Lock Every Door, By Riley Sager {Book Review} ⋆ An Ordinary Gal

Two book reviews in one week?? This gal needs to catch up on her backlog of reviews!! The slump is real at the moment, but I read this book during a book marathon reading session and forgot to review it. So here we are another another Riley Sager book, Lock Every Door. I enjoyed Last Time I lied, so I have been keen to read everything by Sager. So when I spotted this book at Bargain Books a few weeks ago, I had to pick it up.

What is Lock Every Door about?

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. And 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.

My Review

Riley Sager is a great writer…..so much so that, even though he can lead us on wild goose chases (still not over that Last Time I Lied thing!), I don’t mind the detour. His writing is descriptive, clean, and really easy to read.

Jules is a protagonist that I liked. I rooted for her and I was really interested in her, her life, and especially her past w.r.t her sister. The book takes place over 5 or so days, so every day is filled with drama and revelation. The timeline also alternates between the present and 5 days earlier, which is really a common way books are written these days. I’d actually be surprised to read a book that takes place in only one timeline in 2020!

The Bartholomew was giving me the same creepy vibe that I got from the hotel in The Return. So it all felt so eerie to me, with every turn of the page. In terms of the twist, this one was on the predictable side. The who seemed obvious, but the why was a bit of a mystery. So that part was intriguing and provided the entertainment at the end.

I really enjoyed the ending and found it really satisfying. The only thing that shocked me, was that there was no last page shock as with Last Time I Lied. Shame on me though, for expecting Sager to have the same recipe for all his books.

My rating

Lock Every Door has a Goodreads rating of 3.9 stars out of 5. I am going to rate this book around 3.8 stars. I am docking for the fact that I found the book slightly predictable.