Armageddon House

by Michael Griffin

Utopia. Four people living together deep underground in a subterranean facility. All their needs provided for. Food, water, medicine. A swimming pool; a gym; a bar. Except none of them can recall exactly how they came to be there, or what they are supposed to do. Dystopia. Where are the others? There must have been others. It's a huge facility, after all. It must be some sort of experiment. They're test subjects. How long have they been there? When will they get out? How come there has been no outside contact? Utopia or dystopia. As the questions mount, so does the tension. Who will escape Armageddon House?

Michael Griffin's riveting new novella ARMAGEDDON HOUSE grabs you and doesn't let go. It will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. This is a haunted house of a different sort.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Weird Fiction, Fiction, Mystery

73 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four people, Mark, Jenna, Polly, and Greyson find themselves locked in some sort of subterranean bunker. None of them know why they are there and none of them can remember how they came to be there or of the life they had before arriving.

That's it. The whole story. A little too ambiguous for me. I had no idea what was going on and the ending brought no enlightenment whatsoever. I feel like the author wrote himself into a knot that he couldn't quite untangle. Or I read it wrong, who knows. 2 stars!

Thanks to Overdrive for the loan.

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to a day in the life of Mark, Jenna, Greyson and Polly. Although, perhaps it’s night. It’s kind of hard to tell when you’re entirely cut off from the outside world.

Everything they could possibly need is provided for them. There’s more than enough food to last a lifetime and alcohol is plentiful. They can laze around the pool, exercise in the gym or explore countless rooms. It sounds like paradise but is it really a prison?

“We all forget things, more and more every day.”

Their memories of before are hazy (there was a before, wasn’t there?) and there’s no one to answer any of their questions about why they’re … wherever they are. They don’t know how long they’ve been [insert your best guess here] or how long this experiment test captivity refuge whatever it is will last.

With only a daily routine standing between them and their paranoia-fuelled tension, this utopia (if that indeed is what this is) could be coming to an end.

It wasn’t long before the cogs in my head began to whir. I was intrigued by this world that was appearing in my imagination and looked closely for new clues that could help me solve the puzzle.

“We should’ve been told.”

I have this (probably not normal) fascination with stories that drop characters into strange scenarios that they don’t understand - yet. Cube is one of my all time favourite movies, even though I am convinced I would have died there, as well as in the first room of Escape Room.

While I love watching characters piecing together the clues that will increase their probability of survival, I’m even more interested in the psychological fallout. Seeing how different people respond when they’re plonked in the same fishbowl, and wondering how I would react in similar circumstances, is something I can’t get enough of. The characters’ various coping mechanisms and the group dynamics sucked me into this story almost as much as the mystery of What The Hell?!

Fear is corrosive.

If you’re looking for a nice, neat story, with all of the answers waiting for you on the final page, wrapped up in a pretty bow, this is not the story for you. I suspected going into the bunker (if that’s what it is) that I was unlikely to have all of my questions answered and I was semi prepared for the frustration that comes with the unknown.

While my frustration level is higher than I expected, my need to know for sure has diminished greatly. If the author ever provides all of the answers to every question ever, do I want to know? Hell, yes! Did I have fun coming up with my own increasingly outlandish explanations, some of which I’m still pondering? Absolutely!

Mostly for my entertainment, but also for yours if you’re interested, I present to you just some of the many question marks that hovered over my head as I read …

Is there actually an outside world? Are there other people either inside or outside?

Are they underground at all? Are they even on Earth?

Are they billionaire preppers who purchased their survival in an apocalypse? Was there an apocalypse? Was it aliens?

Are they unknowingly participating in a social experiment that’s being broadcast across the world? Is one of the characters a mole?

Do the other three people exist or are they the hallucinations of one person who’s been isolated for too long?

Is this AI or virtual reality?

If any of them do find a way out, what kind of world will they be walking into?

I absolutely love Vince Haig’s cover design. Is that a face I see?

Two final thoughts:
1. I doubt I’d ever get the TV to work in this place.
2. The cleaning scene is still messing with my mind.

Thank you so much to Undertow Publications for the opportunity to read this novella.

Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody Brilliant!

This book starts off relatively reminiscent of stories depicting dystopian rule and a lot of isolation. Four characters (Mark, Jenna, Polly, and Greyson) are indeed isolated in what is assumed to be an underground bunker or some deep government secret testing facility. Tension between characters are high. There’s a bully, a mentally ill person, a leader, and what could very well be a passive aggressive psychopath.

At about the half way mark, the story becomes weird and just gets weirder and weirder until the whole thing climaxes into one strange and phantasmagorical mess. I mean that in the best possible way. It’s a play on our own reality and constantly questions what it means to be alive as a human being.

This is the type of stuff I like to read best. It makes you think, continuously making you question what’s going on. It does this from the very beginning, and once it has its hooks deep into your flesh, it twists the chains and pulls.

Much food for thought here. Also, it’s bloody brilliant. Highly recommended!

[Micah Castle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Armageddon House is a fast-paced, evocatively written, psychological weird fiction novella about four people living, seemingly willingly, in a bomb shelter or an underground bunker in an unknown location somewhere in the world.

Griffin just drops you into the protagonist mind, and doesn't really explain what's going on in the world that drove them to the bomb shelter/bunker initially, or why they chose to go, or why were they the ones to go and not other people, or—

There's just a lot of questions not easily answered, or answered at all. Which might be intentional.

It's one of the books that really goes over your head if you're not paying attention to the subtle cues and descriptions. It's like he's writing a story behind the story. It reminds me of House of Leaves in a way, but not as complex and puzzling, and it definitely deserves a re-read for me to fully grasp the entirety of the story.

But, the story that you do understand is one about life, the routine of day-to-day actions, of what it all means, if anything at all, and what will happen once it's over; about friendships and relationships, past, present, and future; about yourself changing through the years, no longer being the person you were in the past and no longer being the person you're now in the future, and your own ticks, your own idiosyncrasies... It's amazing that Griffin could touch on so many things in such a small book.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, despite the ever present feeling of missing something throughout my read. I recommend picking this up if you're a fan of Griffin's previous work, or you're just a fan of weird fiction.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Not what I expected, but surprisingly good.

Four adults, two men, two women, live together, sealed in an underground bunker. They have no idea how long they have been there, why they are locked away, or when they will get out. Their memories of their past lack clarity and raise a lot of questions. They assume they're participating in a test, but of what kind precisely? No one knows.

Their life revolves around daily routines: cleaning, eating, speaking. When one of them goes missing, the rest starts looking for her in the bunker. Personalities start to clash. Weird things happen, and the tension between characters spikes.

It's short but dense.Worth a read, especially if you like books that play with your head.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing, I refuse to put it down because I absolutely MUST find out what the hell is going on here, almost read it in one sitting but I started it too late last night, fuck with your head on a multitude of levels, this is why I read small press, book.

It's a wicked noodler of a dystopian/utopian/post apocalyptic novel in which the author drops us smack dab in front of Mark as he awakens, as he always does, at precisely 6:20am in his tiny room. Mark is one of four people who appear to have willingly/unknowingly gone into isolation together. They have been locked in some kind of bunker/building/spaceship/experiment underground/in space/on another planet for an unknown period of time, and there appears to be something wrong/not right/off about each of them, and they might be/are withholding/forgetting/lying about information/themselves as they move through their daily routine.

Are you wondering if I fell down and cracked my head because I'm not making any damn sense? Good. Because reading this book is very much like that, but in such a deliciously awesome way.

Think Immobility and The Warren by Brian Evenson. Think Wool by Hugh Howey. Think 10 Cloverfield Lane, think Passengers. We only know what the characters know and we are trying like hell to figure things out along with them. And yes, we are left just as confused as they are when the book draws to a close. that's not to say that I don't have my theories. Oh man, do I have theories!

Don't blink for a second. You can't afford to.

Undertow Press continues to show me that they are all that and a bag of chips. Every title I've read from them continues to raise the bar and blow me away. And now excuse me while I go find more Michael Griffin titles to devour.

[Roz · Rating 1 out of 5]

So not my kind of book. Sorry for the rating but ugh.

[Steve Stred · Rating 5 out of 5]

** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **

‘Armageddon House‘ by Michael Griffin is one of those books that came onto my radar via a Twitter suggestion. I believe it was Shane from Ink Heist’s tweet I saw saying that Griffin was looking to connect with reviewers for reviews and so I reached out and bingo bango, a digital copy was kindly sent over by the great folks at Undertow Publications.

Not since ‘At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames‘ and ‘All Hail the House Gods‘ have I been this enraptured with a book where at each passing page I tried to figure out what was happening, but had absolutely no idea where it was going.

What I liked: The premise is simple: four people live in an underground bunker. That’s it. But it isn’t that simple. The four continually see changes, both in each other but in this place they inhabit. Bits and pieces of memories come back, but not enough to fully remember them before. They all know something happened, the world ended somehow, but are they an experiment? Paranoia over who knows what and how much really drives the narrative and Griffin always gives you a little bit more, to keep you following that carrot before you. I loved the pacing and how Mark was the main character but not really. That may not make sense, but after you’ve read it, you’ll understand. There was one moment that really had my cage rattled – when it was Mark’s turn to clean up a specific room. It was just a fantastic little slice of crazy and it heightened everything that happened after.

What I didn’t like: As with most books like this, it’ll drive some people bonkers that there are no clear cut and well-defined answers. For me, I really dig that because it makes me fill in the blanks, but I can see that being a point of contention with some readers.

Why you should buy it: If you loved the two books I previously mentioned, this will sit nicely alongside them. It’s just a speeding train with no brakes and you want to know what is going on and they why. For most readers, this will be an easy one-sitting read, but it’s a book that has intricate, infinite layers and one that’ll stay with the reader long after they’ve finished. I may actually dive back in after a month or so and see if a re-read unearth’s any new clues to the ending.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenna and Mark, Polly and Greyson.
Four somewhere in time, in isolation.
They have memories vague, and thoughts, imagined things, with secrets and questions arising as things unfold on their past and future down in their dwelling place and their very essence and meaning of being there.
The author has you following along their dilemma, rituals, days in cycles, almost like Truman Show same time same witnessing of repeated actions and routines, almost programmed, and then you find this is not Truman show like, no humor, the author wants to take you for a twist, a Black Mirror, or Twilight Zone spin of fates.

This tale has some eery resemblance to life of present in isolation, a weird human tale of existence leaving two things, either to finish with things to process within the psyche of the reader for quiet hours to come or merely pass of as folly and fun.
The sense of this crucible tale that runs parallel to present status of inhabitants of earth amid a pandemic came about with maybe this set of words:
“In his room, Mark obsesses on the ticking of his watch. The passing of time is impossible to prevent, but Mark wishes he could disassemble and reassemble the parts so the days would pass the way they’re supposed to.”
The author has nicely conjured a utopian work of speculative fiction for the reader to be lost in its depths for a short vivid visceral slot of minutes of existence.

I will be reading his collection The Human Alchemy some time this month, that sits on my TBR paperback pile for a while now, with very tempting cover inviting one to be lost within its pages.

Review with excerpts @ More2read

[Monique Snyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason, probably due to still being in Lockdown Level 3 in South Africa, I found this book super unsettling and weirdly relatable. Armageddon House was a great story and the writing was excellent. Definitely one for the bookshelf.

[Remostyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 3.25 stars out of 5 ***

I enjoyed this one a lot. In fact, this is one of the best modern weird lit I’ve read lately.

This is a very unsettling story. Not outright maybe, but it’s more implied, more in the tone and mood. And the great thing is, granted it’s short but Griffin is able to sustain that feeling throughout, not tuning it down even for a moment. The way characters talk with each other, their bizarre relationships and reactions to equally bizarre events occurring is making you uncomfortable, in a great way. This is exactly the type of weird lit I enjoy. Speaking of characters, they are as well written as it gets for this length of a fiction.

So why not 5 stars you ask. The ending. It fell completely flat for me. Look, Im all for ambiguous endings, no explanations etc. But, in a sense, you still have got to tie things up to some degree. This just felt totally random. Man, it was such a shame that a great story like this one ended on such a low note…

Still though, I’d highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys “Annihilation” brand of weird lit. It’s a very solid read.

[Kev Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of this book, it felt like something of a departure from Michael Griffin's previous work, the ethereal dreamlike quality of his settings replaced with something all the more grounded, physical. Four individuals, our POV character being Mark are in an underground bunker. None of them seems to know why, for how long, or how they got there.
The novella is character driven, with the settings deliberately quite sterile, and the story advances on the back of the relationships between them.
It's a short read, so to say more would be verging on spoiler territory, but this is an excellent way to burn through an hour and a half of your life. Prepare for things to spiral out of control once the fuse is lit.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars.

A novella about four people who live in an underground* bunker. Who are they? Why are they there? Do they know? Well, yes and no.

An excellent example of establishing a situation the narrator thinks of as normal, and describes normally, then letting the weird and horrible bleed through the cracks. The 'disposal room' chapter partway through was a great escalation. You don't get all the answers you want by the end, but you at least have a strong idea about what the situation represents.

*Maybe.

[Ends of the Word · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I hadn’t pre-ordered Armageddon House in early March, before the Covid pandemic escalated, I would have easily believed that this novella was inspired by the lockdown. It starts in medias res, presenting us with two couples of sorts – Mark and Jenna, Greyson and Polly – living in a hi-tech underground bunker. Their subterranean world has all the necessities they require. There’s a well-equipped kitchen, a gym and swimming pool, a tavern and even a sort of museum. There’s food to last many a lifetime and unspecified “medication” which they need to take on a daily basis. Away from the outside world, these characters try to hold on to their sanity by sticking to well-established routines.

Are these four characters the last survivors of some apocalyptic disaster? Are they human guinea pigs in a strange experiment? They don’t know and we don’t know either. Mark – from whose perspective we seem to see things – suffers from strange memory gaps, perhaps induced by the medication. There are glimpses of hazy memories, hints suggesting a very different past. The quartet explore the levels of the bunker, trying to understand their situation and to possibly find a means of escape. We look on, as lost and perplexed as they are.

At first, this book reads like a literary equivalent of the “Big Brother” reality show. In close, enforced confinement, tempers fray, tensions simmer, occasionally overstepping into violence. Friendships are made and unmade, desire waxes and wanes. As the novella progresses, however, we realise that the claustrophobic horror portrayed does not exist merely an individual level, but also on a cosmic one. Tellingly, Griffin slips in references to Norse sagas. Whilst these mythical undertones initially seem out of place in a sci-fi scenario, they suggest that Armageddon House should be read as an existential fable, possibly representing our constant struggle to understand the human predicament – Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Whether the book works for you or not depends, of course, on what scale of “weird” you like your “fiction” to be. In some ways, Griffin’s novella reminded me of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. I feel that, like Harpman’s book, Armageddon House is a “novel(la) as thought experiment”. Narratively, it leaves too many questions unanswered. I find this frustrating but other readers, of course, might not – some might even delight in the ambiguities. Beyond the bare bones of the plot, however, the novella raises haunting, philosophical questions which cannot be easily dismissed and this is where its strength lies.

3.5*

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe if I’d read this at another point in my life and not when I’d just woken up, I’d have got more out of it. As it is, I don’t get it and I’m too tired to question why.

I’m very vocally not a fan of dreamy narratives and metaphysics and to be honest I just wanted some explanation of what was happening. Sure there’s a whole spiel on life and death (though nobody acknowledges the word) and maybe some stuff about the world as a whole ending but I was very confused.

[Cail Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I blazed through this book, it’s hard to put down.

The writing is gripping and easy to follow at first, but as it gets farther along, I found myself re-reading sections to confirm I’m tracking with what-the-HELL is going on.

This book left me with a lot of questions, but it’s a helluva fun ride. I’d be curious to hear the author give his take on the ending in a podcast or interview.

Dystopia-drenched weird fiction. Dig it.

[Sheena Forsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Groundhog day-but dark, twisted and in an doomsday bunker. 4 people find themselves sealed in an underground bunker. None of them seem to know much about themselves nor how/why they ended up there in the first place nor when/if they are going to get out. All days start the same way and they’re trapped in a seemingly never ending loop of routines. They seem to agree that they’re in a test of some kind, but nothing else. It is at its core an existential horror story and very well written. Who am I? Where am I? What is the meaning of all of this? When/how will it end? The plot has been elegantly woven out of all the questions we and the characters have. You’re left unsure what is up/down, right/left. If you want a clear/cut, tidy ending and a gift-wrapped monster, this is not the book for you. If you, on the other hand, want to be rattled, disturbed and left wondering for days I suggest you crack it open.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Underground bunker settings form a small sub-genre of horror, though I am only up to three.
Though this is enjoyable and suitably puzzling, it is not quite as weird or disturbing as the other two I have read; The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks (actually a young adult book), and the excellent Wretch by Ansgar Allen.
This, as do the others, may possibly be dystopian, but it depends on how the reader sees it.
Four people, apparently two couples, live in this particular underground bunker. Memories of what they think is the world before flit in and out. Nothing is clear. They suspect something happened, but paranoia features heavily, they fear they may be part of an experiment.
Don't expect clear cut answers. A lot is left to the reader, as with Wretch. It is cleverly done, but a bit light on darkness - not quite enough to raise a scare.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little novella is just...bizarre. Dystopia by way of Dickian questioning of reality. Kafka-esque resolution to the situation. Questions left unanswered, plots left unwritten, and just...bizarre. Some of that may sound negative, but on the contrary, I quite liked it.

[Joe Scipione · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review coming soon to horrorbound.net but quick thoughts. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Haunting and weird and tremendously impressive.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four residents of a strange underground habitat

Michael Griffin’s novella called “Armageddon House” is the story of Mark, one of a quartet of people living in a kind of multi-level bunker. They are experiencing something like a time loop, repeating a daily pattern without any certainty of why they are there or what is happening to them. As the novella’s plot progresses, events become more and more surreal. Griffin has built a unique and fascinating setting for this book, and reading it is like stepping through a series of rooms where each is more strange than the one before. I appreciate reading fiction that takes me somewhere I have never been. “Armageddon House” does that most compellingly.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. I have no patience right now for pretentious, self-indulgent obfuscation with delusions of literary grandeur.

This wants to be deep and baroque and absurdist, but mostly it's just random bordering on incoherent. There are glimmers of a high concept, but it never fully manifests.

I have no problem with unanswered questions in a story - the implied narrative is one of my favorite tools - but the key for that sort of storytelling is that I need to believe that, at least somewhere, there is a full narrative, and the author has a story that they're sharing glimpses of with me. That's not the case here; instead this just comes across as self-important and incomplete. I'm not sure whether the vague nods at Norse mythology make it better or worse, given the current state of White supremacists appropriating that imagery.

At least it was short....

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't necessarily need my stories wrapped up in a bow but this was so opaque and seemingly anti-narrative that I did struggle to get much out of it. I think maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I were more familiar with Norse mythology? The door in the bottom level called the Utgard door, the tree which seemingly grew from the depths all the way through to the top level and presumably up to the surface - Yggdrasil? What might have been references to Odin concerning one of the characters, but I may just be reading into it. It felt like there was something rich and mythic potentially lurking beneath the surface but it just didn't coalesce for me, as much as I wanted it to.

[Thomas Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two men and two women find themselves in a strange underground bunker, and no-one can agree on the reason for them being there. We can always rely on Mike Griffin to deliver a weird and unsettling tale. Told from the point of view of one character, Mark, things soon unravel as tensions and weirdness continue to ramp up the action. The characters all have complex and relatable characteristics (some more relatable than others!) and the unique setting/conflict makes for a very original story.

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obscured, and definitely in Media Res, even a lovely homage to Fenris and his capture, but perhaps the finish could have benefited from more intense clarity, because it seemed a little light on the reveal

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, but not something I'd feel comfortable recommending

[Shikhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Griffin’s compelling novella centers around Mike (Griffin?) and his thoughts and questions, regarding four people and their isolation in a subterranean facility. Yet, each revelation gives birth to new questions.

Mark and Jenna. Greyson and Polly. Their day begins in separate rooms, each with their own murals on the wall opposite the bed. Mark is wistful of a time when he and Jenna were still a couple, before they began a pantomimed relationship for Greyson and Polly’s benefit. Mark cannot remember when they separated. Indeed, Mark cannot recall much at all. This becomes a theme that grows throughout the novella, for all four of them. “Each of the four has always known, without remembering ever having been told, which bottles they need, and in what dosages. They self-administer shots, or count pills to be swallowed with water...Each sits in their own elegant white leather reclining chair...[b]eside each, a stainless-steel tray organizes the day's medicines...[t]heir remaining supply, sufficient to last years, is kept within glass-fronted coolers along one wall. Further back, a massive freezer stores deep overstock for the longer term, though Mark imagines
none of them want or expect to remain here long enough to deplete the refrigerated supply...He takes this as given...”

Mark, from whose point-of-view the entire story unfolds, is aware that they are all locked in, deep underground. Each has his or her own idea as to the reason why. Is it in order to protect them from the harsh post-apocalyptic landscape above? Is it an experiment, for which each is being handsomely recompensed? Mark hates Greyson for his physical aggression towards him. Is HE the spy? Is the mole Polly, whose craziness is occasionally evident in statements like, "You know actually, I think we aren't the real test, ourselves...We're like a simulation of the big test they'll do later, somewhere farther away. Isn't that right? Like, a test for a test. I mean, humanity is just a trial run anyway. Preliminary, that's the word. Preliminary test. Each test is practice for another test, and that's practice for the next one. Only, how many? Like, which one is this?" It is Polly, whose antics continually send the others running downstairs, or upstairs, trying to find her?

But Mark may have his own agenda.

Their day is rigidly structured: mealtimes, exercise, pill-time in the Medicine Center, and of course, “sunbathing” beside the enormous swimming pool. The facility could serve hundreds. Thousands. Are they all that’s left of the human race? Griffin nimbly interjects hints of just how bizarre the truth may be, when “[t]oday is Mark's turn in the rotation for biological disposal...The others leave without cleaning up after themselves. After they're gone, Mark uses tweezers to gather organic detritus from each work stand into the larger stainless-steel tray atop the roll cart. Tiny of detached skin, unwanted eyelids, lobes and appendages, discarded trimmed nails, hairs and eyelashes pulled out by roots, all the flesh scattered amidst blood smears and spatters. Every day, the shedding of these parts leaves behind more waste than all the days before. This avalanche of decay, a kind of incremental death, is necessary for the renewal it brings. Each morning's birth, nearer and nearer to something new, and possibly final. Usually the mess doesn't bother him, when it's his turn. Today he averts his eyes as much as possible. Imagining a smell, he holds his breath....”

Griffin deftly leads the reader from idea to idea, and ultimately, to action. These characters live and breathe, even the worst of them lovable, their dialogue authentic enough to make the surreal feel commonplace.

If you haven’t read Michael Griffin’s work, ARMAGEDDON HOUSE is certainly as good an introduction to his skills and talent as you’re likely to find.

[Jim Andrew Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a smart little novella with an intriguing premise that almost pays off.

Mark, Jenna, Polly and Greyson are stuck in a bunker with everything they need to survive: food, exercise equipment, medicine, artificial sunlight. The bunker has many levels, each with its own mystery. But the overall mystery is why they are there. Is it an experiment? Are they the last survivors of an apocalypse? None of them can remember exactly how they got there, or who they really are. It's a creepy scenario that builds a lot of tension.

The characters are interesting at times, their histories are shrouded in mystery, and they have nuanced relationships with one another. But at the same time, they're somewhat one-note characters. Polly is neurotic, Greyson is an aggressive jerk, Mark is milquetoast, and Jenna is ... just Jenna. There's not a lot of depth to the characters, but that doesn't mean they're badly written, just a bit shallow. They efficiently serve their purpose in furthering the story, and they became more interesting towards the end, but never quite break out of their one note boxes.

I found myself enjoying this book a lot while I was reading it, but ended up a bit frustrated by the ambiguity of the ending. There are endings that make you think and ponder the outcome long after you read it, and then there are ones that make you just go "huh?" Unfortunately this was in the latter category for me.

Overall, I liked the book but would have liked a bit more meat on the bones of the story.

Thank you to the author for providing an ARC for review. Michael Griffin has a sharp, crisp writing style that I enjoy and I look forward to reading more of his work.

3.5/5 stars

[katooola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Długo myślałam nad tym, co o niej napisać. Krótka, niby taka niepozorna ale nawet kilka dni po jej przeczytaniu pojawiały się w mojej głowie kolejne pytania...
Czwórka osób mieszka w supernowoczesnym podziemnym bunkrze, nie brakuje im niczego. Mają wszystko, ekstra wyposażoną kuchnię, siłownię i basen... Starają się żyć zgodnie z wyznaczonymi procedurami ale z każdym dniem narasta napięcie gdyż żadne z nich nie pamięta od kiedy tam się znajdują, skąd się wzięli? Czy biorą udział w eksperymencie naukowym? Czy nastąpił koniec świata i znajdują się w bezpiecznym zakątku? Czy dobrowolnie się tam znaleźli? Kim są? O sobie wzajemnie niewiele wiedzą, ich pamięć zawodzi... Stają się podejrzliwi, myślą że inni wiedzą lepiej i narasta między nimi nieufność...
Ta historia gatunkowo to takie połączenie postapo i weird fiction, skojarzyła mi się z filmem Cube i grami typu escape room.
Z jednej strony mogłoby to zostać potraktowane jako wstęp do grubszej historii ale z drugiej strony otwartość jej zakończenia i pozostawienie czytelnika z milionem pytań bez odpowiedzi sprawia, że wzbudza emocje i nie da się jej tak łatwo zapomnieć.
Wydanie jest przepiękne! 😍 W sumie, ciekawa, dziwna i poplątana książka. Wyjątkowo nie umiem jej ocenić ?/10

[S.E. Martens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Griffin captures the disjointed unreality of a dream. Like something cooked up by one's unconscious mind, this novella is layered with symbolism and relates back to reality, but never directly. Rather it approaches things at a sharply slanted angle.

Four adults are living in a mysterious bunker, with many levels, deep underground. The bunker is big enough for more people, and stocked with supplies to last years, but they are the only ones there. They have a regimented routine, which they follow, despite the fact that no one seems to be making them do so. They are locked in, but we don't know why - and they don't either. They are each disoriented and have different theories as to what's going on. Memory plays tricks on the main character - or possibly on all of them - so as a reader it is very hard to get a real sense of what is going on.

And then the narrative jolts you with something extremely weird. And then it settles back. And then things get weird again. It creates this feeling of tension and unease that is very interesting. It lost me a bit at the end, but I don't regret the read.