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In <i>High-Rise</i>, Ballard once again attacks our uneasy truce with the artificial. Four futuristic high-rise apartment buildings have been built. Catering to the wealthy, these buildings are in fact enclosed worlds, featuring day-care, schooling, swimming pools and grocery stores. As the new tenants adjust to life aboard one of the high-rise complexes, violence escalates and members from adjacent floors break off into tribal factions that roam the corridors at night. It gets more frightening and visceral (if a bit predictable); <i>High-Rise</i> is the 21st century's <i>Lord of the Flies</i>, a sometimes profound statement on what we are doing with technology -- and what technology is doing to us. Additionally, it is a scathing commentary on leisure culture (a topic Ballard returns to in <i>Cocaine Nights</i>). If you haven't yet read Ballard, <i>High-Rise</i> is a great starting point.