Member Reviews
3 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well, I’ll give it 3.25. This is only the 2nd Sager book I’ve read and I must say...I didn’t love it like I did The Last Time I Lied.
Jules, our main character, is recently unemployed and single. When an apartment sitting job at the well know Bartholomew falls into her lap, she can’t believe her luck. She’ll make $12,000 for 3 months of work! What’s not to love about that? The thing is, The Bartholomew residents have a crap ton of rules they must follow or they will immediately get fired - ridiculous rules to say the least. Jules doesn’t care because she desperately needs the money.
Remember that old saying “If it sounds too good to be true it probably is”? Yeah, that’s how I would describe the situation happening in this story. When other young apartment sitters start disappearing without a trace from The Bartholomew, Jules puts her detective skills to use to find out what’s happened to them. Problem is, Jules is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Yet somehow she figures it all out in the end.
The plot was rather weak in my opinion. The reveal was meh and the ending was lackluster. Aren’t slow burns supposed to have explosive endings? Yeah, that did not happen here. I was crossing my fingers that it would blow me away because I’m not a fan of slow burns - at all.
Even though I didn’t love this one, I didn’t hate it either. I look forward to reading Sager’s Final Girls and his newest book, Home Before Dark.
I’m definitely in the minority here as there are a lot of 4-5 star reviews for this one. It’s worth a read - just not one of my favorites.
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton and Riley Sager for my advanced copy to read and review.
I am officially a automatic-read and buy Riley Sager fan! Lock Every Door starts out slow, but if you keep on reading you will get to the point where you cannot put this book down! This is a true thriller, where I found my heart beating fast, uncertain as to where the story would go next. If you haven't already become a Sager fan, get your hands on this book!
What a wild ride! I love Sager’s last book and was not sure if this could top it. Jules is broke and desperate when she comes across an ad for an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of the most historic and well-known buildings in the city. This apartment sitter job seems pretty easy, and promises BIG money, but there’s some very strict rules to follow and some strange rumors about the building’s history, Jules slowly begins to get to know the residents, until one goes missing, From there. Jules takes us down a rabbit-hole of uncovering secrets, and doing her own investigating. but she discovers so much more!
I really enjoyed the pacing of the story. I was, as usual, waiting for a big TWIST but still was very surprised by the ending, Sager took it to a level I never expected, although I did sniff out who the bad guy was pretty early on,
I felt like the book was definitely a page- turner, not scary but thrilling and left me eager to find out what’s next! I read this book in 1 day. 4-stars for this one!
Thank you @netgalley and @duttonbooks for my e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review!
3.5 “if something seems to be too good to be true it is” stars for this one.
This is my first Riley Sager, & I really enjoyed his writing style & pacing. Though I thought this was pretty unbelievable & cheesy, I enjoyed the characters & the setting & it was definitely a page turner & a fast read. The buildup is fairly slow as the main character starts to figure out that something isn’t quite right, and begins to piece together the mystery. It really picked up about the 80% mark & had a nice tidy ending. I enjoyed it but it just seemed like a very unsophisticated B movie with charicatures for villains & a likeable but cliched heroine.
An amazing book with twists and turns on every page. I flew through the last half, having to force myself to slow down so as not to miss any details. A great thriller!
Lock Every Door was the February read for Caitlin Covington's "Reading between the Wines" and although I actually read this book in 2019, I realized that I hadn't written my review so here we go...
The Bartholomew is one of the most prestigious apartment buildings in New York City so when Jules Larsen is contacted to come in for an interview she is ecstatic. The building is something people dream about - beautiful living quarters with breathtaking views and they want to offer the apartment to Jules for 3 months as a sitter for $12,000.
So what's the catch?!?!
Well to start, only tenants are allowed within the doors. No visitors allowed. No exceptions. And that is just the start of the odd things that Jules finds out about the Bartholomew and the people who live there.
I refuse to give away too much detail because it could give everything away and I think you need to read it for yourself.Sager does a great job with this one. The level of mystery kept me intrigued and wanting to read more. I also really started to like Jules and wanted to see how things would end up for her. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.
As with every Sager book, this book is full of twists and turns! While this didn’t move as quickly for me as some of his older novels, I will say that the isolated nature of the narrators living situation came across really well and added new layers to the story as the location became synonymous with fear and mystery. Definitely a great read for any Sager fan!
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Jules, a twenty-something living in New York desperately in need of work, takes a seemingly too good to be true job house sitting in the illustrious and historical Bartholomew apartment building. Slowly but surely, Jules unravels the dark secrets behind the place she spent much of her childhood worshiping.
A fun, thrilling but not overwhelmingly suspenseful read, Lock Every Door delivers a compelling cast of characters and just-predictable-enough plot with plenty of twists, turns, and surprises. Though it wasn’t the modern gothic I was expecting, I still eagerly looked forward to watching Jules follow her instincts and the winding path that connects her tragic family history with her determination to uncover what it is that the Bartholomew is hiding.
I will say this one took a lot of suspension of my disbelief. Both that a job such as this would exist, and that the things going on with the Bartholomew would ever, ever be possible. This book brushes up against talking about a number of important topics, which I appreciate, and wish would have been explored more. It also drags a bit in the middle, leaving the reader knowing it must be going somewhere but can’t really draw a feasible line about where.
All that being said, the ending was surprisingly satisfying and I would recommend this to anyone looking to get lost in an intense but still easy read.
Quickie Review:
I would say that this was more of a mysterious story than suspenseful. I thought that Jules’s, the main character was good. I didn’t really connect with her, but she was likable, spunky, and I found it easy to want her to have a better life. She has gone through some tough times in her life and she is pretty determined to keep going and not give up. Jules was however a little naive at times. Not to mention, she put herself in dangerous situations when I felt like she didn't have to. And even though I know she did some of the things because of her sister Jane, but to me that wasn't a big enough reason to jeopardize her own safety.
The story didn't pick up that much for me until 70% or so. I'm satisfied with how the book ended, but I wish there had been more red herrings/twists to the story.
Lock Every Door is a well written and entertaining story that you should try if you are a fan of Riley Sager or mysteries in general. He always comes up with interesting concepts and characters.
RATING: 3½ OUT OF 5.
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: Lock Every Door
AUTHOR: Riley Sager
@riley.sager
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Published: July 2, 2019
https://amzn.to/2T8OGEz
This is my second Riley Sager book and I do really enjoy them so far. The story is told between the present time where Jules is in a hospital and the past where she resides in the building. And even when you think you know what is going to happen to her… believe me, you don’t. The ending left me shaking my head at the inhumane aspect of it. You don’t know which way to turn or what to believe. And Riley continues to weave the narrative throughout the story in a masterful way.
I cannot wait to continue to read the last current book (The Last Time I Lied) as well as Home Before Dark coming out this summer!!!!
Small Summary:
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.
*****
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.
This was such an exciting book! I couldn't put it down and I loved everything about it, especially the setting. The twist is excellent. Thanks, NetGalley!
Thanks to @duttonbooks #partner and @netgalley for this free ebook copy of Lock Every Door by @riley.sager . I finished this book in almost one sitting. It is that suspenseful and engaging!
Lock Every Door comes out July 2019 and it’s a suspenseful thriller you will not want to miss. Jules has recently been laid off of work and broken up with her cheating boyfriend. Down on her luck and needing a place to stay, she comes across an add seeking an apartment sitter. The gig turns out to be located at the old historic Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings.
Trying not to question her new found lifeline, she quickly signs a contract ensuring her payment in cash of $12,000 to live and watch over an extravagant, vacant apartment on the 12th floor. All she has to do is follow the rules: “No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents.” It all sounds too good to be true, but she doesn’t dare question it until one day a fellow apartment sitter goes missing. Searching for answers, “Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's sordid past and into the secrets kept within its walls. What she discovers 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”. I absolutely loved the suspense and the twists. While I was able to figure out The “who” pretty quickly, the “why” escaped my grasp until the story revealed the truth. This creepy thriller is sure to captivate your attention until the very end. I highly recommend it.
Lock Every Door was my entrance to Riley Sager and I am thoroughly impressed. This is such a ride from start to end and I can't wait to give the rest of their novels a try. I gave a mini review of this on my Instagram Story.
This book was captivating from the first page! I love that this book had a feel of the show I watched years ago Parkway 666. Once I started this book I could not put it down! I will always rush to get my hands on one of the books by this author! When people ask for a recommendation of books I always loan out my Riley Sager books to them! Every reader that loves Thrillers needs to read his books!
It's always nice discovering new to you authors in genres you love. This is the first book by Riley Sager that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last. I am picky about my suspense novel authors, but I really liked this book. There were a few things that happened that I found predictable but there were a few nice twists. The story moved along at a fast pace like suspense novels should with short chapters and page turning content. I felt I had a good picture of the Bartholomew from the authors vivid descriptions. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspense novels.
So first I have to apologize for the delay in reading and reviewing this book, especially because Riley Sager is one of my favorite authors. And I have had the privilege of reading all of his books as ARCS. All of which I loved so much that I purchased finalized publisher copies. I received this book in the spring of 2019 and if you follow me on other social media, you will know that I was pregnant last year and gave birth to my son in August. Between all the pregnancy symptoms and the never ending exhaustion, I couldn't really focus on fiction. Add in a very difficult delivery, recovery and a newborn who didn't like to sleep and I didn't get much reading done. Now that he is 5.5 months old, I am finally getting caught up on my reading and blogging.
I really didn't have much of an idea where this book was going when I started, besides what I learned from reading the synopsis, which lead me to believe that there was some sort of killer living in the building. I don't want to give away any spoilers but as usual, the author definitely surprised me in the direction the plot took. I will say that by about halfway through I had a pretty good idea of who was involved, but had no idea about the plot. The main character Jules is a fairly interesting character, although she did begin to annoy me because I swear she either thought about or mentioned her missing sister several times per chapter. But I think the author did that on purpose since she ends up in a situation where someone else goes missing. This is probably my least favorite book so far by Riley Sager but it was still great and gets 4/5 stars. If you haven't read this book yet, I recommend checking it out, as well as his first two books.
Thanks to the publisher, Dutton and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.
I highly enjoyed this book. This was my first Riley Sager book and I will be moving on to more. I have Final Girls on my TBR for this month. Looking forward to it!
“Every so often, life offers you a reset button. When it does, you need to press it as hard as you can.”
Jules has found her self crashing on her friends couch because of "the bad guy game" made by her boyfriend. After finding a life changing job in the classified sections - for an apartment live-in, Jules jumps as the opportunity.
The Bartholomew is a place for the rich and famous. A very discreet place full of beauty and lure. The gargoyles that stand on the outside of the building makes the apartment complex all the more stunning.
“Shouldn’t the wealthy, by virtue of their superior breeding, be less susceptible than people who have nothing, come from nothing, are nothing”
Once inside, Jules can not believe the opportunity that she has walked into. Such luxury and glamour. And to her surprise, her favorite author lives in the same building but after trying to speak with Greta, Greta was short and did not want to be bothered with a "live-in"
Jules was offered the amount of $12,000 for 3 months, paid out $1,000 a week just to live there. How could something so wonderful be so great?? Well sometimes things are not always what they appear.
She soon meets up with Dylan and Ingrid, and they all appear to think something is wrong this place and when someone finds something, They always leave in the middle of the night. The fastest way to leave is when no one is watching or are they??
When people go missing and Jules starts her search for them, the loss of her sister many years ago push her not to give up on anyone else that has gone missing. She wants to find the true story behind what is going on at The Bartholomew. Oh and she find out more than she wants to know!
“I take a deep breath, trying to collect my thoughts. But they’re an unruly, unreliable bunch. My skull feels like a snow globe recently shaken, swirling with important bits of information that have yet to land. And I can’t grasp”
Guys this book had all the feels I wanted. I loved this story so much. I am so happy I finally picked up this book. This book was dark and the story that unravels in this book is shocking. I did not see the last half of this book coming. That ending, was a big one.. I was holding my breath through most of the last half.
I highly recommend this book if you are looking for that feeling of creepy and dark vibes of the unknown and you just can not get enough of it. READ THIS BOOK!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the release of this review copy!
This thrilling page turner was full of so many twists and turns that I honestly didn't see coming. You think you're solving the puzzle, but guess what- you aren't. It's so much worse than you could have imagined.
I could not put this book down, it was that good. And while it wasn't my favourite Riley Sager book, it's still a solid read that any thriller fan would love.
I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was on the 2020 shortlist. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">
This was a really fun, mystery read. I enjoyed the overall plot and the pacing of this novel. The characters were pretty standard for YA mystery/thriller genre but it was still enjoyable.