Book: 14

Though I'm in no way the first person to observe it, as I grow older  I find myself more and more disturbed by something I've taken to calling the King Dilemma. The King Dilemma is simple: for  supernatural mysteries, the more compelling the mystery, the more disappointing the resolution. I first noticed the King Dilemma in the works of (you guessed it) Stephen King. King, to me, has an undeniable gift for setting mood, building tension, creating horrifying mysteries. What he does not do well is resolve them. In my opinion, many of King's books would be better off if he ended them about 2/3 of the way through with everybody dying.

Now, this isn't a hard and fast rule, and it isn't restricted to just King, and even King himself has exceptions: 11/22/63, for example, and Bag of Bones both reach hugely satisfying conclusions for me. But more often (Duma Key, Dreamcatchers, From a Buick Eight, Hearts in Atlantis, even classics like It) King's works fall apart once the answers start to roll in. For some, the King Dilemma completely ruined the tv show Lost, an argument I can't disagree with, though somehow that show worked for me because so many answers were left incomplete.

As someone who really enjoys supernatural fiction and the questions they raise, I do think there are people who can pull it off right: Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, even King's own son Joe Hill, are all somehow to maintain the tension they build. And honestly, I'm not sure what the difference is. Maybe it comes down to how silly you find the answers provided.

That was really my problem with 14. The novel begins with a slow and fascinating buildup as the protagonist discovers that his apartment isn't quite normal. Like a mashup of Lost and the stupidly entertaining (though short-lived) 666 Park Avenue, both the location and its inhabitants are unusual enough to make me curious. Clines is a fun writer, but when the "explanation" finally comes, I just couldn't take it seriously enough to maintain the tension or my interest in the novel. And that's disappointing--I mean, I'm a guy who reads vampire novels all day and enjoys them just fine.

In the end, I wanted to like 14 more than I actually did. And though it was a great audiobook (through Audible) to listen to, the last hour or so got monotonous. The King Dilemma once again. I suppose if I ever write a book (which is getting more and more difficult to suppose, given the amount of writing I've been doing lately) it's something I'll have to try and watch out for--though I'd guess that all authors, like King and Clines, believe that the ending works. 

So maybe it just comes down to taste.

Grade: C