15 Floors

A Novel

By: Jack Hunt

Narrated by: Ryan Allen

Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The opportunity of a lifetime.

With frequent reports of a cataclysmic event on the horizon, city slicker Tyler Moore takes the advice of his sister and purchases a fully loaded 72-hour go-bag from a survival store in the heart of New York. Emptying the kit later that night, he finds a card in the front zipper from the manufacturer with instructions to go to a website to claim a free survival gift.

The three-million-dollar offer that would keep his family safe.

After spinning a wheel of fortune, it lands on The Bunker where he’s offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour and win a fully loaded three-million-dollar apartment in a luxurious underground bunker for the super-rich. To participate, all he has to do is sign an NDA and a safety waiver in the next 24 hours to receive further instructions.

An experience he can’t pass up.

Initially skeptical, he decides to sleep on it, but after reading about those who won in the past and seeing things heating up in the news, the temptation of riding out disaster in the lap of luxury is too irresistible.

Survival has a price.

But he’s about to discover, the way to get total "life assurance" from any crisis comes at a price and the odds of winning are one in nine.

The offer is real. The stakes are high. The clock is ticking.

Two hundred feet underground, there can be only one winner.

Enter fifteen floors.

©2022 Jack Hunt (P)2022 Jack Hunt

Puzzle-y Goodness

Action-y, suspenseful, with a bit of a psychological thriller bent, Jack hunt packs ‘15 Floors’ with his signature nail-biting excitement. The bulk of the action starts after a longish prologue that sets up what’s to follow. It's at this point that a book I read decades ago popped into my head, ‘The Westing Game’. I’m not sure why I made the comparison, exactly, but it may have to do with there being a puzzle aspect to both stories. Then, a little later, a tiny hint of a ‘Hunger Games’-esque vibe comes into play. The scenarios the characters navigate throughout the story are clever, complex, and hold the reader’s interest. There are a lot of things to like about this story.

The ending, however, is not one of those things I’ve typed several things to explain why this is, but I keep getting into spoiler-y territory, so I’ll just say that I would react VERY differently than Tyler does.

This is my first time listening to a Ryan Allen narration. He does a great job conveying the tension between the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

Recommended.

15 Floors

It was okay. No surprises. I might give the author another try but this is not a book I will give a second listen. Just okay, I've read worse.

Going Up

Awesome, Awesome take on an escape room. The clues, the concept had me sweating along with nine individuals from all walks of life. I loved it.

Cool Concept, Poor Execution...

I was 2 floors away from the end and I honestly just couldn't do it. I was waiting and waiting for it to get better but it was just a mediocre story with even more mediocre characters. Unless there was some huge ending I missed out on, it just wasn't a fun read. I didn't like literally -any- of the (what seemed like) million characters.

*somewhat spoiler-y ahead* (but not really)
The "contestants?" working together? That made zero sense to me. why on earth would they work together when only one of them can win? it just seemed super strange to me that they all were immediately like "yes like all be friendly."