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Simple Needs
The salary enticed him, but murder was never a part of the job!
Being a dwarf never made things easy, but last week was especially rough for Modell Taubert. He’d lost his job and his apartment in one fell swoop. Now, he was living out of his car, subsiding on cheap diner coffee and loaves of day-old French bread.
So when he saw the classified ad for a butler at an isolated manor in rural Maine, he grinned. Not only was room and board included, he could also escape the hustle and bustle of Staten Island. Two birds with one stone, right?
However, he would soon come to realize there is always a price to pay when your eccentric employer has just a few simple needs…
Being a dwarf never made things easy, but last week was especially rough for Modell Taubert. He’d lost his job and his apartment in one fell swoop. Now, he was living out of his car, subsiding on cheap diner coffee and loaves of day-old French bread.
So when he saw the classified ad for a butler at an isolated manor in rural Maine, he grinned. Not only was room and board included, he could also escape the hustle and bustle of Staten Island. Two birds with one stone, right?
However, he would soon come to realize there is always a price to pay when your eccentric employer has just a few simple needs…
169 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 31, 2019
11 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 29, 2020
I thank Reedsy for providing me the ARC.
A modern age ‘David and Goliath’-esque novel that offers plenty of chills and thrills to keep you glued to your seat.
Modell is a dwarf who leads a simple life. He is a car salesman by trade and he dreams of owning a houseboat, living a secluded life away from the mean people he had to deal with on a daily basis. Call it luck or fate, he stumbles upon a classified ad for a butler. What caught his eyes was the $10,000 salary. With no other worthy opportunities in sight, he decides to pay a visit to the Von Stead Manor in hopes of landing the job. But little did he know that he was going to a place of no return.
‘Simple needs’ is a well-crafted thriller that’d compel you to finish it in one sitting. There is so much suspense in the story and it’s hard to flip through it without breaking a sweat.
The setting is very eerie and the manor has a gothic vibe to it. The physical disadvantage of Modell makes it harder for him to achieve what he intends to. The story, for the majority, focuses only on Modell and Von Stead. So you get to understand them a lot better. The first part of the story was written from Modell’s point of view and it threw light on what a person of his stature goes through every day. The way people treat him, the difficulties that he had to endure during the formative years of his life, the injustice he faced, etc., were expressed so well.
The second part was written from the perspective of Von Stead and here we get to see glimpses of the person he really is on the inside. His actions and demeanor are very sinister and is portrayed as the kind of character who is to be taken seriously.
The climax portion was tense and unpredictable. Till the very last page, I had no clue of what was in stock for me to experience. The plot twist left me speechless and took me a while to get in terms with it. Overall, it was a worthy read.
A modern age ‘David and Goliath’-esque novel that offers plenty of chills and thrills to keep you glued to your seat.
Modell is a dwarf who leads a simple life. He is a car salesman by trade and he dreams of owning a houseboat, living a secluded life away from the mean people he had to deal with on a daily basis. Call it luck or fate, he stumbles upon a classified ad for a butler. What caught his eyes was the $10,000 salary. With no other worthy opportunities in sight, he decides to pay a visit to the Von Stead Manor in hopes of landing the job. But little did he know that he was going to a place of no return.
‘Simple needs’ is a well-crafted thriller that’d compel you to finish it in one sitting. There is so much suspense in the story and it’s hard to flip through it without breaking a sweat.
The setting is very eerie and the manor has a gothic vibe to it. The physical disadvantage of Modell makes it harder for him to achieve what he intends to. The story, for the majority, focuses only on Modell and Von Stead. So you get to understand them a lot better. The first part of the story was written from Modell’s point of view and it threw light on what a person of his stature goes through every day. The way people treat him, the difficulties that he had to endure during the formative years of his life, the injustice he faced, etc., were expressed so well.
The second part was written from the perspective of Von Stead and here we get to see glimpses of the person he really is on the inside. His actions and demeanor are very sinister and is portrayed as the kind of character who is to be taken seriously.
The climax portion was tense and unpredictable. Till the very last page, I had no clue of what was in stock for me to experience. The plot twist left me speechless and took me a while to get in terms with it. Overall, it was a worthy read.
October 25, 2021
What an ending!
It was dark and at times had humor, but this novel will keep you entertained throughout. The characters were well-thought out and the reader will easily identify with them. Surprises throughout will keep you reading this terrific till the very end.
It was dark and at times had humor, but this novel will keep you entertained throughout. The characters were well-thought out and the reader will easily identify with them. Surprises throughout will keep you reading this terrific till the very end.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews