Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
5 stars
Jules Larsen is down on her luck. She lost her job and found her boyfriend cheating on her in their apartment all in the same day. With no place to live or steady income, the streets of New York provide an unlikely and almost unreal way to make fast cash. Even more odd is the connection Jules has to the place through a childhood favorite novel. The Bartholomew is a Gothic apartment with gargoyles and an odd job opening. Jules is offered to make cash in thousands for stay at the Bartholomew for three months. The rules: she must stay in the apartment every night, she can’t ever post the inside on social media, no guests are ever allowed, and STAY OUT of the resident’s business. It’s too good to pass up. Things are creepy and visceral, but they get even scarier when another apartment sitter goes missing. What secrets lie in the Bartholomew and why is Jules scared for her life? I love Riley Sager. He is hands down one of my favorite authors in the thriller genre. I read The Last Time I Lied last year and loved it. The thing I love about Sager’s style is that is dripping with atmosphere. Whatever setting he decides to tackle he turns the setting into a character that haunts the pages and makes one feel unsettled. I loved how Gothic this one is. It’s creepy and it has all the chops of a creepy and unsettling movie from the ‘80s. It doesn’t feel good and as the plot progresses it becomes very apparent that the Bartholomew is complex enough that a number of sinister outcomes are possible. Sager decided to write this novel from an interesting perspective. We open with Jules in a hospital waking up and claiming to have escaped the Bartholomew. We flashback to six days prior when the events began and we zoom in and out of this throughout the novel until we reach the pivotal point of Jules landing in the hospital. Sager is a great writer. He is adept at masterfully painting a scene, creating a dynamic plot, and providing suspense in every chapter. The questions he sets up are just enough to lead the reader to believe they know the outcome and by the end of the book, we realize that our own guesses are just as off as Jules. I was blown away by the reveal. It was not on my radar at all. This book is set up in a great way. I suspect a lot of people will hate it though, but I loved it.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 5
The main female character is Jules. Jules is funny and layered. She does odd things like naming the gargoyle outside her window George and deciding to go on a wild goose chase and uncover the mystery of the Bartholomew, but I found her family’s past to be incredibly complex and it really was refreshing to follow a woman in the thriller from the poverty side who is not your typical domestic thriller. She didn’t have a drinking problem and she is just a woman with a lot of bad luck and a sad past. It’s a nice turn from the typical thrillers that have been released as of late. I wasn’t always on board with her decisions because she is dumb sometimes, but that’s to be expected when following a thriller heroine who decides to dig. I was always rooting for her. She is also strong and pretty adept at solving dangerous situations, so those finals pages of escape are intense and a wild ride. I loved following her narrative and I was a fan Sager’s depiction of her.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 5
The Villain- Wow. I had a theory and at one point my theory was being proved by Jules research, but that quickly went out the window. Everyone in this book is sketchy and no one should be trusted. It was masterfully done. When I finished reading this book I was so blown away by the complexity and brilliance of those within the Bartholomew.
Villain Scale: 5
Overall, I am a fan of Lock Every Door. Sager blew me away with this one and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s fun and spooky. The novel is atmospheric and the pacing is unputdownable. You don’t want to miss this novel because it will blow your mind.
Plotastic Scale: 5
Cover Thoughts: I am obsessed with the colors for this cover. It’s creepy and bold. I love it.
Thank you, Netgalley and Dutton Books, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
5 stars
Jules Larsen is down on her luck. She lost her job and found her boyfriend cheating on her in their apartment all in the same day. With no place to live or steady income, the streets of New York provide an unlikely and almost unreal way to make fast cash. Even more odd is the connection Jules has to the place through a childhood favorite novel. The Bartholomew is a Gothic apartment with gargoyles and an odd job opening. Jules is offered to make cash in thousands for stay at the Bartholomew for three months. The rules: she must stay in the apartment every night, she can’t ever post the inside on social media, no guests are ever allowed, and STAY OUT of the resident’s business. It’s too good to pass up. Things are creepy and visceral, but they get even scarier when another apartment sitter goes missing. What secrets lie in the Bartholomew and why is Jules scared for her life? I love Riley Sager. He is hands down one of my favorite authors in the thriller genre. I read The Last Time I Lied last year and loved it. The thing I love about Sager’s style is that is dripping with atmosphere. Whatever setting he decides to tackle he turns the setting into a character that haunts the pages and makes one feel unsettled. I loved how Gothic this one is. It’s creepy and it has all the chops of a creepy and unsettling movie from the ‘80s. It doesn’t feel good and as the plot progresses it becomes very apparent that the Bartholomew is complex enough that a number of sinister outcomes are possible. Sager decided to write this novel from an interesting perspective. We open with Jules in a hospital waking up and claiming to have escaped the Bartholomew. We flashback to six days prior when the events began and we zoom in and out of this throughout the novel until we reach the pivotal point of Jules landing in the hospital. Sager is a great writer. He is adept at masterfully painting a scene, creating a dynamic plot, and providing suspense in every chapter. The questions he sets up are just enough to lead the reader to believe they know the outcome and by the end of the book, we realize that our own guesses are just as off as Jules. I was blown away by the reveal. It was not on my radar at all. This book is set up in a great way. I suspect a lot of people will hate it though, but I loved it.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 5
The main female character is Jules. Jules is funny and layered. She does odd things like naming the gargoyle outside her window George and deciding to go on a wild goose chase and uncover the mystery of the Bartholomew, but I found her family’s past to be incredibly complex and it really was refreshing to follow a woman in the thriller from the poverty side who is not your typical domestic thriller. She didn’t have a drinking problem and she is just a woman with a lot of bad luck and a sad past. It’s a nice turn from the typical thrillers that have been released as of late. I wasn’t always on board with her decisions because she is dumb sometimes, but that’s to be expected when following a thriller heroine who decides to dig. I was always rooting for her. She is also strong and pretty adept at solving dangerous situations, so those finals pages of escape are intense and a wild ride. I loved following her narrative and I was a fan Sager’s depiction of her.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 5
The Villain- Wow. I had a theory and at one point my theory was being proved by Jules research, but that quickly went out the window. Everyone in this book is sketchy and no one should be trusted. It was masterfully done. When I finished reading this book I was so blown away by the complexity and brilliance of those within the Bartholomew.
Villain Scale: 5
Overall, I am a fan of Lock Every Door. Sager blew me away with this one and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s fun and spooky. The novel is atmospheric and the pacing is unputdownable. You don’t want to miss this novel because it will blow your mind.
Plotastic Scale: 5
Cover Thoughts: I am obsessed with the colors for this cover. It’s creepy and bold. I love it.
Thank you, Netgalley and Dutton Books, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I've seen this book around the blogosphere, but this is the first review I've actually read for it! I'm not a huge fan of scary/suspenseful books, but I do dip my toes in the genre from time to time. :)
ReplyDeleteLindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬
I definitely recommend giving this one a go then, Lindsi! It's spooky and suspenseful enough to make picking it up worth it!
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