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)

Wow - I almost missed this one !

I had pondered this book several times, but the synopsis and the cover picture just made me think - horror story, creepy murder history, Steven King aura. Just wasn't in that mood, that often. My daughter emailed me about a "fantastic" book she had just finished - 14 by Peter Clines.
That did it for me and am I glad I read it. I really liked this book and hated to see it end.
As so many reviews say, it does end up going more sci-fi than horror. The characters are well written and go very well together. The narrator, Ray Porter, is absolutely excellent and paints the story just like I believe Clines intended. Don't want to tell anything that hasn't already been put out there. It's a surprising story. Take a chance, you'll be glad you did. Really good!

Phenomenal Story!!

Any additional comments?

It read like a treasure map. The narrator took me from one exciting point to the next and I was addicted. SciFi yes; but, it was so expertly written and narrated that I easily overlooked that fact.

I can't release any information without first offering a -spoiler alert-. Therefore, I politely recommend you add this to your library post haste. It was such an addicting story that I not only listened to it during my normal work commute but I had to keep listening for hours when I was home for the day. I even had my ear buds in during my daughter's soccer game, that's how phenomenal this story was. I couldn't wait to learn the next surprise and the next and the next.

A great supernatural mystery - keeps you guessing

I really enjoyed this book, in fact it was my 2nd favorite from 2012 (behind Ready Player One). It had a great groups of characters, the plot continuously kept unfolding without any real lulls, and it was just a lot of fun.

It is kind of a cross between supernatural mystery & techno-thriller -- somewhere at the intersection of (movie) science and horror.

Great narration as well..
Recommended.

Odd

Full of twists and turns. With a group of odd people who find out what's going on in an apartment building. It was an interesting read.

Great narration, great writing, pretty good story

Best narration since Game of Thrones books. Really engaging, interesting characters. Good humor, good dialogue. Well written.

The only thing holding me back from giving the story give starts is I'm not sure I like the choice of the big reveal. Without giving anything away, this book is about a building with mysterious qualities that pile up add the book moves on. Engaging as hell at this point, which is 4/5 of the book. But eventually the curtain has to be pulled back and they reveal to the reader what's behind it all. I was hoping for something different behind the curtain. I enjoyed it. But I would've liked it to be something else. And they didn't really use the coolest thing in the book enough. Not gonna reveal what that is but if you've read it, you know. I wanted more of that.

Still recommending it. Very enjoyable.

14 is a 4

Any additional comments?

My first Clines book which I only got because Audible had it on sale. Very enjoyable and fast moving. Clines adds some dialogue that was completely unnecessary and seemed pointless but he did have me caring about Nate and the other building dwellers. I really enjoyed the investigation part which covers 80% of the book. The climax seemed a bit rushed but sprinkled with some excellent segments. The main characters were well developed and believable.
My first Porter book as well and he does an excellent job. I may have liked the book more due to his reading than I normally would have and I will keep my eyes out for his other reads. Solid listen.

Enjoyable but too much filler

Enjoyed the character development and building of mystery premise. Problem is after finishing you realize a significant portion of the book is just filler. Expeditions of pointlessness (tunnels and sci-fi land). Still an enjoyable ride since it all seems relevant when you are "reading" it.

Didn't love this book

I really wanted to love this book. I had heard how great it was, and I loved the fact that it was different. This is unique book with a unique plot, I like authors who take me somewhere I've never been before.

So I enjoyed the book, I thought it was a solid read, but I just never loved it. The characters are well-developed and some of them really jump off the page. In the end, though, I just didn't care as much as I should have about how things turned out. I felt like I should care, I just didn't.

Good book, if you've heard great things about it, you won't go wrong by reading it. But it was not the exceptional story I was hoping for when I started.

High hopes equal mediocre results

I had huge expectations for this book. The first half delivered as promised but I felt the second half took a turn for the worse. Maybe I was hoping for more horror and less sci-fi in which that's my fault. I absolutely love Ray Porter. Can't get enough of the Joe Ledger series. So he wasn't the problem. With that said, I would recommend this book but only after stating be ready for a very strange turn in events.

Such an awesome surprise of a book

Listening to this audiobook took me back to the days when I'd be a horrible moocher and hung out and free-read in my buddy's comic shop in Virginia and stumble onto a graphic novel I'd never heard of, and 3 hours later, find myself starving and realizing I'd read through poli-sci class. If you love suspense, cults, old gods and a colorful cast of characters who range from sounding like Duke Phillips from "The Critic" and Stu from "The Life and Times of Tim" --this is a good choice. Nicely fleshed out characters, genuine relationships within the story and a narrator/voice actor who really knows what he's doing. Ray Porter is a narrator I'll be looking out for and Peter Clines is rock solid. Check out his Zombies with Super Heroes series (yes, I just typed that out loud) for even more quick, dirty fun.