The unnerving tale of life in a modern tower block running out of control.

From the author of ‘Crash’ and ‘Cocaine Nights’ comes an unnerving tale of life in a modern tower block running out of control.

'Living in high-rises required a special type of behavior, one that was acquiescent, restrained, even perhaps slightly mad. A psychotic would have a ball here.'

Welcome to the high-rise, a brand-new way of living designed for a modern world. Stretching forty floors into the sky, residents have everything they could wish for – from the brash filmmaker at the bottom to the lauded architect himself at the top. But when modern man of medicine Dr Robert Laing moves in, his grip on reason is soon tested to breaking point. As the foundations of civilisation itself begin to crumble, cocktail parties give way to brutal raids and once-luxurious amenities become arenas for violence in this unsettling orgy of barbarity and primal chaos.

Details

ISBN13: 9780586044568
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 272
Edition:
Publication Date: 21 Aug 1985
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x12.9(L)x2.1(W)240
Weight (gm): 240

Author Biography

J. G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai. After internment in a civilian prison camp, his family returned to England in 1946. His 1984 bestseller ‘Empire of the Sun’ won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His controversial novel ‘Crash’ was made into a film by David Cronenberg. His autobiography ‘Miracles of Life’ was published in 2008, and a collection of interviews with the author, ‘Extreme Metaphors’, was published in 2012. J. G. Ballard passed away in 2009.

Reviews

'Ballard's finest novel! a triumph.' The Times 'Another eerie glimpse into the future. A fast-moving, spine-tingling fable of the concrete jungle.' Daily Express 'A gripping read, particularly if you like your thrills chilly, bloody and with claims to social relevance.' Time Out 'Harsh and ingenious! High-Rise is an intense and vivid bestiary, which lingers unsettlingly in the mind.' Martin Amis, New Statesman