After traveling quite a way, all Henry Brown wants is to check-into a hotel and take a nap to shake off his travel exhaustion. As he asks for the penthouse, he noticed the clerk hesitate but shrugged it off at the time as all he wanted was to be able to rest after a long day. The suite is beautiful and everything one could ask for - except for maybe an oddly placed wall. Was it the artist in him that didn't quite agree with its placement or was it something more? And as certain odd things happen during his stay, and Henry keeps getting drawn to the wall, there may be something to it after all.
I enjoyed the premise of the story quite a bit. The protagonist being a painter, has an observant nature for art and symmetry. Henry notices the art hanging around in the hotel even though he is tired indicating his observant nature. But he is also quick to notice people and their reactions. So, when Henry feels that there must be more to the wall in the penthouse suite, readers begin to wonder too. The dramatic reveal at the end ties in the story well. However, I felt that the author told the readers rather than showing them. From the very beginning, the author kind of finger points towards the important aspects of the story rather than letting the readers take in everything and follow along the protagonist. There was hardly any opportunity to build up the thrilling atmosphere that the plot could make space for because of all the telling and the lack of showing. As such, it didn't leave much to the imagination. The language used is also very simple, almost dull, and combined with the narrative style, the whole reading experience was quite irksome.
This is a short story that took me about ten minutes to read. So, I went back to re-read it 2 days after I read it for the first time, just to make sure that I hadn't been caught up in the moment the first time I read it for a fair rating for the book. The language and narrative style do need some improvement as it completely overshadowed the interesting aspects of the story.
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