Hello beautiful People! Welcome to a new book review! For this review, I get into Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. I’ve checked out a few of Riley’s other works Final Girls, and The Only One Left so I’ve been looking forward to checking out some of his other books. I will say that given that I’ve checked out some of his other books, I was disappointed by this one and didn’t end up liking it as much as the other books I’ve read from him. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad book at all, but compared to his other works I’ve read it just didn’t hold up to their level. With that being said, let’s get into it!
Main Characters:
- Jules: An adult orphan who lost all of her family in various traumatic ways, takes a job in New York at the glamourous Bartholomew to try and make some quick money as an apartment sitter, gets much more than she bargains for when it turns out the building has a lot of secrets in its walls
- Ingrid: Fellow apartment sitter that Jules meets and befriends when she moves to the Bartholomew, goes missing in an odd fashion sending Jules into the heart of a mystery
- Dylan: Another apartment sitter who exposes Jules to more things going on in the building
- Gretta Manville: A famous author, one of Jule’s favourites who lives at the Bartholomew
- Nick: A hot doctor living at the Bartholomew
My Review
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager is a thriller mystery filled with interesting characters and a plot line that definitely pulls you in. I will say that there were a lot of twists I didn’t see coming, but there were some I did. Like I had said before, it’s a good book, but I do think some of his other work is a bit stronger.
I gave Lock Every Door by Riley Sager a 7/10. While I found the mystery to be really interesting, Jules looking into whether people were going missing at the Bartholomew and why, some other things going on in the book that kind of take away from that. If I am being real as well I kind of found the ending to be unsatisfying. The book overall was a bit more theatrical than I was expecting, leading to an equally theatrical ending. It wasn’t a bad ending, and it made sense and wrapped everything up, but personally, it just wasn’t my favourite. I also found some of the characters to be a bit clique. It helped differentiate everyone in the book, but some of them were just a bit of an eye-roll for me. I found in a book like this too having clique characters written in this way gave away a lot early on. I don’t think Riley intended for that, but personally, when characters are like that I have an easy time telling what role they’ve come to play in the story. I get more into this in the spoiler section, but I figured out a big part of the ending early on in the book, and it kind of ruined the rest of the book for me. I of course kept reading to see if I was right, but as it became clearer that I was, I just wanted to get through the rest of the book and finish it up. I admit that this is a very personal issue and not everyone may have figured out what I did so early on, but I also don’t give myself a lot of credit for being able to figure things out in mysteries very quickly. It was a quick thought I had early on in the book, but as soon as I had it in my head I couldn’t let it go. I was kind of mad at myself because I do think if I hadn’t figured this out I would have enjoyed the book a bit more.
The background of Jules is really interesting, and I think it’s an important one because it explains a lot of her behaviour throughout the book. When she was younger her older sister Jane went missing and was never found. Uncertain if she is dead or alive her family eventually had to move on and stop looking for her. After her sister went missing her mother got sick with cancer, and then both of her parents died in an accident. Pretty messed up background if you ask me. What leads her to the Bartholomew is walking in on her long-term boyfriend cheating on her in their living room after she came home early from losing her job. Again this girl has quite the string of bad luck. After getting what seems like a job like no other at the high-profile Bartholomew, it starts to seem like maybe her luck has turned around, with emphasis on the stars too. Soon on into her stay weird things start happening in the building. When Ingrid another apartment sitter goes missing out of the blue after the two planned to meet Jules starts to worry that maybe her erratic thoughts have some truth to them.
With an odd cast of characters at the Bartholomew, there are lots of people who could be causing apartment sitters to go missing, but the question is who and why? There were a lot of creepy elements to this book and I think it was the setting that was the strongest element. Imagining Jules being in the massive luxury apartment all by herself gave me a chill. The eeriness described in the building made it so there was always this creepy vibe whenever the setting was in the apartment building and always gave this sense that no one was ever safe.
This definitely isn’t a long book so if you’re looking for a unique mystery thriller to pick up for a good weekend read this is defiantly one. While I do think Riley has some stronger works to check out, I do think this one is a worthy read. Riley is always good with the descriptions and always picks a really interesting setting to put his stories in. Honestly, nothing that I’ve read so far of his had been bad, but just holding this one up to some of his other works it isn’t my favourite.
*** Spoilers ahead ***
Alright so let’s get into what part of the mystery I figured out early on. Early on in the book, I found it weird that Jules was getting paid 12k to live in the apartment for 3 months. That’s a lot of money for not a lot of work and it instantly seemed weird to me. I just couldn’t figure out what it was yet. On Jule’s first day in the apartment, Ingrid accidentally bumps into her (turns out to really not be an accident) causing Jules to fall and get a cut. It’s just her luck though because in this very expensive apartment building, there is a young handsome doctor, Doctor Nick. As soon as Nick came into the story I saw a red flag. It is shown early on in the book that the Bartholomew is a pretty old building that houses a lot of old rich people, Nick kind of stood out like a sore thumb. As soon as he showed up I thought “I bet he’s the killer” and instantly knew I was probably right and was kicking myself. I mean logically he was the only one who made sense. I read the rest of the book hoping I was wrong but as it went on it was painfully clear I wasn’t. While I wasn’t totally on the money as to why Nick was the killer I was definitely right that it was him. Indgrid is told by Nick to bump into Jules so that he can get her blood type and the reason why is creepy.
As Jules does her investigating it turns out that Dylan the other apartment sitter has been having similar thoughts to her that people are going missing and it’s not for a good reason. With Ingrid missing it gets exposed that there was another apartment sitter in the unit before Jules who also went missing in the same fashion Ingrid did. The other sitter and Dylan had a little fling going on so it was weird when she ‘quit’ and didn’t say anything to him. When he tried looking for her she was nowhere to be found, but he could never prove anything happened to her until Jules came along. It turned out that Ingrid wasn’t dead and was actually able to escape the building before Nick got her. Jules was able to find her at a shelter and the two were able to swap theories. Turns out that a cult was being run out of the Bartholomew, and had a long history there. This cult believes in the rich and famous having easier access to medical services than the regular and found a way to do so. They would lure vulnerable people to the building with a 12k job and then would harvest their organs for the rich who needed them. Ingrid figured out they were coming for her and could make it out of the building before they got her.
Jules goes back to the building to get her things and to try and save Dylan which is just so stupid. From the start of the book, we are getting current perspectives from Jules who was in the hospital. She had been hit by a car but these parts don’t expose much until the end of the book. Turns out the hospital Jules was in was never a hospital and she was in the Bartholomew the whole time. They had taken her kidney for Gretta Manville. This was the weird twist that I really didn’t see coming. I mean it was good but I didn’t love it. The whole book was very out there but even this seemed a bit too over the top for the tone of the rest of the book, there just wasn’t really any inclination that it would pick up in this way.
The book ends with Jules starting a fire in the building and being able to get away. One of the other staff from the building ends up going to the police with everything that went on and Jules was able to charge Nick for taking her freaking kidney like what the hell. It ends with Jules and Ingrid together thinking about looking for Jule’s sister. Like I had said before, not a bad ending but just not the best.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have you read Lock Every Door by Riley Sager or any of his other books before? What did you think?
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