery, there's a whole new set of problems to deal with. I totally didn't expect the ending. The last fifth of the book went to a place I had not foreseen but totally made sense. I was very pleased with the heart-pounding ending. I hope there may be another book with some of these same characters and the same building in the future.

Narration: Ray Porter did a really good job with this book. He had several accents for the various characters and his female voices were good as well. I especially liked his voice for pissed off Veek.