Elizabeth S. Moore

It seem to be in vogue to write unpleasant books about unpleasant people – fortunately some of them work and whilst you don’t like the characters, the story is compelling and well-written. Unfortunately The Man on the Middle Floor is not one of those.

Where to start?

The offensive representation of Asperger syndrome?
The totally unnecessary scene of animal cruelty?
The “jaded” police officer who is either drunk / hungover / having sex / thinking about having sex?
The self-absorbed overachieving mother who actually managed to have three children?

I only got halfway through the book and that was too much.

Definitely not one I would recommend to animal lovers or those with family/friends with Asperger’s or Autism….actually I don’t recommend this book to anyone.… (mais)

I'd completely forgotten what this book was about, and for some reason, I thought it was a light-hearted, comedic even, novel. It was a bit of a shock to find it was the complete opposite…there's a lesson learnt: check what you're about to read!

This was dark novel, sometimes violent, but…gripping. It follows the lives of three people, each living in a flat of a three-storey house. Each of them with diversely dysfunctional lives: Tam on the ground floor has retired himself out of the police force—a rash decision he starts to regret. Nick on the middle floor is autistic and is trying to live independently using strict routines and daily lists. Karen on the third floor is a career-focused doctor, whose obsessive research into autistic people has wrecked her marriage and personal relationships. A violent and seemingly senseless unprovoked murder implicates and interweaves their lives.

The story is told by each of the three characters' POV. I thought it was a well-structured and compelling thriller. Karen is obnoxious and really, a victim of her obsessive career-mindedness, Nick struggles…not just because of his condition, but because of his upbringing, and Tam regrets his rash resignation from a job to which he was dedicated and reacts rather erratically. His policeman hat, however, stays firmly on his head…as it were…because it's his instincts that force the three residents' lives to connect.

There are characters you dislike intensely, some you feel frustrated for, Nick in particular, and some you like. Tam is a bit shambolic, but I did feel there's a sequel in him!

This was a bold book for a debut novel, but Moore has crashed into the literary world with quite a bang. I shall look forward to her next novel.… (mais)

This was a really surprising book for me; from the cover, I expected a bit of an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit but the reader is party to the murders so we know who did it, we just need to find out why. We learn a lot more than that along the way in this thought-provoking debut by Elizabeth S Moore.

Each chapter is dedicated to one of the three main characters: Nick, the man on the middle floor; Karen the woman above and Tam the man below. It was really interesting to delve into the lives of these three very different, but equally flawed, characters who live in the same building but have never interacted before now.

Anybody who has a heart will empathise with Nick who has Asperger's. I know very little about the condition but I can completely understand his need for routine and having everything clean, tidy and lined up correctly. His story is heart-breaking and so sad to see how early family life can damage a person beyond repair.

Another family damaged beyond repair is Karen's. Karen has three children, or at least she gave birth to three children but after her marriage break-up she's quite happy to have no further contact until they are independent adults. Karen would much rather study people than get to know them and she constantly chooses work over family. Karen may be studying subjects with autism but, in my opinion, she needs to take a long look in the mirror as I think she could make a study of herself.

Tam has just lost his job as a policeman but old habits die hard and he sniffs out something that's not quite right. He might have picked the clues up a bit quicker had he not been turning to alcohol to drown his sorrows. Tam seems drawn to Karen but does he just recognise another lost soul?

I loved the way the story of Nick's life was slowly revealed in The Man on the Middle Floor; I had already started to care about him and felt very protective of him when he started his new job in the morgue. Autism can be so varied that it has an entire spectrum so I don't think for a minute that this is how every person diagnosed as autistic will act. What The Man on the Middle Floor did for me, is open my eyes to a world that is either black or white for some people; a world where every action doesn't have a reaction, it's just an attempt to bring everything back to its status quo.

I think there'll be a lot of debate about The Man on the Middle Floor, and I think Elizabeth S Moore has taken a very brave step to put the subject of autism on the table - so let's talk about it. The Man on the Middle Floor is a perfectly crafted story that I think everyone will be talking about this year.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.… (mais)

The Man on the Middle Floor offers a picture of what can happen when people don’t get the support they need. We zoom in on Kilburn, North London, where three people share a converted Victorian house. They live the typical atomised lives of Londoners, who are often strangers even to their neighbours. On the ground floor there’s Tam, invalided out of his beloved police force by a bullet to the leg and taking (far too much) solace from his local pub. Upstairs there’s Nick, determined to succeed at the challenge of living alone despite his Asperger’s. Finally, on the top floor, there’s Karen: specialist in autism, devoted to her work at the expense of her family, certain that her next article will finally bring her the recognition she deserves. Three lives, about to be linked in the most unexpected way...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/01/11/the-man-on-the-middle-floor-elizabeth-s-moor...… (mais)