Rating - ⭐⭐⭐
"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."
Lock Every Door is a standalone mystery thriller novel by Riley Sager.
This is the second book I have read by Sager, and while it was a step up from Final Girls, this still wasn't very good.
Both books suffer from the same issues. First of all, you have the MC Jules who you can't sympathize with because she makes completely irrational decisions. The entire plot for the books is set into motion because Jules refused to see that something was off with the whole situation because she was desperate for a place to live. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
This, however, we have to try and ignore because, without her decision to move into a place with a long list of strange rules, we wouldn't have a story. What bothered me about Jules was that when she finally realized that something was wrong, she started to do exactly what the rules told her not to which put a very obvious target on her back.
Aside from the less than likable MC, the ending of the book was what solidified this as a disappointing story. The books steers you in a certain direction, and it was a direction that I was liking. That was until they pulled the rug out from under your feet with a plot twist that came straight out of left field. I felt a bit cheated because all the hints that were dropped were for no reason.
While this book didn't really work for me, on the bright side, Sager's writing seems to be getting better, so hopefully the next book is okay.
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