Thirteen Storeys

Still, the billionaire fundamentally had nothing against the people who lived here, in the paupers??? tenement he had designed. Their poverty, their lack of education and class, it wasn???t their fault. It was simply the by-product of a system. And Tobias had no respect for those who benefited from a system but could not stomach looking at the waste produced by it. This world was designed to generate winners and losers, and it showed a lack of character to wish yourselves a winner without accepting what it does to those who lose.

Another masterfully written piece by Jonathan Sims. Every single story was thrilling and authentic.

And parallel to the obvious “Haunted House” take, the book undertones a brilliant critic of today's social stratification, ethical issues and the price that needs to be paid by the poor and working lower class to generate grotesque wealth for the upper level, few top of the world individuals.

spoiler

I found the 2 pages Epilogue where in the end everyone has a happy ending quite weak and uncessary but it doesn't strip away the book from its glory

I cannot wait for Jonathan Sims' next book !

I liked the idea of this book I think more than the execution. Not all the stories were equal and I found it hard to get through some of them. And the over all message was pretty heavy handed especially at the end. But I did enjoy some of the stories enough that I can't say it isn't worth a read, just a bit of slow one.

But if there is one thing that truly makes this novel stand out, it???s the central theme. ???Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely??? is a statement that many people have encountered at one point or another - and it is, sadly, one that all too often turns out to be true. Except in very rare cases, anyone who gets even a scrap of power is likely to abuse that power: a tendency that escalates the more power someone is given. And since money is the easiest path to, and source of, power, it should come as no surprise that the wealthiest people are also the ones most prone to abusing their power. Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk: just googling these names will lead to many stories showing how so much of their wealth is built on the abuse and exploitation of the less fortunate. And they are not the only ones who have done so: a quick peek through history will show that, all too often, the acquisition and maintenance of great wealth tends to come at the expense of those who are most vulnerable to exploitation.

Full review here:https://wp.me/p21txV-IY

Gruesome with a purpose. Heavy on the social commentary, heavy in general. There are some quality creeps given, but the pacing is tricky. You spend 325 pages of a 387 page book getting to know the characters and to a certain extent the phenomena that will feature in the denouement. There's a limited amount of interaction between them. This is essentially 12 short ghost stories drawn together by the thirteenth chapter. I think it pulled it off, but I can see how it might not work for horror readers depending on what they thought they were getting based on the cover/synopsis. Think more creeping dread rather than pulse-pounding slasher. ⚠️gore, cannibalism