Science fiction, read in 2002-2010: Families escape from a dystopic Earth on a starship to colonize a new word, but turn on each other during the trip

[Flavio]

I read this novel about 15 years ago. The tone was dark and depressing - no comic relief or funny characters.

In the not so distant future, Earth society is collapsing due to rampant violence, crime, sociopathy and so on (the problems are purely sociological: there are no pandemics or nuclear wars or climate changes).

At the beginning of the novel, some families (about three or four - less than a dozen anyway) living in the same apartment building are discussing the deteriorating situation and the possible solutions.

One of the characters, who works in the space industry, talks about the ongoing efforts to colonize other planets, and the others reach a consensus that the best way to secure a future for their children is to leave Earth altogether, and make a fresh start. (I seem to remember that colonist ships are still very experimental, but using some of the characters' connections they can all secure a place on one of the next launches).

The narrative switches rather abruptly to the same few families living together in confined spaces for an extended period of time; soon the problems that they thought to have left behind start cropping up in their mini-society: paranoia, interpersonal conflict, fights to become the alpha male end up in several deaths.

I seem to remember that in the end only two characters remain, a male and a female, and even they are in an abusive relationship.

A big twist, possibly only implied, is that the families never left Earth, but simply sealed themselves in their building, isolating themselves from society but unwittingly carrying all of its problems with them.

Note 1: in the second part there are no other characters in the "ship" aside from these few families; the setting isn't a generational ship (it's about as big as a building, in fact) and the trip isn't supposed to last decades.

Note 2: the novel isn't High-Rise by J. G. Ballard.

Note 3: the novel Gypsy by Carter Scholz is a very good match, but it was published in 2015.

[Michele]

Do you know if it was a new book at the time you read it, or an older one? Long, short, medium length? Any recollection of the cover, or whether the author was famous/well-kmown? kids book, YA, adult?

[Flavio]

The book wasn't new but the feel was not that of the Golden Age of Sci-Fi, so I'd date it around 1980-2000 (this may be just my impression). About 250/300 pages, no idea about the author but I wouldn't say it's well-known (not at the level of Asimov, Heinlein, Pohl & co.) Also no idea about the cover; the only definite answer to your question is that it was meant for adult readers: as I wrote, the tone was rather dark.

[Michele]

Could it have been a short story? There's a Twilight Zone episode with very similar plot, based on a story by Richard Matheson: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third...

[Flavio]

The plot of Matheson's short story is indeed a good match for the tone and overall plot, but I've just read it and it's not the story I was looking for - that was book-length, I remember it took me a few days to read it. Thanks for the tip, however - Matheson's story is quite good!

[Andy]

There's another Ballard possibility - "Thirteen to Centaurus" https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/...

[Flavio]

I've re-read "Thirteen to Centaurus" - excellent short story, and the tone is very similar to the novel I'm looking for.