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thirteen storeys book coverSomething in the Pipes, Something in the Walls

Author: Jonathan Sims

Thirteen strangers, one location, an invitation to die for. Banyan Court, the creation of billionaire Tobias Fell, is an elite building. Only the super rich can afford its luxury apartments . . . except the very back, the forced second part of hidden “affordable housing.” But never mind, those people in the back of the building aren’t allowed to mix with the affluent, aren’t seen in the luxury side or even addressed by the elite concierge. They are merely a hidden concession. Yet, oddly, some of them are invitees to the strange dinner held by Mr. Fell in his Penthouse apartment. Something in the building, something growing in the walls and churning through the pipes, singing in the TV and lurking in the stairwells, is pulling them all together. Something to do with the breathing walls, with the inexplicable dimensions of the place, with the strange things that have been happening. And it will all be revealed at the dinner.woman hanging upside down

Thirteen Storeys brings together the chosen inhabitants of the building. Each story is dramatically different but linked by location and a sinister, humming background. There is more to this strange building and its shadowy owner, a ruthless man rumored to have gained his riches in unethical, illegal, horrific ways. Each chapter introduces a different character. Some stories are more powerful than others, some characters and hauntings more visceral, but all tie together, grounded in an infected place, called by an evil man.

I was initially reluctant to give Thirteen Storeys a try when it came up as the Horror Aficionados Group’s June 2021 pick. I don’t usually gravitate towards short stories, even linked ones, but the point of book club is to inspire us to take chances on experiences outside our comfort zones. I am so glad I did. Thirteen Storeys was electric with its intense weirdness, its claustrophobic feeling, its insane musings and disturbed look into oppression. Some of my favorite tales gravitated around the pipes, with their blood and decay, a weird skeletal specter calling to the building’s lone plumber, leading him on a chase through places that shouldn’t spooky womanexist to reveal the heart of desiccation. Then, there is the crazy rich art dealer, a man more interested in pomp and circumstance than substance, whose newest painting is causing him nightmares, calling to him, revealing something beyond his mind’s outermost limits. There is the child with her secret feral playmate, a man obsessed with a stain on his apartment’s fancy wall, an old woman dying in front of a TV that talks to her, secret music that only two people can hear and follow, a sleepless woman with nighttime hallucinations, and many more. Each story growing, vibrating with its own internal uniqueness and creating a grime patois that leads toward an invitation and a revelation.

The conclusion is actually not as strong as the stories leading up to it, the moral a little obvious, albeit relevant. I was disappointed at the culmination because I didn’t want the stories – the thing I thought I would not like – to end. Just writing this review brings back the feeling, the addictive and immersive quality of Thirteen Storeys. This is an author I will return to and another lesson: book clubs rule.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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