Lock Every Door is about a 20-something woman, Jules, who finds herself in a difficult spot with no job, no family to speak of, and no place to live. She finds an ad on Craigslist looking for an apartment sitter for the Bartholomew, one of the most luxurious apartment buildings in New York City. She goes on the interview and gets the job. One can't help but think it is because of her circumstances and her single status that gets her this job.

It is written in the first-person from a female point of view, which is interesting because it is a male writer. When introduced to Jules, I couldn't help but think there was something very unfeminine about her and it could be due to the male writer. In fact, the woman showing her the apartment building didn't seem especially convincing either. There wasn't much in the way of characterization in the first few chapters and the language seems sort of stilted with lots of fragments. The descriptions and exposition went a little overboard, especially when describing the apartment building. I found myself wanting to know more about Jules and less about the Bartholomew.

The book starts in the present day and then goes back in time 6 days before the car accident that Jules wakes up from when she is in the hospital. Jumping from the present to flashbacks definitely adds to the suspense of the story.

Although Jules is kind of a generic character, it is written not only in the first person, but also in the present tense, which gives it a sort of every man or every woman feel to it. You really see things from her perspective, which makes certain scenes terrifying.

Things get creepier and creepier the more we learn about Jules and the Bartholomew. She meets a fellow apartment sitter named Ingrid who happens to be staying in the unit directly below her. They quickly become friends due to the no visitors allowed rule, but Jules learns that the Ingrid situation is not all it appears to be. Ingrid goes suddenly missing just like Jules' sister.

Jules' obsession with finding Ingrid borders on unrealistic as she only knew her for a very short amount of time and becomes infatuated with finding her. The author explains this by connecting it with how Jules' sister Jane disappeared and was never found. I get the motivation, but it's a stretch. Similarly, the rules of the Bartholomew seem unrealistic as well since she can't have any visitors, can't talk to the other residents, and can't leave overnight.

When we finally do find out something about Jules' past, it seems a little too tragic and too convenient.

While the premise may not be totally original or believable, the read is definitely exciting especially towards the last quarter of the book. However, I found myself skimming toward the end, just wanting to get the book done.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dutton Books and Riley Sager for the advanced reader copy of Lock Every Door in exchange for an honest review.
I loved Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied so I was thrilled to receive a copy of Lock Every Door.
Riley Sager is really the master of thrillers in my opinion.
Lock Every Door is told in flashbacks between the present and a few days before. Jules is down on her luck. Her job was eliminated, her boyfriend cheated on her and she has no money and no where to go. She can't believe her luck when she sees an add for an apartment sitter and finds the building is the Bartholomew where her favorite book was based. She interviews and is surprised when she's offered the job and $4,000 a month to apartment sit. Her friend Chloe tries to warn her that the rules are too strict and that there are weird and startling rumors about the building, but Jules can't turn down $12,000. After a collision in the lobby she befriends one of the other apartment sitters. They agree to meet up in Central Park the next day at noon, but she never shows. Jules is told she left in the middle of the night, but she suspects that is not true and sought out to find out what happened to Ingrid. She's drawn into the dark history and present of the Bartholomew.
I love the strong female characters that Sager creates. Despite dark and troubling circumstances they are determined to find the truth and protect themselves. This was well written. I thought I suspected what was coming, but the ending surprised me as Sager always does. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy on July 2nd when Lock Every Door is released.
My review will be posted on my instagram- https://www.instagram.com/reading.is.my.happy.place/ on July 2nd when the book is released

Lock Every Door was another page turning thriller by Sager. This book was good. It held my attention from the first page. I wanted to know the secret behind the Bartholomew. I could hardly put it down. I did not expect the ending either!

Thank you NetGalley & Dutton books for the ARC!! I enjoyed this book but not as much as the other two. I didn’t know where this book was going and it definitely took a strange turn at the end that I didn’t see coming. I think it is very suspenseful but also found myself putting it down and picking it up easier than most thrillers I can’t put down. Jules is in need of a fresh start and gets anything but that. The setting of the Bartholomew is perfect and easy to imagine. Can’t wait to read more of Riley Sager!

Lock Every Door, by Riley Sager, is a heart thumping thrill ride! Jules dream job quickly turns into a nightmare! Getting hired, at a generous fee, to apartment sit a fabulous apartment in the dreamy gothic Bartholomew Building seems a life saver for down on her luck, Jules. The rules are plenty; no visitors, mind your own business, you must spend every night in the apartment, etc; but Jules just sees the glamor, the doorman, the residents (the aging soap opera star, the author of her favorite book, a dreamy doctor)! What seems a a dream come true quickly becomes a nightmare. What happened to the apartment sitter before Jules? Why did her new friend, apartment sitting in 11A leave without notice? This whirlwind tale has a Hitchcock film noir flair and the end will leave you breathless!

After Final Girls & The Last Time I Lied and now Lock Every Door, I have learned two things. One: Never think you know what's going on and never assume you've figured out the ending in Riley Sager's books. Two: I will gladly and willingly stay up until 4 am, home alone with every door in my house locked, to read whatever Riley Sager writes next. Lock Every Door is purely CREEPY. The setting of The Bartholomew and the residents within it's walls are both very atmospheric and very insidious and I swear I can picture every detail of the old building down to it's ancient elevator. I flew through this in two sittings and was initially underwhelmed at what I had convinced myself was the ending. I was super proud I successfully guessed one of the "bad guys" and then not proud of myself at all that the ending was NOTHING like I had guessed. Well played, Riley Sager, well played.

Not as much of a thrilling page-turner as Sager's previous novels, but still highly enjoyable. The setting of The Bartholomew provides a rich, mysterious backdrop for the characters and gives the book an intriguing throwback feel. Although the pace is a little slower than expected during the first half, it thankfully picks up shortly afterward through the wild climax and closing. I like how Sager has stepped away from his usual book format this time around even if he didn't pull off the story quite as gracefully.

Riley Sager does it again! This book does not disappoint and will have you tearing through it so quickly. Jules’s story will have you at the edge of your seat through this wild ride.

This was the first book I read by Riley Sager and I really enjoyed it! I honestly thought I would go to bed with nightmares, because it was intense and a little scary because killing and stealing people’s organs is a real thing. No one talks about it, but it’s real. I never read what this book was about, I typically like to be surprised so I don’t have any theories starting out. I honestly had no idea what was going to happen! I really believed these people were in a cult, not that what they turned out to be doing was any better, but at least those people died for a reason, not just a sacrifice. I really hoped that Nick was not in on it, but he seemed like the only possible suspect that we had met so far so I would have been shocked if it was someone else honestly. I loved that it was a quick read. The chapters were short, leaving cliff hangers so you wanted more. Well done Riley Sager! I can’t wait to read your other books!

I posted this same review on Goodreads. Thank you so much for approving me and letting me read this early!

When you’re at a low point in your life, just lost your job and your boyfriend is caught cheating on you, it might be best to watch out for deals that sound too good to be true.

Jules finds herself in just such a position. When she applies for the job of a lifetime: apartment sitting at the luxurious Bartholemew in New York, she’s wondering if her life might be taking a turn. To make it even more exciting, the Bartholemew is an old building she admires and the salary is $1,000 a week. Since she has a sister who disappeared years ago and her parents perished in a fire, she’s definitely in need of a place to stay and money.

She’s delighted to learn that the position is hers but then learns there are a few rules. Even though the rules seem a bit restrictive and odd, she agrees to them. How can she not?

In a short time, she begins to notice strange things. When she agrees to meet and talk to another apartment sitter, her suspensions and concerns only heighten. She begins to research the Bartholemew on the Internet.

Is it possible this beautiful building holds secrets that put Jules in danger?

Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #DuttonBooks for the opportunity to read and review the ARC of #LockEveryDoor.

My Thoughts

What Concerned Me: This is a fairly hard book for me to rate and comment on. I was excited to read it because of the title and plot line, but most of the story had me waiting for the real suspense to begin. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t hard at all to keep turning the pages, but for me, it wasn’t exactly a suspenseful/thriller/page turner. It was a good, somewhat creepy, mystery.

And yet, when the book did get suspenseful and fast-paced, it also became a bit too unbelievable.

What I Liked Best: The descriptions are excellent. I could easily visualize the place without having so much description that the story ceases to move forward.

The book feels original and the characters are well-developed. This book is exciting and even (probably due to the excellent descriptions) a bit creepy. Why not mark your calendar or preorder it now! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

A creeptastic un-put- down-able page turning thriller that keeps you riveted to your cozy reading spot until the final jaw dropping, gasping end! What a thrill!
Jules is a fantastic heroine. The characters rich with substance and secrets. The gothic apartment building- a character in itself!

Mr. Sager also touches on sensitive topics such as loneliness, loss, grief and there's so much story here.
Dare I say a perfect psychological tea cup spinning ride to totally unexpected-ville? Yes!
Bravo, Riley Sager! That was a really good time.
5 stars. *Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for my early reader copy

This might be my favorite Riley Sager book yet. The writing is incredible. The Bartholomew felt so damn creepy that I could hardly read this book at night. The author almost lost me when Jules and Ingrid started going off on the Satanic cult tangent, but then he tied it all together in a way that was just perfect. This one is definitely the best thriller/mystery I have read in ages.

Entertaining book with a unique premise. Kept me guessing throughout most of the book and I liked the jumps in time, which kept things paced very well.

Lock Every Door is about a young woman in New York City who gets a dream job in an apartment building where things are not as they seem. I received an ARC copy from NetGalley.

I found the book very compelling, and the characters interesting. The structure worked very well for the subject matter, and most of all, I liked that the twist surprised me. It’s getting harder and harder for anything to surprise me these days so that was really welcome.

This book truly had it all! An intriguing title. A fierce protagonist. A sinister setting— the Bartholomew, a historical apartment building in Manhattan. An original storyline.

Jules hasn’t been dealt the best cards in life— she has no family, recently lost her job, and discovered her live-in boyfriend was cheating on her in the same day. With no place to live, no money, and no job, she applies to be an apartment sitter in the opulent Bartholomew in exchange for an ample salary. It almost seems too good to be true, despite the stringent rules that go along with the job. Jules, in desperate need of money and jaded by the luxuriousness of the apartment building, can not believe her luck and graciously accepts the position.

Almost immediately, Jules uncovers stories about the dark history surrounding the building. She begins hearing mysterious noises in the night. Then some of the other apartment sitters disappear, including Ingrid, a girl befriended by Jules on her first day. Jules begins to question whether some things really are too good to be true and wonders how safe she really is at the Bartholomew.

I literally could not put this book down. It was fast-paced, full of twists and turns, and completely addicting. It had just the right amount of creepy, and always left me on the edge of my seat, dying to know what happens next. The only problem is now I am left trying to find my next read that will leave me feeling as satisfied as Lock Every Door!

The suspense and atmosphere are here in spades but at the end of the day the story just isn't. There's a lot to like in Sager's sophomore effort and quite a bit that puts it way above the super lackluster "Final Girls." Unfortunately the "big reveal" isn't one of those things.

I liked heroine Jules Larsen quite a bit. There's an air of mystery and sadness around her that sets her apart from the typical lonely girl making a dumb choice in a horror novel. Sager very wisely never reveals too much about her past beyond the barest essentials and whether or not we get answers is less important than what her past has turned her into as a person. You get why she would take such an obviously ridiculous opportunity, apartment sitting in the world's most prestigious building and being paid a stupid amount of money for basically nothing as long as you follow a series of insane sounding rules.

The characters are probably the strongest part of what amounts to a Scooby Doo level plot with equally cartoonish villains who sole motivation for the icky stuff they're doing is "because poor people don't matter."

There's just something so damn silly about this story. Jules develops a bonkers theory about whats really going on when a series of former tenants are revealed to have mysteriously disappeared which is of course wrong, but the reality is just as dopey and predictable.

Whats so weird is that its all book ended with some really deep insights into loneliness and the struggle for closure in the face of senseless tragedy. Sagers writes with genuine grace about the crippling effects of grief, how it can freeze your life at that moment of tragedy and make it almost impossible to dig yourself out again. He gives Jules a surprisingly lovely and deeply sad connection to the hotel that really resonates, there's a connection between person and place that he returns to again and again so that this strange, lonely building starts to become a character in its own right.

In a way its like reading two totally different books. One is the tragedy of a girl left alone in the world with only her grief for company becoming increasingly frightened and unhinged as the one link she has left to a beloved family member starts to become increasingly terrifying. The other is a Grind House horror film that went right to DVD. There's nothing "heart pounding" or thrilling there because its all been done before and it was cheesy as hell then too!

Jules takes a job as an apartment sitter in a fancy and swank building in NYC.  There are rules - no visitors, no nights spent away from the apartment, no disturbing other residents.  BUT IT PAYS GOOD $$$$$.  

She finds herself growing closer to Ingrid, another sitter.  Jules has her own past.  Her parents are dead and her sister disappeared years ago. Then Ingrid disappears.  Something isn't quite right about this building.  Jules digs deeper into the history of the building and begins to uncover secrets...

This is a decent enough thriller.  It is a little slow, and I'm not sure how I feel about the ~*~*plot twist*~*~.  Really, I'm not sure how I feel about the whole book, but I did finish it.  Some of it was a little far fetched for me.  



Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/ Dutton

This was a great atmospheric read. It builds a good creep factor but without being too far out there or unbelievable.

Jules is broke - no job and no apartment, thanks to a cheating boyfriend. She answers an ad to be an apartment sitter and is shocked to find out the address is for The Bartholomew, a prestigious and very private building overlooking Central Perk. It seems too good to be true, but Jules jumps at the chance to live in this building, the setting of her favorite novel. Soon after moving in, she discovers that not everything is as it should be. When another apartment sitter goes missing, Jules begins to investigate and as she digs deeper she finds something sinister may be happening at this swanky address.

I thought this book had a great creepy setting, the details about The Bartholomew were perfect. It went somewhere I didn't see coming and I really appreciated that. I would recommend this to Riley Sager fans definitely. I also noticed that the book didn't rely on gratuitous language or sex scenes (neither of which particularly bother me, but it was nice that they weren't thrown in just for shock value) and I would be comfortable recommending this to high school neighbors as well as my grandmother.

I guess no one ever told the protagonist of this book that if things are too good to be true, they probably are. . .

Lock Every Door was a quick, easy, mildly entertaining read, but it was also predictable and weirdly slow for a thriller. If you are looking for an undemanding read, look no further. If you are looking for a thought-provoking mystery, this might not be the book for you.

This nefarious story is about Jules, a struggling loner who finds a job as an apartment sitter in a posh building in New York. It starts off with a creepy, haunted house kind of vibe (my very favorite kind of tale), but it quickly turns even more sinister with every turn of the page. And just when you think it’s as chilling as it can possibly be, it gets positively evil!

Coincidences become nightmares and a “too good to be true” plot turns out to be exactly that.

This is one of those books you can’t stop reading! In my opinion, it’s Sager’s best work, yet! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!