Lock Every Door

Author: Riley Sager
Genre: Suspense
Type: e-book
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Dutton
First Published: July 2, 2019
Opening Lines: "Light slices the darkness, jerking me awake. My right eye - someone's prying it open. Latex-gloved fingers part the lids yanking on them like they're stubborn window shades."

Book Description from GoodReads: 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.

My Rating: 4 stars

My Review: Riley Sager, he of Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied fame, is back with another suspenseful read just in time for summer. The plot of Lock Every Door is chilling, the setting unique (who doesn't love an old NYC building complete with its own secrets and gargoyles?) and it's a story that will keep readers turning the pages.

There is a delightful, pervasive feeling of menace that lingers over the story of a young woman who is offered an opportunity that seems too good to be true. Included in this increasingly creepy story are an array of unique characters, each with their own secrets and sometimes sketchy pasts, that avid suspense readers will enjoy. 

While this was a page-turner for me, I found the ending not as impressive as the journey to it (some aspects were just a little too 'out there' to be believable for me). But the fact that I still found this to be a compulsive read leaves Lock Every Door firmly in the 'very good' suspense category. While Sager touches on some bigger issues (isolation, social class …), the focus of this novel is firmly on suspense and creating a sinister vibe which it does very well.  

Disclaimer:  My sincere thanks to Dutton Books for my complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.