ARC Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton for allowing me to read this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

Title: Lock Every Door

Author: Riley Sager

Pages: 384

Publisher: Dutton

Publication Date: July 2, 2019

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Horror

Rating: 5/5

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.

Goodreads

The two things I loved the most about this book are the pacing and the creepiness level. Out of all three of Sager’s books this is the one that legitimately creeped me out the most. The whole premise of this story is so genius and it kept me guessing the entire time. I could never have figured out the ending and I loved how dark and twisted it was. The atmosphere of the story really added to the creepiness factor. I love how everything was described and I was able to clearly imagine everything that was happening. Lock Every Door takes place over six days. I love this because it really amped up the suspense knowing that things were going to happen quickly. But at the same time nothing ever felt rushed.

My only complaint about this book is that out of all three of his books I felt the least connected to Jules. You know how in some movies you are yelling at a character that they shouldn’t do what they are about to do because it’s obviously not going to turn out good. Well, that was me with this character. She had a couple of moments where I was like what the hell are you doing/thinking?! But at the same time I think that it adds to the fun of it all. Think Scream when Stu is watching the movie and Ghostface is behind him. We are all yelling (or thinking) look behind you! Those kinds of things are what can make horror fun (or maybe that’s just my perverse love of horror) and I liked the element that it brought to the book.

This book cemented my belief that Riley Sager is one of my top favorite authors of all time. Sager’s books are the exact type of horror/mystery that I absolutely love. I will forever read his books and I honestly can’t ever picture myself giving anything he writes less than five stars. I feel confident that anyone who loves thrillers/mysteries will love them as well.

~Cassie