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Hard Truth
Will the Truth Set You Free?
To the outsider, Thomas Van Steen seems to have everything—a successful business, beautiful, sexy wife, loyal best friend, expensive cars, and custom-tailored suits. But on the inside, his life is not as perfect as it seems. His aging mother is experiencing rapidly declining health. To see her through her last days, he has set her up in his New York City penthouse with the best care money can buy. The second flaw in this perfect life? Thomas is oblivious to the fact that he’s a misogynistic, narcissistic hypocrite who treats everyone except his mother with contempt and disdain.
Celebrating a huge win at a poker game, and on the verge of closing an incredible business deal, Thomas and his idyllic existence come to a screeching halt. Exiting his apartment in a rush, he finds himself trapped in the elevator when the power goes out. Feeds from the building’s security cameras are still live, though, keeping him from being completely cut off from the exterior world. Unfortunately, these only provide grainy pictures and sounds echoing off the building’s stairwells, corridors, and lobby to give him clues to what’s happening outside. Nothing he sees or hears is reassuring to him.
Trapped inside, powerless in every way, he feels the cracks forming in the carefully-laid foundations of his world—exposing a cold, hard truth he is unprepared to face.
To the outsider, Thomas Van Steen seems to have everything—a successful business, beautiful, sexy wife, loyal best friend, expensive cars, and custom-tailored suits. But on the inside, his life is not as perfect as it seems. His aging mother is experiencing rapidly declining health. To see her through her last days, he has set her up in his New York City penthouse with the best care money can buy. The second flaw in this perfect life? Thomas is oblivious to the fact that he’s a misogynistic, narcissistic hypocrite who treats everyone except his mother with contempt and disdain.
Celebrating a huge win at a poker game, and on the verge of closing an incredible business deal, Thomas and his idyllic existence come to a screeching halt. Exiting his apartment in a rush, he finds himself trapped in the elevator when the power goes out. Feeds from the building’s security cameras are still live, though, keeping him from being completely cut off from the exterior world. Unfortunately, these only provide grainy pictures and sounds echoing off the building’s stairwells, corridors, and lobby to give him clues to what’s happening outside. Nothing he sees or hears is reassuring to him.
Trapped inside, powerless in every way, he feels the cracks forming in the carefully-laid foundations of his world—exposing a cold, hard truth he is unprepared to face.
172 pages, Hardcover
Published October 15, 2018
About the author
Andrew Butters
8 books19 followersAndrew Butters opposes every aspect of GenAI and does not use it for any part of his process or in the production of his work.
He’ll say his first published work was Losing Vern as part of the Orange Karen: A Tribute to a Warrior anthology. In reality, it was a 500-word anecdote about the time he lit himself on fire in the third installment of the Darwin Awards books, and was the catalyst for writing Near Death by a Thousand Cuts.
For a minute, he had screen time on the Super Dave Osborne Show and even performed a trick on stage with Penn & Teller. He scored a goal at Maple Leaf Gardens and did an art swap with filmmaker Kevin Smith. A TV commercial gave him three seconds of non-speaking airtime, and don’t forget his appearance as a fighting unhoused person in a hip-hop video.
He writes, creates, snacks, and is a fan of golf, science, equality, and the Oxford comma. Andrew sometimes lets his love of attention override common sense. You can find evidence of this anywhere you find him.
He’ll say his first published work was Losing Vern as part of the Orange Karen: A Tribute to a Warrior anthology. In reality, it was a 500-word anecdote about the time he lit himself on fire in the third installment of the Darwin Awards books, and was the catalyst for writing Near Death by a Thousand Cuts.
For a minute, he had screen time on the Super Dave Osborne Show and even performed a trick on stage with Penn & Teller. He scored a goal at Maple Leaf Gardens and did an art swap with filmmaker Kevin Smith. A TV commercial gave him three seconds of non-speaking airtime, and don’t forget his appearance as a fighting unhoused person in a hip-hop video.
He writes, creates, snacks, and is a fan of golf, science, equality, and the Oxford comma. Andrew sometimes lets his love of attention override common sense. You can find evidence of this anywhere you find him.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 14, 2020
This was interesting. You have a main character with very few redeeming qualities but when the power goes out he's placed in a situation where he's forced to see exactly what people think of him. As readers we're guided through the past few days leading up to the situation as the other people in his life interact with him and each other, often in ways that he was not aware of.
The time stamps throughout only serve to remind us of how quickly things are unfolding. There's also a slowly ticking away of time in the preset day of the story which serves to drive the main character's deteriorating demeanour.
The ending was especially well-executed.
The time stamps throughout only serve to remind us of how quickly things are unfolding. There's also a slowly ticking away of time in the preset day of the story which serves to drive the main character's deteriorating demeanour.
The ending was especially well-executed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review