The Guard — Peter Terrin; David Colmer

Isolation, terror, paranoia. Two guards in a luxury apartment block stick to their posts while the world collapses around them.

'A mix of psychological thriller and SF fable, this is a strange, wonderfully claustrophobic novel' John O'Connell, Guardian. (Guardian)

Harry and Michel are stationed in the basement of a luxury apartment block, guarding the 1%. Until all the residents leave - apart from a man on floor 29.

Harry and Michel stick to their posts. The world might be at war, plunged into nuclear winter or decimated by a disease; they may be the last inhabitants in the city. All they know is that if they are vigilant, 'the organisation' will reward them: promotion to an elite cadre of security officers remains their goal, and their days are punctuated by vivid dreams of everything they are missing.

But what if there were no-one left to guard? And if the promised third officer arrives, how will he fit into Michel and Harry's studied routine of boredom and paranoia?