Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Release date: July 2, 2019

Publisher: Dutton

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Blurb:

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew’s dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

Review:

I’ve been a huge fan of Sager’s books since his debut, Final Girls was released two years ago and after finishing his third I’m now a firm fan and will be adding him to my fairly small list of auto buy authors. He’s managed to come up with something new and fresh with each new book, yet they still have his trademark style and feel making him a force to be reckoned with.

I’m not even going to discuss the plot because it was so fun to have it unravel on its own, plus it went in so many unexpected directions that I did not predict that I want you to have the same experience for yourself. But one thing that I believe sets Sager apart from other thriller writers is his ability to create such a strong sense of place, no matter the setting. He did the whole creepy camp thing differently in his last two books, but this time he switched gears and went totally gothic with The Bartholomew. Anything set in NYC always intrigues me anyway, but throw in an old, historied apartment complex and you have the ultimately creepy and intense setting. There have been vague, yet sinister rumors about the building for years and the whole urban legend or truth thing was absolutely fascinating and just plain fun!

Highly recommended for fans of the authors work, if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading his work before make sure and add his books to your TBR because they are super solid and highly entertaining thrillers!

Lock Every Door in three words: Menacing, Dark and Creepy

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy