14

By: Peter Clines

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Science Fiction, 2013

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 neighbor 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....

©2012 Peter Clines and Permuted Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A riveting apocalyptic mystery in the style of LOST." (Craig DiLouie, author of The Infection and The Killing Floor)

"A wholly original story that weaves together mystery and the apocalypse like a finely tuned band." (Evan Roy, Bricks of the Dead)

Engaging sci-fi/thriller/horror/???? LOVED IT!!!!

This is not your typical sci-fi book. It's definitely a thriller with heavy influences from the horror genre too. There are a lot of moving parts to this book, but the author and narrator make it easy to follow which kept me engaged. Every chapter had exciting elements in it. The characters are quirky, diverse, and likeable. I'd be surprised if you couldn't immediately identify and root for at least one of them. Without giving anything away it's about an apartment building that has a seriously unique and creepy underlying use and history. The people who live there band together to uncover the uneasy vibes they get from it and strange and even dangerous consequences of living there. The concepts in the book were really unique in my opinion and I've not read anything like it. The author uses language in a way that paints a very vivid picture of every "scene" in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. He really did a great job of voicing each character that really enhanced my visualization of them. He brought the story to life. I thought it was an appropriate length and was never bored. Would 100% recommend it to anyone who is looking for something a little different and good mix of genres (although heavy on sci-fi).

REALLY dug it. Reminds me of a Neil Gaiman book.

[SPOILER...KINDA]. I really dug the mystery meets sci-fi meets physics aspect to it. I know other people were bummed it took a turn, but I thought it was very cool. I could have used a bit more development of what the alternate world was, and why the creatures were so intent on wiping us out, but maybe it's being saved for another book.

A repeat listen

This book starts slow, but I've listened to it many times since I bought it in 2014. It's a good book, action,sci fi, a little romance thrown in for good measure. Just listen, you'll be glad you did.

awesome!

Ray Porter could bring any book to life but this one didnt need too much help, great story, kept me "hooked", good characters, suspense, humor, very well written. I'm a Peter Clines fan now and look forward to more of his books.
The only thing that distracted me was that Roger IS Master Sergeant Bunny Rabbit hahahaha - if you read (listen to) Jonathan Maberry you know exactly what I'm talking about.

one of my favorite narrators in a truly good story

a great take on a new place in fiction one of the places that is definitely on touched by most authors alternate dimensions sure but in this spectrum really cool...

Light and Formulaic

This reminded my very vaguely of Dean Koontz, but was much weaker than even an average Koontz. The characters were simplistic and the relationships unrealistic. It is a SF Fantasy so the plot is what it is (and was mildly interesting) but the rest of the attributes of this book were unimpressive. The two-thirds of the book was a mildly interesting mystery then it finished quite poorly.

The narration was good - clear & clean with reasonable characterizations.

I only read this because it was on the Audible Essentials list (should have looked the the reviews). Many of the books on the Essentials list are truly great books. This ain’t that. Under why this was essential it said “The collective members of our team have recommended 14 so many times that it feels like a prerequisite course to becoming an Audible Editor.”

Overall, although not a bad book, I would not recommend this to anyone.

Super fun story

I’m not sure why this book got some bad reviews but I loved it. I was actually mad after starting this book that those reviews kept me from buying it for a month.

It’s a fun, light story that I couldn’t stop listening to. It’s my second peter clines book and I am officially a fan now. And to top it off, the narration was fantastic as it always is with ray porter.

riveting and some surprising twists!

riveting and some surprising, disturbing twists!
I will read more books by author Peter Clines

Great Story, But sexist

Great story, but hampered by too many sexist assumptions. All the female characters were described in terms of their sexual
Attractiveness, meanwhile the author rarely even shares the hair color of the male characters.

The people in charge are always male and calm in the face of challenging circumstances. the female
Characters are helpers and generally emotional ets.

If the author had told this exact story, and did so from a less misogynist point of view, it would have been a great read. But sexism, like racism and homophobia, is a real problem for me and for readers like me.

Great Start, spoilers ahead

Poor finish. The mystery started good, I was really interested in what was going on. But when they get into the locked room in the basement, things go rapidly downhill. It ends up being a lot of science fantasy. The bad guy was painfully obvious from the start. The author also kills off all the old people. And only old people. I wonder what his problem is. The Old Ones were a major letdown, I would have preferred it if they had just been ominous, without the ridiculous two word sentences.

The narrator, Ray Porter, is fantastic