Books: The Way Up is Death By Dan Hanks (2025)

“When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND. As they try to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone is…up. And so begins a race to the top with the group fighting to hold on to its humanity, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares. Can they each overcome their differences and learn to work together or does the winner take it all? What does the tower want of them and what is the price to escape?”

Despite what feels like an alternate take on the Netflix series Squid Game, The Way Up is Death is a leap forward for author Dan Hanks, from his scrappy, pulp-ish first novel, Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire, and the delightfully goofy Swashbucklers. At turns brutal, soul-stirring, and funny, it’s a tale of survival for thirteen people from different backgrounds who must struggle to survive an acid test of a game, which is probably the best way to explain the premise. It’s like the famous (or infamous) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Move Along Home. Aired early in the series run, the plot was about a visiting delegation from the Gamma Quadrant who turns four crew members into "pieces" for a bizarre game. That too has the threat of death over the crew of DS9, especially Quark, when he has to figure which one of the four he must sacrifice to move forward.

All the characters get back stories, which somehow tie-in to each level the groups ascends, but we mainly see  a handful, like Alden, who mourns the loss of his dog Leia, who is also teacher by day/singer by night. Nia a angry concept artist foe indie films who’s grown weary of the industries lack of acknowledgement about the below-the-line talent. Then there is Dirk, the American jackass (I suppose US based writers have been making fun of the British for so long, so Hanks makes Dirk an almost poster child for corporate greed, “influencers”, and probably (though never mentioned) a Right Wing clown.

The others get a bit interchangeable along the way, though young Rakie stands out in the end.

I sometimes found it hard to visual increasingly weirdness of the tower, sometimes, but Hanks gave most of the characters a strong voice, so I didn’t get lost there. It’s a thrilling piece of speculative fiction, brought down only by the ending. It’s been said Stephen King has never really written a great ending, so The Way Up is Death is brought down Hanks philosophical and optimistic approach to dealing with grief and finding ability to move on.

I mean, it’s lackluster and too abrupt. While I was fine with no real explanation of anything here, its sudden ending was a bit jarring. But as I said, a good leap forward for the writer, and I look forward to more of his work.