Review: Superb storytelling!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2012
DISCLAIMER - I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, but it did not influence my review or rating at all.Books can be written excellently, but if the story isn't interesting, then the book is almost worthless.  That is not a problem with this book at all; the storytelling is completely what makes "The 11th Floor" so good.  The fact that the writing is good just makes reading the story much more enjoyable.STORY - The plot is really unique, because it follows five completely different people's exploration of a seemingly deserted city (that each of them knows is usually packed with people).  It's obvious that something isn't quite right, but each character is forced to explore the town, looking for a way out.  The only person who could help them get out of town seems to be on the eleventh floor of a certain building.  Unfortunately the building seems to want to make it very difficult for them to get there.I can't compliment the story enough; I loved it.  It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I loved being able to see through the eyes of the different characters.  Switching between certain characters' perspectives is done in every chapter, so I suppose some readers might get a confused from all of the changing.  I personally thought it was expertly done, and it kept me from getting bored with one character.It should be noted that the ending is open-ended.  It definitely finished this story but leaves an opening for a sequel.  I didn't find it to be a cliffhanger at all, simply a way for the author to write another book.WRITING STYLE - The writing is all grammatically perfect.  There don't seem to be any typos.  Looking at previous reviews, this may be due to a revision on the original download.  There are still a few conflicting details, but they're easy to overlook if you aren't specifically perusing the book for them.There are still some areas that while not bad could still be improved upon.  I'd love for the author to show me characters and settings more than tell me about them.  There were a lot of details given to the reader that could have been inferred through the actions of the characters instead, which would have made the story seem less of a narration.Also, I would have liked a bit more character development.  I wasn't as invested in all of the characters as I would have liked.  I wanted the author to make me strongly care about what happened to these people.  While the characters weren't necessarily underdeveloped, I just wanted to relate with their experiences a little bit more.  It's possible that this was due to the constant character switching in the book.OVERALL - This is an excellent story with good, firm writing.  A few things were lacking to give the story that extra kick to make it a must-read, but they didn't detract much from the overall enjoyment of the story.  I highly recommend this story to all who enjoy suspenseful thrillers.WARNINGS - Language, Violence, Peril, Alcohol References