Lock Every Door book review

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Published by Dutton on July 2, 2019
Pages: 381
Goodreads

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.

Have you ever read a book and then had a sense of deja vu all the way through? Lock Every Door was exactly like that. I am so sure I have never picked this one up but it felt so familiar. I was convinced but then Goodreads says no, so there we go. Anyway, enough rambling. I was a little underwhelmed with the story line. I would have liked to have been a little more impressed with the ending but I haven’t written off Riley Sagar yet!

Characters in Lock Every Door

Lock Every Door follows Jules as she takes on the role of apartment sitter in a mysterious building which no one knows anything about. Whilst spending time there she meets a few of the residents. She then starts to wonder if things aren’t too good to be true. I think that is fundamentally why I didn’t like this book more, I couldn’t understand Jules as a character. There is being trusting and then there is being downright naive and desperate. Some of the decisions she made in this book made no sense. It led to things happening when really they shouldn’t have. Basically I think Lock Every Door suffered from stupid main character syndrome. It would have been a better book if she had had just a little bit of street smarts about her.

I also think there was a lot of lost potential when it came to the other characters and residents of the mysterious Bartholomew. We never really got to see them as people, so when major things happened there was no feeling or connection. It would have been fantastic if Jules had explored outside of her bubble. We could have really gotten to see the darker side of the building and people inside.

Bad bits in Lock Every Door

Once you get past the characters and the lack of connection there, the book itself is an enigma. I was a little put off by the pacing and also just how quick everything seems to happen. Plus there was nothing to really explain why nothing had been done about all the strange goings on. I have to believe that despite the police being busy that if they received multiple similar reports that they would at least look into it? I have no idea but this made Lock Every Door just a little unbeliveable and it was unfortunately something I couldn’t quite move past.

Good Bits

I really enjoyed the pacing of this one, it was an easy read and I managed to finish Lock Every Door pretty quickly. For me, it’s really important that a thriller is quick moving and the plot moves quickly and this book ticked all of those boxes. I think the way everything happens has a brilliant balance between being extremely quick but also relatable. The reactions were never over the top and I enjoyed watching the mystery aspect take over and Jules trying to get to the bottom of things. There were definitely moments where I was on the edge of my seat and I was holding my breath waiting to read what was going to happen next.

What next?

I think Lock Every Door would be the perfect starter book for those looking for a mystery. There’s enough intrigue and excitement to keep the plot and story moving forward but without overly complicated characters or storylines. It was a simple but effective book and one that has drawn me into the world of Riley Sagar, and I’ll be having a look at their other books.

What are some of your favourite thriller and mystery books? I would love some new recommendations!