Available instantly

Hardcover
£8.06

Paperback
£3.75

Audio, cassette
—

Buy used

£3.75

FREE delivery 9 - 11 August. Order within 8 hrs 42 mins. Details

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Infinite_Books

Only 3 left in stock.

Other sellers on Amazon

Used (13) from £3.73 & FREE Delivery

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Colour:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Adam Nevill

Follow

Apartment 16 Paperback – 7 May 2010

by Adam Nevill (Author)

846 ratings

See all formats and editions

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...

Product description

Review

`Apartment 16 is setting the bar high for British horror writing this year. I'm not the most easily spooked of people when it comes to my reading choices; Apartment 16, however, managed to get me sleeping with the lights on, acted as the catalyst for two spectacular nightmares and turned the simple task of walking through my flat late at night to get a hot drink into the eeriest of beverage quests.' --Dark Fiction Review

`Not since reading Stephen King's It has a book managed to instill such a feeling of fear and disquiet in me... Apartment 16 is an excellent horror book from a talented author. Highly recommended.' --Fantasy Book Review

'A wonderfully written, deftly-plotted tale of terror. Apartment 16 kept me guessing right to the end, and kept me turning pages long into the night. If horror is going to make a comeback in 2010, this is the book to lead the charge. Highly recommended.'
--Speculative Horizons

`His writing shows an almost perfect melding of the old and the new: the raw atmospherics of Blackwood, the subtle and oh so terrifying nearly-glimpsed horrors on the periphery of M.R. James' and H.P. Lovecraft's imaginations; the masterly development of buildings and environments as characters and vessels, and a cutting contemporary miserablism describing everyday urban hopelessness that is as grim and inevitable as the spiral into which Seth and Apryl find themselves descending. Put simply, he writes damn unsettling prose.' --Book Geeks

`There's something sort of pleasingly old-fashioned about Apartment 16. Nevill doesn't offer gratuitous gore or flashy weirdness. Instead, he builds terror brick by brick, with subtle intimations and well-orchestrated escalating strangeness.' --Bookotron

`However the thing that sets this book apart for me was Nevill's style. At one stage, one of the protagonists' nightmares were so well written, dark, impressive that I could picture the vivid details in front of my eyes. The darkness of the setting was so well imagined and it was so well conveyed that the whole experience was truly disturbing at times, something that I would expect from a good horror book.'
--Speculative Book Review

About the Author

Adam L.G. Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is the author of the horror novels: Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16, The Ritual, Last Days, House of Small Shadows, No One Gets Out Alive, Lost Girl and Under a Watchful Eye. His first short story collection, Some Will Not Sleep: Selected Horrors, was published on Halloween, 2016.

His novels, The Ritual, Last Days and No One Gets Out Alive were the winners of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. The Ritual and Last Days were also awarded Best in Category: Horror, by R.U.S.A. Many of his novels are currently in development for film and television, and in 2016 Imaginarium adapted The Ritual into a feature film.

Adam lives in Devon, England.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan Books
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 7 May 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0330514962
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330514965
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 318 g
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 3.05 x 20.32 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 2,091,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2,373 in Horror Thrillers
- 33,991 in Thrillers (Books)
Customer reviews:
846 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Adam Nevill

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Adam L.G. Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is an author of horror fiction. Of his novels, 'The Ritual', 'Last Days', 'No One Gets Out Alive' and 'The Reddening' were all winners of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. He has also published three collections of short stories, with 'Some Will Not Sleep' winning the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection, 2017.

Imaginarium adapted 'The Ritual' (2016) and 'No One Gets Out Alive' (2020) into feature films and several other works are currently in development for the screen.

Adam also offers three free books to readers of horror: 'Cries from the Crypt', downloadable from his website, and 'Before You Sleep' and 'Before You Wake' are available from major online retailers.

The author lives in Devon, England. More information about the author and his books is available at: www.adamlgnevill.com

Customer reviews

846 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Review this product

Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book an absolutely fantastic read with good character development and a strong start. The writing quality receives mixed feedback - while some find it well written and engrossing, others note it's repetitive. Moreover, the suspense level and pacing draw mixed reactions, with some finding the plot intriguing while others say it's boring, and while some say it progresses at a good pace, others mention it gets slow in the middle. Additionally, the imagination receives mixed reviews, with some praising its originality while others find it far-fetched.

Select to learn more

Readability Character development Start date Writing quality Pace Imagination Pacing

43 customers mention ‘Readability’43 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as an absolutely fantastic and entertaining read that kept their interest throughout.

"...Good read though :)" Read more

"...Is quite a large book, but well written - was a good read." Read more

"...is a must read for any horror fan out there, it's weird, warped and wonderful. Thank you for bringing it into the world Mr Nevill! 4/5" Read more

"This started off a really good read,but unfortunately about halfway through it started to drag; the explanations of the things going on in the..." Read more

26 customers mention ‘Character development’19 positive7 negative

Customers praise the character development in the book, describing it as an excellently crafted horror novel with good character descriptions, making it a must-read for horror fans.

"...a greater whole successfully, and in doing so create one of the better horror novels that I've had the pleasure of reading...." Read more

"...who inherited an apartment from her great aunt Lillian, she's a likeable character who you support all the way through in her quest to find out what..." Read more

"...reason I won't give it five stars is because I found the main character rather annoying...." Read more

"...The characters here were all pretty good, I’ve worked the night shift in dark old places like Seth and felt the feeling of being trapped working..." Read more

13 customers mention ‘Start date’13 positive0 negative

Customers like the start of the book.

"...It started off well, with a good sense of foreboding and chilling tension, but towards the middle of the book, I felt that the author wasted far too..." Read more

"...Basically, it's a book that had a great, strong start, lots of promise, but slowed down and ended weakly." Read more

"...It starts very well and builds a sense of subtle creepiness and strange goings on in Apartment 16...." Read more

"...paced story but this wasn't the same unfortunately-the beginning and end were fine but the middle was too descriptive as if he was trying to extend..." Read more

57 customers mention ‘Writing quality’34 positive23 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book, with some finding it well written and engrossing, while others note it is repetitive.

"...; to the contrary, I thought they were quite understated and well written given the context...." Read more

"...Secondly, the author tends to use very strong language for no good reason...." Read more

"...I'm gald I did as this is a 'nice' creepy little tale. The story is well written and characters are well 'drawn' in that you can understand..." Read more

"...same unfortunately-the beginning and end were fine but the middle was too descriptive as if he was trying to extend the book it was so very drawn..." Read more

20 customers mention ‘Pace’8 positive12 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it well-paced and finishing quickly, while others report that it got slow in the middle and dragged on.

"Started off quite well but then dragged on with basically each chapter going over the same thing...." Read more

"I found this book slow and lingering ,very engaging and creepy in parts" Read more

"...The middle loses a lot of pacing. Some scenes could have been shortened or even omitted...." Read more

"...and compact as in "The Ritual" but still read well and progressed at a good pace...." Read more

11 customers mention ‘Imagination’6 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's imagination, with some finding it quite imaginative and original, while others find it far-fetched.

"...the book, as some of his visions/experiences in the story were quite imaginative, had a strong impact and moved the story forward...." Read more

"...The story was long, drawn-out and just absurd. You can read the plot in many others reviews so I won't go over it again...." Read more

"...It is an intelligent, unique and interesting story, one that certainly takes a warped mind to conjure up!..." Read more

"...book provides repetitive descriptions of unwashed people, mean and stupid, facing mean and stupid deaths. Not much good, I'm afraid." Read more

9 customers mention ‘Pacing’4 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it too heavy-handed.

"...It tells a story of the neglected, the forgotten, the lost souls in the depths of hell that only the evil seem to bother with, purely for their own..." Read more

"...vividly portrayed and the book genuinely has a dark, dismal, and sinister feel about it and finishes with a nice twist about another character in..." Read more

"...with the unseen world, a hellish place filled with lost, broken, evil souls...." Read more

"I enjoyed this book..it had a great paranormal feel about it and it is a paranormal storyline but of a different dimension and I am not sure I liked..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

Will
A very scary book from a very talented horror author
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2010
Verified Purchase

This review originally from my horror review site and blog: [...] -- There are a few books that I can think of that filled me with a genuine sense of dread, whose prose created a world and atmosphere, whether it be for a brief moment or over a prolonged period, that made me feel quite uncomfortable.

I don't just mean exquisitely written torture-porn style musings either, but well written copy that's aptly psychologically taxing on a reader's mind. Hell House by Richard Matheson was one such book, where I recall feeling ill at ease several times whilst reading, the author's apt delivery and storytelling skills merging perfectly to deliver a nice few punches to the reader's comfort zone.

Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go also had its own moments of stomach lurching twists as the real nature of the protagonists' existence becomes apparent to the reader.

Having finished Adam Nevill's Apartment 16 I must say that this writer's ability to craft an uncomfortable feeling comes as close to perfect as I can think of, whether it be through character's actions, reactions and emotions, or the buildings and streets of London ascribed temperament as powerful as aforesaid personality traits.

The novel's focus is upon two primary characters who are kept for the most part separate, but whose worlds intervene through common interest in the high class private tenement building of Barrington House. Seth is a night watchman at the building, and following a few experiences with things that go bump in the night near the apartment number 16 of the title, a flat that has been empty for the best part of fifty years, finds himself undergoing mental and physical change as his perceptions of reality begin to flounder.

As he undertakes a dark and often surreal journey whose course seems set from the start, the other main character, Apryl, begins an undertaking of her own whose consequences and discoveries intertwine with those of Seth's. Apryl's great aunt has left her and her mother a flat in Barrington House, but soon the shine of the potential windfall of such a luxurious property begins to wane, as investigations into the tragic decline of her recently passed relative begin to place her in a position of vulnerability to forces that seem set on shaking her own grasp on normalcy. The journey both take is one that has you turning the pages eagerly, to chart their progress (or regress) in this muddied and sour world.

Decay and deterioration, blurring reality and sanity are themes throughout the novel and are so well implemented through Nevill's poetic ability whether writing of London, society, a carpet, a thought thread, sanity, that one is really treated to class writing on top of a decent plot inspired and evolved from many of the genre's best.

There are tints of several different authors here, inspired moments of M R James, a dash or two of Lovecraft, possibly Clive Barker too, the weft of Ramsey Campbell is present (along with a dedication to the British horror meister), and in Nevill's descriptions of London I was at times reminded of Campbell's Liverpool in that author's debut The Doll Who Ate My Mother.

But don't mistake this presence of threads familiar to other writers as an override on originality, or skill. Nevill's ability lies in his mastery of language, and as mentioned, his ability to tell a cracking story using this. Some of the scenes of London, given through the eyes of his characters, were both amazing and terrifying. A supermarket scene in particular stands out as particularly able to induce discomfort and the feeling of eroding sanity for the character involved. These link key ideas into a greater whole successfully, and in doing so create one of the better horror novels that I've had the pleasure of reading. This is a genuinely creepy novel that successfully plants seeds of discomfort ready for dreadful harvest as the book reaches conclusion.

Read more

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
Michaela Drizhalova
Great story, delivery could be better
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 March 2012
Verified Purchase
Having read and enjoyed Adam Nevill's "The Ritual", I was expecting this to be another great horror story. The idea of the haunted flat and the mysterious diaries was brilliant, as well as the parallel story of the nightwatchman replicating the art he encounters. Overall, the story wasn't as focused and compact as in "The Ritual" but still read well and progressed at a good pace. I would, however, have preferred to read more of the diaries and less of the slightly repetitive ruminations of the heroine, as that would have made the story more dramatic.

The reason I won't give it five stars is because I found the main character rather annoying. To begin with, the cliche of the lead woman being stunningly beautiful and lusted after by all the men seems like a lazy way to create a character, and a lot of the character's internal monologue reads like the thoughts of an excitable teenager (then again, maybe that was the point, what with the "American in London" cliche piled on top). After finishing the part with the diaries, it seemed as if barely anything happened in Apryl's story except her repetitively expressing her fear of the house and going on about how the aunt she never met was her family and flesh and blood. The romance side-story also seemed completely superfluous, and added nothing to the narrative except maybe vaguely setting it up for the ending.

The parts with the nightwatchman were a lot more interesting to read, as his character was more developed and most of the action takes place in his parts of the story. I didn't find the physical descriptions excessive like some other reviewers; to the contrary, I thought they were quite understated and well written given the context. For me, this was the redeeming part of the book, as some of his visions/experiences in the story were quite imaginative, had a strong impact and moved the story forward. It seems the author is generally better at writing male characters (which is not a bad thing).

On the whole, this was an enjoyable read, but not as good as "The Ritual". It would have been better if it had focused more on the diaries as a way to move the story forward, but I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a scary read.

Read more

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
Nurrie
Starts great, ends weakly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 June 2012
Verified Purchase
The prologue hooked me in completely, it gave me the chills. And for the first third of the book that sense of fear and creepiness carried over well. I read the first few chapters in the book before I went to sleep and had a nightmare about it, it was great. I enjoyed seeing two faces of London, one from Apryl's view and one from Seth's, one sees something amazing, the other sees something much darker.

Unfortunately, once the writer goes into great detail of the horror, the descriptions can get too much or too confusing or both and that causes it to lose a lot of the fear factor, and sometimes you need to re-read over several of his passages to makes sense of it. I think this is a story, with all the descriptions, would have work better if it was communicated through a visual media like film rather than in book form.

The middle loses a lot of pacing. Some scenes could have been shortened or even omitted. Once scene, with the Hessen's fan club really led to nowhere, it didn't add to the creepiness.

There was also too much revealed too soon, too many times the creature flashed in the corner of your eye that you got desensitised to it and it became mundane by the end of the book.

As for the ending, it didn't feel like an ending, it stopped far too abruptly for me, as if the writer didn't know how to end it properly, all this build up leads to something that is over very quickly, which left you unfilled by the final encounter. And I like happy endings, sad endings, endings where the good guys win and ending where the bad guys win but I wasn't a fan of this ending. It was unfulfilling.

Basically, it's a book that had a great, strong start, lots of promise, but slowed down and ended weakly.

Read more

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report