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Sam has a dream: to open a chic cocktail bar in the old station building in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, and with fiancé Sarah, and four other friends goes to celebrate his taking possession of the building and to explore. To their joint amazement, they discover a hidden underground hotel, named The Eaton, twelve stories deep and accessed by a still operational elevator. All is magnificent Victorian splendour. But something feels strange and when he elevator stops working, they realise that the alternative stairs don’t go all the way to the top.

This cleverly written book takes the reader from the excited normalcy of a happy, jubilant group into a slow journey of mounting terror and darkness in this beautiful hotel under the ground. How did it come to be there? No one had known of it’s existence when Sam made his purchase of the building above. And what had happened to the guests that had previously been there? And who, or what, was still resident? When the lights go off and the ‘accidents’ start to happen, the friends have just one question left – how to get out alive.

Amazingly, this is the first book of author, John Addis, who writes with the expertise of many with much longer experience. From the earliest stages, the creepiness of the situation underlies the discoveries but is not overplayed, allowing for the following events to shock more forcibly. Background memories of the trapped group intersperse their current situation, illuminating their reactions and adding to the already well developed characterisations. The narration by Jeff Hays is, as always, superb. The tale is recounted with just the right edge of suspence, emotionally mirroring the writing. Plus, I couldn’t express it better than does the author himself in a brief afterward chapter in which he says of Mr.Hays’ performance, “his ability to make different characters, particularly female characters, sound like legitimate people,” makes the experience of listening to this book even more powerful than that of reading it in print. There is also just the lightest touch of background echoing at one point, reinforcing the action, and the book is introduced and finalised by very simple musical chords, all expertly done.
A good, heart pounding horror recommended to all who enjoy this genre.