My Two Cents (Book Review): THIRTEEN STOREYS by Jonathan Sims

In Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims, the towering Banyan Court apartment building in London is haunted. Built by a reclusive billionaire, Tobias Bell, the site where the high rise stands is steeped in tragedy and death. Now, it's a mixed-income residential marvel, or at least, that was the original intention. However, as in real life, the low income side of the building, constructed with less-than-quality materials, is significantly shabbier and more decrepit than the affluent side, and residents are kept deliberately divided between rich and poor. The book is a collection of stories about residents and visitors to both sides of Banyan Court, all of whom share two things in common. First, they've all experienced unusual and unsettling phenomena inside the complex. Second, their individual stories, while different and distinct, all culminate with the receipt of a mysterious invitation to join Tobias Bell in his penthouse suite for a banquet.

As with most anthologies, some of the stories here are better than others. All are effectively creepy and disturbing, with some of the standouts to me being:

• "The Knock," the second chapter, which features a haughty art collector getting much more than he bargains for when he purchases an unusual painting.

  
  

• "Bad Penny," the fourth chapter, in which a little girl's imaginary friend is always very, very hungry.

  
  

• "Viewing Essential," the eighth story, in which a harried real estate agent wrestles with a crisis of morality -- and comeuppance -- reminiscent of the movie Drag Me To Hell.

  
  

• "A Stubborn Stain," the ninth story, in which a beleaguered business executive grows obsessed with a peculiar discoloration seeping through his apartment wall.

  
  

• "Old Plumbing," the eleventh story, featuring a plumber who really ought to trust his instincts better.

  
  

• "Point of View," the twelfth chapter, which breaks away from preceding stories and is told in a "found footage" style instead.

With a collection called "Thirteen Storeys," you know what you're in for in terms of length when you start reading, but I'm not going to lie: it felt a lot longer in places than 320 pages. And even though several characters in the stories overlap, the overall pacing, though consistent, doesn't really build until the very end. Then, it all crashes together at the penthouse dinner party that has been hinted at throughout the book. Unfortunately, by the time Sims brings all of the characters together for this climax, the reader has lost track of who is who, and the careful pacing of the preceding chapters gives way to POVs that careen back and forth every few paragraphs. It feels rushed, especially since the buildup to the banquet was so deliberate and steady, and the "big reveal" for the hauntings isn't totally clear. We get an even quicker "wrap up" after the banquet's gory main event -- a short epilogue of sorts in which we see what happens to those who have lived to tell their tales -- but even so, as a reader I walked away with more lingering questions than answers.

Long story short, there are some terrific (and truly terrifying) setups in each of the titular "Thirteen Storeys," but the ending could have benefited from following the slow-but-steady blueprint of its preceding chapters.