Peter Clines

Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches. 

There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.

Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much.

At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbour across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s. Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends. 

Or the end of everything…

Janice Hopper

** spoiler alert **
           This was a quick, engaging read. I liked the first part where the characters were trying to figure out what was going on better than the last part. 

The revelation that the house was the basic border guardian and the threat was from The Great Old Ones cost the book a star from me. I don't find that kind of story particularly engaging. I've probably just read too much Lovecraft over the years. 

But it was OK. I'd read another Peter Clines book.

Ewan

Really really enjoyed this ..

I stupidly read The Fold before reading this, which doesn't really ruin things but there are a couple of little shared universe things that work better one way rather than the other.

Slight gripe

If i played a drinking game where i took a drink every time i read the line "(person) took a hit off their beer and" i would have been hammered

Fraser Simons

I’m pretty sure if this wasn’t an audiobook I would have DNF’d this. It took a while to get going, which is way less of a big deal when it’s an audiobook since I have them running between 1.25x and 2.5x, depending on the cadence of the narrator. Some people talk very slowly. In this case, I had a lot of design work to do so just left it on all day. 

It didn’t actually start grabbing me until almost halfway, and then it ramps up well. The character work is alright, interactions are better. And this would have easily been a 4 star book if the mystery had delivered for me. I didn’t know it was going to be *that* kind of mystery and it ruined it a bit for me. I thought it was going to be a lot more interesting and grounded, and not tapping into Wells and Lovecraft, the later of which I pretty much never find interesting. If you’re into that though, I could see this being a 4-5 star read.

Katrina White

I wish I could give this more than 5 stars. If you love LOST, Stephen King, Mysteries, Supernatural, you'll LOVE this. It's funny, interesting, sad, scary, and creepy. I love when books have great plots like this but still have characters that become your friends (you know what I mean?) this book is like that..loved it!

André Nóbrega

I decided to request this book on NetGalley after reading a comment which stated it was similar to Lost. In fact, the structure of the story reminds one of the TV series, but Peter Clines doesn't have the subtlety of its suspense and he crosses his mystery story with horror which ends up originating a rather weird novel.
14 is the story of how Nate moving into the Kavach building starts a chain reaction of events that culminate in the tenants discovery of exactly what is Kavach but also on the possibility of bringing about the end of humanity as we know it.
The building is in fact really weird. None of the tenants have dreams at night, there are green cockroaches with extra legs, each apartment has different size and organization and there are doors locked so they would never be opened. One can easily understand how they can't get a grip on their curiosity and, as they get to know each other, eventually become a group of investigators, much to the despair of the caretaker.
Clines' writing is simple and straightforward and his characters are generally all but pawns to his plot where the true star is the building itself. One can tell the book is, in essence, the result of the authors will to tell this story, without much dedication to the evolution of the characters, with the notable exception of Nate. The mystery is interesting and is revealed step by step, never slowing down the pace or showing too much of what's ahead. Trying not to spoil too much, if you're going to read 14 expect a mix of Lost, steampunk and H.P. Lovecraft. The book is teeming with cultural and geeky references, from Lost and Fringe to Star Trek and Twilight Zone, to the point where they become tiresome. I usually enjoy finding these small nods to cultural icons but when that is the author's sole means of adorning his text, the fun is drowned by exhaustion.
 
For those who don't mind SPOILERS, there's of course much more to say about 14. One of its strengths is his approach to human relations. He doesn't give them centre stage but he does show their influence on people's decision-making and he avoids those typical fittings or moralised endings. A guy finds a woman attractive but he ends up falling in love for another, not because one of them is shown to be better or worse, but simply because it happens. A weakness would be the ending, where immortal inter-dimensional travellers are dumb enough to give the puny humans time and chance to stop them from entering Earth.
 
Far from being a masterpiece, 14 is still competent as entertainment, leading the reader with breadcrumbs of revelations and always something unexpected waiting just around the corner, resulting in a quick and light read. I might read other works by Peter Clines, if I knew them to be more refined in terms of writing.

This review was originally published on my blog in Portuguese and English.

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