The Building - Hardcover

For ten years, the Utopia Tower experiment has been a resounding success. Conceived by a tech billionaire, the state-of-the-art apartment complex offers a life-changing opportunity: rent-free living for residents who adhere to the "Five Pillars of Harmony" and maintain the building's pristine reputation. It is a tight-knit community where neighbors look out for one another, ensuring that nothing endangers their sanctuary and their right to continue living there.

Antonio, a young lawyer, moves into the tower to care for his grandmother, eager to join this idyllic social experiment. But the veneer of perfection cracks when two young men-both considered bad apples and threats to the community's serenity-die in unusual circumstances within a single month. Despite warnings to leave well enough alone, Antonio suspects a connection and digs deeper. He discovers that, in a building designed for total harmony, asking the wrong questions can make you the next problem to be handled. Is there a killer hiding among the residents? Is the billionaire founder protecting his investment? Or is the truth far more terrifying?

Utopia Tower is a state-of-the-art apartment complex, offering a life-changing opportunity: rent-free living for residents who adhere to the "Five Pillars of Harmony" and maintain the building's pristine reputation. It is the pet project of a tech billionaire, who wants to prove privately-funded low-income housing can work under the right circumstances. He's also using the residents as test subjects and training his new AI system by monitoring every aspect of their lives. The veneer of tranquility cracks when two young men-both considered bad apples and threats to the community-die in unusual circumstances. Despite warnings to leave well enough alone, Antonio, a young lawyer and new resident, suspects a connection and digs deeper. He discovers that someone fabricated the suicide note left by the first victim. He suspects that someone is manipulating the automated building systems to kill people. When The Founder visits the building for the annual Christmas party, whoever has coopted the building's tech turns it on him. The building's leaders and the Founder are trapped. Then, they realize it is the building's AI system that's trying to kill The Founder (because he planned to end the experiment and start over with a new group). Protecting the community -- at all costs -- is the first pillar of the community's philosophy. The AI has learned from the community and now has adopted its core mission. If he can't shut down the system, The Founder will be a victim of his own technology.

In an environment where preservation of the collective is the prime directive, how far will the community go to protect itself?