The Tower

Summary

When 12-year-old Kolby wakes up in an empty white room, he has no memory, no clothes, and no idea where he is. He soon discovers he’s one of a dozen kids living in an extravagant penthouse atop the tallest tower in the city. Adults are nowhere to be found, and, like Kolby, all the kids are missing their memories. The kids in the tower spend their time scaling the climbing wall, riding a waterslide into an Olympic-sized swimming pool, or playing video games on the 105-inch 8K video screen. A mysterious “manifesting room” magically provides both food and rewards. They have virtually everything a kid could want.

Except a way out.

None of the kids show much concern for each other, let alone new arrival Kolby. Haunted by fragments of memories he can’t quite understand, Kolby just wants to escape the penthouse and go home.

Unfortunately, the only way to get out is by participating in the tower’s enigmatic game—a kind of scavenger hunt that takes place in the surrounding city. Players are chosen for teams by the tower’s apparent leader, Gen. But beneath her glib detachment, Gen harbors a secret—she knows more about the tower than she lets on, including the dark, inevitable truth about all their fates. When game time arrives, it looks like Kolby has found his ticket out of the tower—but escape isn’t so simple.