Seven Down

Abstract

Seven Down is a novel about a failed assassination attempt at an upscale Toronto hotel. The story is told through redacted interviews with seven characters. Each of these characters was both a participant in the plot and a long-term employee of the hotel. There’s a front desk clerk who deeply questions her role in the event; an anarchist bellman who tries to cover up his extraprofessional activities; a security officer who watches it all unfold over camera feeds. They move through their day in various degrees of duress, unaware of the other participants’ identities. Through their interviews, which are presented in the style of the Wikileaks cables, they recount their experiences, express their confusion, and try to come to grips with the decisions that led them there. They confess and they rationalize, and as they do, the truth of what happened slowly unfolds.