Book Review
Title: The Warden by Jon Richter
Genre: Psychological, Thriller
Rating: 5 Stars
If you are looking for a book that is reminiscent of the past couple of years and will keep you hooked from the very first page to the very last, then look no further than The Warden. Honestly, I have a complicated relationship with most thrillers especially domestic and psychological thrillers because after a while you feel like you are reading the same book over and over again but I devoured The Warden in a single night and it completely earnt the five star rating I gave it. The novel takes place in the year 2024 when a virus has mutated so it is no longer safe to go outside at all, if that doesn’t sound like the last two years you live under a rock. In this book we are following a select group of people that live in the Tower, which is a block of flats completely isolated from the outside world. Life in the Tower seems great as even the doors and windows are bricked up for the safety of the residents and all of their needs are meet by the AI system, James. Everything seems to be going find until one of the residents, Eugene, starts to believe that James is malfunctioning. For me personally, if my survival was dependent on an AI the last thing you want is for that system to stop working.
Very quickly the Tower turns from a place of safety to feeling like a prison, Eugene a former detective beings to feel like he can’t stay in the Tower any longer and looks for a way out and along the way he makes some shocking discoveries. Alongside the story we also learn a lot of James’ development and honestly I found this part to be slightly more interesting as it gives a lot of background context to what is happening with the virus and why James was necessary in the first place. This allows us the readers to understand how James grew into what we know it to be in the present and how he has control of the Tower. I was concerned with the dual timeline element as I wasn’t sure how it was going to affect the overall plot but I was so hooked by this point that I didn’t really care. As we follow Eugene through his discoveries and what they mean for the Tower as a whole was so gripping and Richter actually manages to create a situation that is horrifying to think about given recent history.
Richter definitely create a stage where he could play out all the what if moments from the current pandemic and it honestly gave me chills thinking about it in relation to our current situation. Richter’s creativity and straying away from the norms of the genre definitely allowed him to exaggerate a lot of the circumstances but they are still believable within the universe he has created which means you don’t have to suspend your belief making the book more enjoyable for me personally. Overall, I really enjoyed The Warden and it just might be my favourite mystery, thriller of the year as there were so many complex layers to the story you never get bored and it constantly keeps you guessing. Honestly, I highly recommend anyone who is a mystery or thriller fan should pick up The Warden as soon as you can because it will keep you hooked and guessing right up to the final page.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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