The Complex (2015)

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HALLOWEEN REVIEWS 2025
by Brian Keene


Inhabitants of an apartment complex band together for mutual protection when they come under assault by a hard-charging horde of naked maniacs whose only thought is to kill and torture. 


Brian Keene puts the pedal to the metal at the very beginning of this short novel and doesn’t let up until the end, which makes it somewhat one-note. 

Brian Keene

Our POV is limited to that of the characters, so we never learn why this is happening. 

"The Complex" (German)

Social breakdown on a large scale can occur for reasons beyond our understanding, but hope endures in our ability to find common cause with our neighbors, even though they may be very different from us—a message that is more relevant than ever even ten years after publication. The end has been criticized as ambiguous, but I think it’s pretty clear what is about to happen. By ending the story the way he does, Keene changes what could have been a flat, gory description of events into a powerful metaphor that elevates what came before it.

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