High-Rise

JG Ballard's novel of social breakdown encapsulated in a high rise skyscraper was written in 1975, when the Barbican in the City of London was the height of fashion. The story is timeless, however, and easily translates to the modern cityscape's of 21st Century - "the ragged skyline of the city resembled the disturbed encephalograph of an unresolved mental crisis."

It has a brilliant hook of a first sentence - "Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months."

Ballard seems to explore two main aspects of human psychology in the book. The often examined nature for setting societal strata - even in a building containing purely high income professionals, the residents set about dividing the floors into groups with higher ranking upper classes on the top floors and the "proletariat" with children at the bottom. Social subdivisions are based on power, capital and self-interest.