Review: Lock Every Door, by Riley Sager

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: Thriller, Horror

Goodreads

Lock Every Door is the story of Jules, a young woman who just lost her job and is now crashing at her friend’s place. When she sees a job opportunity as an apartment sitter at the grand, mysterious and glamorous Bartholomew, she can hardly believe her luck. All she has to do is live in the apartment for the next few weeks and she’ll have enough time and money to start over. But the rules of apartment sitting are strict and clear: no visitors, no spending nights outside of the Bartholomew, no bothering the neighbors. And there is something not quite right about the place, which becomes even more creepy when another apartment sitter disappears in the middle of the night.

I listened to this book in audio and it’s one of my favorite thrillers of the year! The story was creepy, deliciously mysterious and dark, keeping me on my toes the whole time. I was listening to this while running in the dark and it positively creeped me out. There is something so gripping about a building whose inhabitants probably have several (murderous) secrets stashed away, and a lot of gruesome deaths in its history. So. Addictive.

The main character was a sweet, brave girl who definitely had lots of courage – but gosh, she could be so clueless sometimes and definitely jumped right into obvious traps as if they were free candy. While this was a bit annoying, I don’t think it hindered my enjoyment of the story at all, because agonizing over her decisions and screaming mentally at Jules to run the hell out of that place while she decides otherwise is totally part of the experience from Lock Every Door. The pacing was great, too – it slacked a tiny bit in the middle, but hardly perceptible in my opinion.

I adored this book! I’m looking forward to picking up more by this author, who is new to me. Oh, it’s also a perfect pick for October, if you’re looking for a creepy read.