Appartement 16 by Adam Nevill (VO)

Synopsis : Some doors are better left closed…In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever. A young American woman, Apryl, arrives at Barrington House. She’s been left an apartment by her mysterious Great Aunt Lillian who died in strange circumstances. Rumours claim Lillian was mad. But her diary suggests she was implicated in a horrific and inexplicable event decades ago. Determined to learn something of this eccentric woman, Apryl begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House. She discovers that a transforming, evil force still inhabits the building. And the doorway to Apartment 16 is a gateway to something altogether more terrifying…

Review : We decided with Mutinelle to read a book together to compare our feelings about it. For that, we choose Appartement 16.
I don’t often read some terror novels, and I haven’t read one for years, so it was a good opportunity to start again.

Appartement 16 immediately immerses us in his own world. The story is shared in two points of view, one of Seth (a night watchman) and one of Apryl. I prefer her chapters which allow to develop more the story.Apryl is a young, very enthusiastic woman when she arrives in London, a city that she doesn’t know anything about. This girl, who doesn’t have any money, obtains an appartement uptown, full off furnitures, closes… Things that could improve her lifestyle, and her mother’s. But she is unable to sell this inherited appartement without learning more about her aunt and her death. However, as her research progresses, she discovers some facts, she would prefer to never know about. This will lead her to an old dead painter.
Seth is a painter, who becomes more and more weird all along the book. He has some horrible nightmares, he paints a lot of incoherent pictures and he hallucinates about some terrific creatures.

In the beginning, we have an intriguing and morbid ambiance and it increases all along the story. The author has successfully communicated his feelings, especially with all the character’s description, the pictures or even the noises. We try too understand what happens exactly, to know for example, if Seth becomes really crazy.

It’s always difficult for me to read book which doesn’t have a true end and Appartement 16 is just like that. But, in the end, all the characters are connected together, so it allows us to understand a little more.

It’s still a great book and we stay curious all along the story. We wanted to know how they will, each, face the events. I just would like to get every answers in this novel and it’s not really the case here.

3 thoughts on “Appartement 16 by Adam Nevill (VO)

  1. Ce livre est dans ma PAL depuis.. des lustres. Je vais surement le lire de nuit comme toi, j’adore avoir peur. :3
    Par contre, j’aime pas les fins ouvertes !! Je ne crois pas que ça me plairait.. m’enfin, on verra bien. xD

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