14

I think I’ve admitted this before, but in case you don’t know, I was a huge Lost fan. I was totally suckered in by the mystery, the characters and the uniqueness of the show. Say what you will about it, but the early seasons at least had a sort of breathless excitement that I found myself carried away by. Later though, sigh, it turned into a slog. But I stuck with it! Through the horrible plot holes, lack of explanation, killing off of my favorite characters, and just downright lame plot points I stuck with the show, all because I was still gunning for some kind of payoff to those first few breathless seasons.

Whether or not Lost paid off as a whole is debatable. ( And oh how it has been debated.) I’ll just say that I remain unsatisfied, yet not enraged by the show. I feel mainly disappointed, and that’s mostly because that early promise and taste of mystery that was so exciting when I first encountered Lost just sort of… fizzled. It soon became clear the writers just didn’t know where they were going with… well anything.

14 by Peter Clines was then an especially satisfying listen for me. It has that same sort of mystery/puzzle premise Lost has but it knows where it’s going with it. Also like Lost it’s not ONLY about the puzzle. Its characters have heart and are people you can follow and care about, something that I think is vital if your entire plot is based on solving a puzzle. Otherwise all you’re left with is cold, clicking parts and no warmth.

There is no island in 14, instead the puzzle and mystery centers around an apartment building in LA. Our “hero” Nate, hears about the building through an acquaintance and needing a place to live on the cheap seizes the opportunity. But not all is as it appears… there are some weird things going on in the building (the light in his kitchen is a black light no matter what bulb he puts in, there are bright green cockroaches with extra limbs skittering about, and not to mention all those weird locked rooms he’s not allowed into) and Nate becomes at first mildly curious, but then evolves into a determined investigator as he uncovers more and more weirdness about the place he now calls home. He meets other tenants, who are for the most part likable, if perhaps admittedly a bit zany and canned, and teams up with them to finally uncover the mystery of the building.

The unavoidable problem with a premise like this, and like the one in Lost, is that eventually you have to solve the mystery and unmask the bad guy, and whether it was a real ghost or just the creepy old caretaker all along, as a writer, there are issues to deal with either way.

I’m not saying 14 is flawless in how it solves its mysteries… but it is creative and it is a ton of fun, and for God’s sake it seems like Clines actually story boarded the thing out before he started writing, unlike the crazy people who created Lost.

What really pays off in this book are the character arcs. Nate is at first an aimless temp who hates his job and is just trying to get by. At the risk of sounding too cheesy, I really connected with him and thought it was incredibly fun and satisfying to see the mystery around his apartment and the connections he makes with the other tenants instill him with a sense of purpose and change his life for the better.

The audiobook is flawlessly read and I could see it being a great listen on say, a family road trip. (Though with like teenagers, I wouldn’t try to get a 5 year old to listen to this or anything.)

I recommend the book, I had a ton of fun with it. That being said I’ll issue a warning… it is in the end a sort of goofy adventure book. If you go into it too seriously or expecting something life changing you’ll be disappointed, but if you’re willing to go along for the ride it’ll be a good one.