If you're a fan of The Magnus Archives, then Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims will feel like coming home—if home were a place filled with shadowy figures and imaginary friends with sharp teeth.
Told through a series of interconnected short stories, Sims takes his talent for slow, creeping dread and weaves it into the fabric of Banyan Court - a luxury high-rise and the twelve unlucky residents who encounter what's haunting the halls within. Each story explores a new fear, from horrendous imaginary friends to bizarre paintings that become obsessions, to permeating smells of rot and decay, and various others that circle around each other even though they can all stand independently and be self-contained.
While some vignettes are more horrific and chilling than others, the mix of menacing to straight-up grotesque tales build on themselves, adding new layers of unease with each entity revealed. Honestly, half the fun is waiting to see what twisted nightmare Sims introduces next because you know it will be fresh, imaginative, and probably twisted as hell.
Thirteen Storeys isn't just a collection of horror tales; it's a journey into a nightmare where the ordinary becomes sinister, and every corner hides a new fear. Each resident's story is a puzzle piece in a larger mystery, one that will keep you turning the pages, hungry for answers yet dreading what you might find.
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