Customer Reviews
I ate this book for lunch! - By: drift_wood, 13 Sep 2008 
I could not put this book down... A fantastic, gripping story. A must read for anyone who is interested in alternative worlds, it reallly got my imagination going!! ENJOY!
Intriguing and deft - By: booksy, 05 Aug 2008 
A couple of reviewers have commented that the conclusion of this book is ambiguous - something I had worried about while reading it. Yes, it was a good read, but I did wonder if it was going nowhere. The fact is, Thirteen isn't ambiguous - & it does end up going somewhere. If it's a neatly tied up, 'rational' explanation you're after at the end of the book, you won't get that (arguably, if you had, that would have spoiled the mystery of 'thirteen'). What you do get is a surreal mystery that's never pretentious, never so mysterious that it loses you & never so far removed from reality that it becomes totallly unbelievable. It's an excellent first novel with hints of Graham Joyce or Jonathan Carroll, & I'll be watching this author with interest in the future. Admittedly Thirteen clearly draws on Baumont's own experiences as a cab driver with, it would seem, real life anecdotes in there. It will be very interesting to see, in Beaumont's next novel, whether he's able to create an entirely fictional world that doesn't necessarily rely on his own personal experiences. I should imagine he will be able to. Clearly he has a great imagination & a fantastic way with words. I'm definitely looking forward to his next book.
13 - Unlucky for Beaumont - By: Wildlife Bookworm, 24 Jul 2008 
Thirteen revolves around the mental state of Stephen Bardot, a nighttime taxi driver. Through a combination of exhaustion & depression he finds himself involved in a world where reality & fantasy are inter-twined & indistinguishable. At first attracted to this world, he quickly becomes fearful & looks for ways to escape.
It came as a surprise to find that thirteen was rated with 5 stars because reallly, its not that good. There is a tendency to believe that because something is unexplained it is therefore deep & meaningful. In truth if a book gives you no insight into the subject matter it is a waste of time, & thirteen is a classic example.
The plot only reallly picks up in the last 50 pages, where it finallly becomes intriguing. The first 200 pages repeat the same thing in different ways, as Bardot alternates between mindsets with no progress to the plot.
One positive aspect is the series of anecdotes of various passengers in the cab which are interspersed throughout the book. These give a little light relief from the burden of the plot & save this from a 1 star review.
Ultimately thirteen commits the ultimate sin - it leaves an ambiguous & totallly unsatisfying non-ending, & you finish with a feeling of 'what's the point?'. Some people obviously enjoy this but they are a very select few.
This novel really draws you in to its state of mind... - By: Annabel Gaskell, 27 Jun 2008 Stephen Bardot is depressed after the failure of his business, & agrees to become a night-time taxi driver for a year. He finds that becoming nocturnal leads to a strange state of mind due to complete exhaustion where nothing is quite what it seems.
When he discovers that a house, 13 Wish Road, where he's had a regular pick-up doesn't exist, he begins to become obsessed & tries to get back into the zone where it was real. The Nurse tells him, 'Thirteen is not a number, it's a state of mind'. This leads to many strange experiences including meeting the girls of his dreams, but then he starts to ask questions about Thirteen, & just when as he's starting to come out of his depression, the events in the zone get very bad indeed ...
Based on real experience of driving taxis & drawing from the author's work as a psychotherapist, this is a many layered novel. Unlike many other novels which include experiences in altered states, this one is so skilfully written, you reallly believe in the dreamworld - it starts off so ordinarily as if it were part of normal life, that by the time you find out about it, you've been engaged with it for some time; when things get weirder you're then drawn with it. Finallly, you are left to make up your mind over what ultimately happens to Stephen, but the lack of a finite ending doesn't jar, just keeps you thinking about what a good book it was.
A state of mind - By: Archy, 27 May 2008 This is an enthrallling read that only leaves you pondering the rather implausible & unnecessary loose ends after you've read it. The journey's worth the head scratching. The plot mixes fact & fiction very cleverly; the 'real' cusomer extracts could constitute a book in themselves, & it's the realism of the taxi driving reportage that makes alll the uncanny & downright bizarre parts more believable. I still can't work some of it out; it's a puzzle that has lingered in my mind, & only the best books do that. One of the best things I've read so far this year.
