Metropolis

Six people with little in common beyond the storage units they rent at Metropolis Storage Warehouse find their paths tangled when a frightening incident shakes the building. It is far from clear whether it was an accident at all. Each of the six is pushed to take a hard look at the life they are living.

Serge is a brilliant but mentally unsteady street photographer who makes his home in his storage unit. Zach owns the facility and has a past in drug dealing. He buys Serge's undeveloped photographs, and the images may hold clues to what happened. Marta, an undocumented immigrant, is hiding from immigration authorities inside her unit. Liddy is an abused wife and mother who may be responsible for the incident, depending on whether she meant it. Jason is a lawyer who walked away from a large firm and now works from his unit. Rose manages the office and takes payments under the table to let people stay in the facility, all while her own family is coming apart.

The cast spans many races and faiths, a range of ages, and every income level from wealthy to struggling. The narrative moves between their perspectives as each person tries to rebuild a shaky life and work out what really happened. Over time, their stories both bind these people together and pull them apart.

The ensemble structure serves a broader theme. The mystery questions the belief that people can haul themselves out of hardship through individual effort alone, and how that belief holds up in present-day America. B. A. Shapiro is a bestselling novelist.