E-ARC Review: 14

Posted by Nina L. on 12:00 PM in 3-star, fantasy, mystery, Peter Clines, review, sci-fi,

Author: Peter Clines

Release date: July 11th 2013

Publisher: Createspace

Series: Something More # 1

Age Group: Adult

Genre: Sci-fi / Mystery / Fantasy

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository 

Add to your library: Goodreads

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... (via Goodreads)

I received an e-copy of this from Permuted Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I gotta be honest first. I was a little bit disappointed on how this one turned out. I enjoyed reading the book. It was so interesting and thrilling discovering what really was going on with the building. But as that mystery was unveiled, I don't know. I felt down a bit. I didn't really think it was something like that. And it didn't even exceed my expectation. It was just right in the middle. It was sort of cliche and I was tired of that.

This novel didn't make me bored. It was really written nicely. The background of the characters, the way they became that curious, the odd things they noticed in the building, the process they went into to put the pieces together, the meetings they did in the entertainment room, the adventures they made within the building, the time the truth about the building came out and finally, their battle with what was really sort-of hunting the building. 

In every novel like this, there's always the bad guy who'll ruin the good days of the characters. I wasn't so surprised that, that character was the bad guy. It was in his aura so I wasn't shocked when he just went and did his thing. Honestly, it was something to do with his faith. Funny because the ideas were contrasting in a way. 

As I've said, I didn't really expect the mystery to be like that. Surprised? Yes. Liked it? No. Not really. It was a bit odd for me. I can't really understand it all. It was a bit vague in some ways. There's a lot of explanation that I think defeats its own purpose to explain why that building was like that. Also, I still have unanswered questions. It wasn't cleared for me at all. But since I've finished it, I guessed it's still interesting in a way.

14 is a nice thrilling read. I still liked it despite the fact that I didn't like the idea of the mystery behind that building. But maybe you will. Mystery, suspense and experiments all in one. You'll definitely enjoy the characters' journey in trying to unveil the mystery.

  About the Author

 

Peter Clines is the author of the genre-blending -14- and the Ex-Heroes series.

He grew up in the Stephen King fallout zone of Maine and--inspired by comic books, Star Wars, and Saturday morning cartoons--started writing at the age of eight with his first epic novel, Lizard Men From The Center of The Earth(unreleased).

He made his first writing sale at age seventeen to a local newspaper, and at the age of nineteen he completed his quadruple-PhD studies in English literature, archaeology, quantum physics, and interpretive dance. In 2008, while surfing Hawaii's Keauwaula Beach, he thought up a viable way to maintain cold fusion that would also solve world hunger, but forgot about it when he ran into actress Yvonne Strahvorski back on the beach and she offered to buy him a drink. He was the inspiration for both the epic poem Beowulf and the motion picture Raiders of the Lost Ark, and is single-handedly responsible for repelling the Martian Invasion of 1938 that occurred in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. Eleven sonnets he wrote to impress a girl in high school were all later found and attributed to Shakespeare. 

He is the writer of countless film articles, several short stories, The Junkie Quatrain, the rarely-read The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe, the poorly-named website Writer on Writing , and an as-yet-undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll.

He currently lives and writes somewhere in southern California.

There is compelling evidence that he is, in fact, the Lindbergh baby.

 Website | Goodreads