Correct thinking and clear vision are applied to wunderkind Ariel Panek, a computer scientist and associate professor but he is powerless when heavy fog sees him stranded overnight in the rambling, dilapidated Cliffs Hotel on the Suffolk coast.  Without connectivity, Ariel is tormented by the “no network” signal because he is overdue to talk at a conference in Geneva where he will meet his undergraduate girlfriend Zeva Neely.

Meanwhile the odd hotel staff and weird guests are making Ariel feel uncomfortable.  A bizarre set of circumstances conspire to prevent him leaving the hotel.  He must fend off unwanted attention, cut through the Borgia family secrets and subterfuge, and try to battle his way back to normality.

Reclusive, modernist Booker prize-winning author DBC Pierre has loaded this eerie Hammer Films-inspired novella with his trademark blend of social, scientific and spiritual matters.  Gradually the layers are peeled back to reveal the chilling truth behind this unsettling tale.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Reviewer Notes:
1.  The woman in the story who shares my first name is definitely not me!
2.  If you are reading this, Peter, I’d love you to autograph my copy of the above.
3.  My review of “Release the Bats: Writing Your Way Out Of It” by DBC Pierre.
4.  Synopsis quotation: “You can be insecure and be a writer.  You can be unsuccessful and be a writer.  You can be a bad person and be a writer … You just have to write.  That’s where it gets tricky”.