Thirteen Storeys

By: Jonathan Sims

Narrated by: Ayesha Antoine, Aysha Kala, Ben Elliot, Cloud Quinn, Jonathan Sims, Jot Davies, Katherine Press, Katie Leung, Laurence Dobiesz, Lula Suassuna, Sophie Roberts, Theo Solomon

Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A chilling thriller that's perfect for fans of Get Out and The Haunting of Hill House.

A dinner party is held in the penthouse of a multimillion-pound development. All the guests are strangers - even to their host, the billionaire owner of the building. 

None of them know why they were selected to receive his invitation. Besides a postcode, they share only one thing in common - they've all experienced an unsettling occurrence within the building's walls. 

By the end of the night, their host is dead, and none of the guests will say what happened. 

His death remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries - until now.

©2020 Jonathan Sims (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Good story, mostly boring writing

I will start this out by saying I have a bias for Sims' work. I am a major fan of some of his podcasts. The story itself is great. I love the concept and the characters. They've got actual substance to them and there's even trans representation that isn't the focal point of the character. it's just a brief description like with any other character which was a welcomed surprise.

Like I said, the story is great. The book itself tends to be quite boring for most of it. That's an unfortunate pattern with Sims' work, in my opinion. Great concepts but when it's not on the actual plot parts the work is very slow and boring.

The conflict and more supernatural parts of the story are well written and interesting. It's the filler bits that are duller than hell.

The performances by the narrators were amazing. Loved all of them. Although towards the very end there's some overlap with the voices that can be distracting. Still great work from all of them.

I'd still recommend it. Just know that some parts feel like they drag on for ages.

A Truly Original Story

I loved the premise and the deliberate pacing of the story. My only quibble is that there were several chapters that were not as compelling to me and could have been omitted but I felt the end brought things together neatly and with a deft touch. Came here due to his work on the Magnus Archives and I look forward to more from Mr. Sims.

Very disappointed

I bought this book because, I was a fan of the Magnus archives. He is a great storyteller, and it is well performed. The story line is just same old crap about evil rich person. I find these stories incredibly boring, there were only a few chapters that were good. When government has killed hundreds of millions of people, often in the most horrible ways possible, for fiction writers to keep hammering home that it is the rich that are the problem, blows my mind. Don’t get me wrong the villain was a bad guy, just same old story. I really expected something new from Sims.

good story bad naration

i realy liked the over all story but i think i would have enjoyed reading it more then listening unfortunatly because some of the narators just couldnt seem to be able to put any emotion into what they were reading making it hard to pay much attention.

get through the beginning it's worth it

note!
majority of the story isn't performed by Jonathan Sims, which is fine. however the first few VAs are a little rough around the edged as are the first few chapters. tho the ending is worth it! just raise the speed for the first few idk

Beautifully woven story and a satisfying end

I was already a fan of Jonathan Sims due to The Magnus Archives podcast (go have a listen if you haven’t), so I was already set up to enjoy this work and was not disappointed. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys intricately woven takes and atmospheric tales of the supernatural.

A Modern Gothic Masterpiece

Thirteen Storeys is an amalgamation of, as the title indicates, thirteen stories (although it is in fact a bon mot regarding the thirteen floors of a building as well) that circle around people who become in various ways roped into the will of something seemingly out of their control.

The reason I find this work to be a modern gothic masterpiece is for the literary purposes through which other gothic/horror writers have exercised the fears prevalent in society at the time of their conceptions (e.g., Frankenstein and the fear of modern science replacing God, Dracula and its overt sexuality and xenophobic tendencies).

Sims’ work excels in this very same vein — although with the “modern twist” — in its exploration of the machinations of a billionaire who is apathetic to the world at large as well as the suffering and deaths of those who he has deemed lesser than himself. The twist to which I refer is how the characters choose to react in opposition to a deal that seemingly no one could refuse.

I’ve followed Sims’s work since The Magnus Archives and find his work to be extremely interesting and compelling. I was curious to see how well executed his writing would be on his own without the production team of TMA, but found myself loving every second. I fully recommend to any horror fan. Remember patience is a virtue, give the book its due and wait for the end. You won’t be disappointed.

highly enjoyable, well planned out,would recommend

Each time I thought I knew where the story was headed it took a turn. When it came time for the ending I was still baffled how things could end up how we knew it ultimately would, only to discover every piece of the ending had already been set up. It brought to mind dominoes where just a single motion collapses everything at once and makes you realize how connected it all had really been. Performances were incredibly solid as well and I found it very easy to keep track of the diverse cast.

Creepy and satisfying!!

I cannot say enough good things. It was a brilliant orchestra with each character an instrument and they all got solos, but came together in the end for something truly astounding. Loved it.

Amazing story telling!

I loved Jonny Sims'work in the Magnus Archives, and got his book going for a similar weave of complex, interlocking storytelling with memorable characters and amazing voice acting, and was certainly not disappointed! I'll be keeping an eye out for future work by this incredible author

Three hours in!

I am losing the will to live! I have absolutely no idea what is going on, and even less understanding of the reviews expressed!

I find the characters so far completely unlikeable. The writing is stodgy and somehow disjointed! Time to give up I think!

Perfect horror and a proper F you to capitalism

Can't recommend this book enough, if you love horror and hate capitalism! A wonderful mix between genres and it kept me on the edge of my seat, the whole way through! Perfectly splendid ending, that cured my depression! Hehe.

Jonathan Sims, master of fear

Excellently written, Jonathan Sims has distilled his mastery of fear and dread into thirteen short stories that, like The Magnus Archives, flow effortlessly into a cohesive whole, culminating in a ritual of pure dream logic. I adore his writing style, the performance of each narrator and the ease in which Jonathan weaves a multitude of characters into his tangled web of fears.

Atmospheric urban horror

My first experience of Sims and was impressed by how well he wove the thirteen narratives together. It worked well as a full cast audio experience

spookah

Really enjoyed this. I'm a big fan of this author already. All the narrators were great and the story telling was great. Some chapters really stuck with me and were quite creepy. Great listen.

Far fetched but most enjoyable

Just why would the millionaire owner of a huge apartment block, invite tenants to dinner? You will wait a very long time to find out but the narrators will take you through the maze with their own stories and it is an interesting ride. Take it all with a good pinch of salt and don't even hazard a guess at the denouement 'cos you won't get the right answer - and if you do, then your mind is way further out than mine! Loved it. Thank you Audible 'cos this is a keeper for as long as dementia is kept at bay

An excellent and disturbing horror

Best known for the Magnus Archives podcast, Sims manages to pull together a gripping collection of tales that weave together into a greater narrative. Like a Robert Altman of terror, there are interlinked and suggested connections throughout.
As with The Magnus Archives, there's a a host of symbolism and irony within the manifestations of each narrators 'haunting'.
The ultimate story is one of accountability. It certainly is very prescient in our current climate.

The performance throughout is very high, Sims himself being a high point. the intelligent use of multiple narrators helps to round the concept out even further, and is used to great success. There is some stilted delivery here and there by one or two actors, but my enjoyment was never compromised.

Highly recommended!
I look forward to reading more of his work.

Great stories told by a great cast of narrators.

The voice actors were perfectly chosen to represent the different narrators in each section, each bringing their own unique character wile maintaining an overall consistency of style. I particularly liked the Brazilian artist character, who seemed realistic while also wryly humorous. I was surprised by the amount of dark humour that came across in this skilful horror anthology with a wider social message. The sound production was also very consistent, meaning you didn't have to adjust volume between people.

A Great Listen

Great plot! really well done with a diverse and interesting cast of characters a great listen all round!

Exactly what I hoped for

This was a great story. Creepy, complex and well acted

As a first full novel it was impressive

There were a few bits that maybe didn't work as well as they could have and the ambitious scope of so many stories and characters led to some arcs feeling unfinished but these were minor faults in an altogether enjoyable work.

Really hoping to read more work from this author in the future.