High Rise by J.G. Ballard 134 pages
Amazon Link but by all means check it out from your local library

Set in a 40 story apartment building this taste of light fiction takes up the theme of Lord of the Flies with an alternative setting and similar, but not identical insights, into human psychological devolution. The story line follows the experience of three primary characters as a high rise full of professionals experiences an inexplicable transition into a tribal jungle of concrete, staircases, concourses and piles of garbage.

As the transformation begins the residents find the psychological outlet of the conflict more satisfying than their professional lives. They conspire to keep the authorities away from their island of primative battles and each night brings an escalation of the de-civilization of the night before. Darwinian competition for resources takes a joy of its own as doctors, accountants, airline pilots, television producers and architects become the apes they always were.

Not for those who have difficulty suspending belief when reading fiction or anyone who takes affront at a portrayal of humans living as apes. It is a great read if you are being dragged to the beach by a family that rolls its eyes at your doomerish concerns and want to take a little doom with you or if you are going on vacation and afraid you just might enjoy yourself a bit too much. When someone asks you what you are readin just say, "Just a little light fiction."