A slightly creepy tale reminding us that if something seems to good to be true, then it usually is!

Freya Miller has lost her husband, she has to sell the family home, she's feeling vulnerable and emotional, and needs a miracle. Just when she's at her lowest, she's approached by a man in a coffee shop, offering her and her daughter Skye, a place to live. An amazing, expensive place in Kensington, for an affordable price!
It seems perfect, but is it? Freya feels watched, things move in her flat, and her landlords are very strange...

To say I was underwhelmed by The Apartment would be an understatement! I struggled to get through it, and had to force myself to read at times, luckily it was a short book! But I probably should have DNFed it really! It was a little bit creepy, but nothing like as scary as it could have been, and the tension and build up, could have been done a lot better!

This book was slow. The plot was repetitive, and seemed to go around in circles. Not much really happened until quite near the end of the book, and even then, I wasn't really shocked! I mean we knew from the start not to trust the other residents?!

I wasn't keen on this being written in the present tense. It was mostly written in the present, but would then jump back into the past, as we read someone's journal. I don't mind that in a book, if its done well, but the flashbacks in this book were confusing and uninteresting to me.

I didn't feel that the characters were well developed, aside from Freya, and even though her character was well fleshed out, I found her quite unlikeable. Her naivety was so ridiculous, that I just couldn't believe it! Who tells complete strangers such personal things about themselves, and lets them take control of their life like that?! The amount of red flags, would have had most people running, the minute they even visited the place! I could however, feel Freya's fear, panic and rising stress levels, as well as her love and protectiveness for Skye, so that was done well.

BUT, why didn't she ever google things on her phone?! Was it me, or did she wait until she got home to search on her laptop each time?! What decade was this meant to be set in? From the start, I was muttering to Freya that she should look into it more before making such a huge decision, but alas no...

The action did start to pick up at about 90% in, but then that ending happened.

After such a slow build up, it unbelievably felt rushed and sudden?! It was so far fetched, silly and pointless, that it was actually laughable. There were so many plotlines and characters that were left hanging! Why include them, if they're not going to go anywhere?! I had many questions after, and it quite annoyed me!

To sum up, The Apartment was boring, ridiculous and disappointing read for me. I haven't read anything else by K.L. Slater, and after this, I am reluctant to do so! I've heard this is reminiscent of Lock Every Door by Riley sager, which I own, but now am not looking forward to reading.
However, this book does have many good reviews, it sadly, just wasn't the one for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for my early readers copy, in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if approached by a random stranger in a coffee shop offering you the opportunity to live in a beautiful apartment in an expensive city like London at a ridiculously low rent?? Well, cynical old me would run a mile, wondering what the catch was since such an altruistic offer must be too good to be true. I’m sure many of us would do exactly the same but Freya, reeling from the death of her husband is desperate to make a new start with daughter Skye. Desperation can make you act entirely out of character so I can partly understand why Freya accepts Dr Marsden’s offer, seeing it as her last ray of hope in her otherwise gloomy world. Sounds promising so far.
However I wanted to grab hold of Freya and shake some sense into this woman as from the very beginning you know that this move will not be a good idea at all. She is an immensely irritating character, bemoaning her current status and I found it hard to conjure up any sympathy for her predicament. Alarm bells should have been ringing, alerting her to the strange atmosphere in Adder House, home to Dr Marsden and Audrey Marsden. He is incredibly strange, bestowing gifts on Freya and Skye when they first move into the apartment on the top floor, acting like a knight in shining armour. That didn’t seem likely behaviour at all in my opinion and my gut instinct would have told me be extremely wary. Freya doesn’t seem to possess these skills, all too ready to accept people at face value and quick to accept the hand of friendship, acting with extreme naivety.
Other residents are strangely absent, with Adder House largely silent which does add to the eerie atmosphere and provide some element of tension for the reader, wondering what may befall Freya and Skye whilst they are living here. Apart from a fleeting meeting in the garden with an ethereal like character called Susan and then a more friendly introduction to elderly Lily who takes a shine to Skye, I felt this novel was lacking in characters to provide more of a backstory to past events at Adder House, or perhaps more pertinently, those that do play a part are quite sketchily drawn so that I never felt a had a grasp of their who they were and their relevance to the storyline. The Marsden’s are the only characters that feature heavily, with Audrey an overbearing, rather cool and distant woman whilst the doctor is more of an old school type of gentleman but I liked neither of them.
There is some further tension created when bizarre things happen to Freya and Skye. Noises are heard, the source of which is impossible to detect and there just feels like an extra presence in the apartment with objects not in place where they should be. This is a well used method to induce panic and paranoia, in this instance into the mind of Freya whilst making the reader question what are the darker forces in play here and why is Freya their chosen subject. Whilst I flew through the pages, I didn’t feel there was enough tension created, finding it fairly easy to guess how Freya’s nerves are so put on edge but not the reasons why. In fact I would say not a great deal seems to occur until the very ending when revelations are all very rushed and frankly ridiculous. The author leads us to the conclusion with more insinuation rather than any shock inducing acts. Occasionally there are scenes from the past woven into the present time which of course do connect all these individuals together and odd snippets of conversation about a past tragedy at Adder House do finally make Freya distrust the Marsdens but perhaps a fraction too late??
This was my first time reading a book by this author and on this occasion I have to say I was disappointed and underwhelmed and it didn’t live up to expectation. Maybe it’s just this title and I need to explore others to get a better sense of this author’s style of writing. I’m incredibly appreciative of the chance to read The Apartment in the form of an ARC courtesy of the publisher and Netgalley, just on this occasion sadly it wasn’t for me.

Faced with the challenges as a single mother, Freya had to uproot her five year old daughter Skye from the home she grew up in to an apartment across town. The home she lived in with her husband was sold.
At a coffee shop observing flyers for places to rent, Dr. Marsden approaches Freya with a solution. He’s in need of a tenant at the Adder House in which he resides.

Overall:
The prologue was an excellent preview of what’s to come. KL Slater’s words provided just enough information to hook me in. The premise was quite promising leading me to believe I was heading into a ghost story. The cover is absolutely stunning. The title was another leading factor for me wanting to delve into The Apartment.
Imagine my surprise when I realized this is not a ghost story or a haunting. Once I got over my initial shock and disappointment that I wasn’t going to read about this monster house I redirected my focus to the new tenants and there story. When that didn’t seem to be all that inspiring I spent my time investigating all the tenants. What else could I do since that’s the direction Ms. Slater guided me. I got to say I wasn’t not impressed with this direction. I had it in my mind that the Adder House was an entity of its own. I presumed this house would be treated as any other character.
It’s a character driven story focusing on the tenants who inhabit inside the Adder House. I thought the house would be suspicious and creepy not the tenants.
I was slightly taken back by the experiment scenes. The introduction to these scenes was abrupt to the story. These scenes came out of left field and didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the story, but then again I was so set on this house being haunted.

Its with much regret that I find myself not as invested in this book as I had originally thought. The premise, the title, and the cover were all leading factors, yet the dialogue and direction took a turn I wasn’t planning for. When it was all said and done I wasn’t impressed. The house wasn’t the entity I thought it was going to become. The outcome was anticlimactic.

Glad to find another great read by the author!!!! Absolutely one of my favorites. I can't wait to dive into more of her stories

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. After Freya's ex-husband died, she is desperate to find a new place to live for her and her daughter, Skye, as she can no longer afford her house. She meets an older man in a coffee shop who offers her an apartment that the rent is based on what she can afford. She falls in love with the apartment and it is just too good to be true. After Freya and Skye move in, strange things begin to happen and she soon finds out that a previous tenant died. I really was not impressed with this book at all. I normally love the work by this author but I just felt like when I was finished with it, there were so many parts of the story that were not answered.

Review of eBook

After her husband’s death, Freya Miller needs a new start. She’s sold their house to pay the bills and now she needs somewhere to live with their five-year-old daughter, Skye. But money is tight and Freya has no job. While worrying about what to do, she stops at the local Starbucks coffee shop where she meets Doctor Michael Marsden, a charismatic gentleman posting a flyer about an apartment available for rent.

Despite the fact that the apartments in the exclusive, upscale area around Adder House regularly command a much higher rent, Doctor Marsden tells Freya this one is available at a nominal cost. Finding herself intrigued, she seriously considers taking him up on his offer for her to rent the apartment.

Soon thereafter, Freya pushes aside her initial uneasiness and moves into Adder House with her daughter. But she believes someone is watching her, she hears voices, and she discovers some things moved around in the apartment; all of these episodes serve to intensify Freya’s paranoia. Skye has some difficulties with the move as well, most notably in that it means she will attend a new school, leaving her best friend, Petra, behind. But she hears voices, too, and has nightmares. And yet, Freya cannot seem to find any rational explanation for these events and she writes them off as worry giving way to paranoia or the child’s difficulty in dealing with the sudden changes.

Is Freya becoming overwhelmed by her circumstances and imagining things? Or is there something sinister about the situation in which Freya now finds herself?

Two plots unfold in this quick-read narrative: the story of Freya and Skye and the story of a long-ago research project involving a baby and his mother. The first unfolds in the present-day narrative while a series of journal entries interspersed in the present-day story reveal the backstory of the latter.

Freya has an exasperating tendency to make choices based on her erroneous belief that she is over-reacting or being paranoid. While this might be forgivable once or twice, her continual propensity to ignore that “gut” feeling is certain to frustrate readers. Unfortunately, the too-good-to-be-true situation doesn’t cause her to immediately turn and run; she continues to make cringe-worthy choices, leaving readers to roll their eyes in annoyance.

While Freya and her daughter are believable, well-developed characters, much of the telling of the tale focuses on every-day sorts of things such as traveling to and from school or moving from the house to the apartment. These scenes do little to move story forward and, while well-written, tend to diffuse any building sense of impending catastrophe that readers might feel.

With the other characters lacking strong development, readers remain woefully ignorant about the residents of the South Kensington apartment building. It is clear that everyone is hiding something, but the lack of any real information about these people leaves the reader floundering for some sort of an explanation. Something untoward is occurring at Adder House and, at times, there are strong scenes that successfully build suspense, but the ordinariness of Freya’s everyday life tends to overwhelm these foreboding episodes until late in the telling of the tale.

The ending, while a bit of a believability stretch, does answer most of the questions; however, an inference to Freya’s previous mental illness goes without explanation. More importantly, the elephant in the room [what happened to Lewis] remains unanswered. These are plot points that are certain to leave readers feeling a bit short-changed.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley
#TheApartment #NetGalley

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on April 28, 2020

The Apartment by K.L. Slater is a psychological thriller, and my first book by this author. Overall I found the book very well written, it started out a little slow at the start but then the pace picked up. As the saying goes if something seems to good to be true, it more than likely is. That certainly was the case in this book. I would recommend this book to those that enjoy a good thriller.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of the book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I keep hearing great things about this book, but I couldn’t even get a quarter of the way through this one. It was so boring that I just couldn’t do it. Maybe I should have kept going, but the story just didn’t hook me. The writing and the characters just seemed blah. If I can’t get into it after 40 pages, I’m out. Such a disappointment by a great author.

The Apartment is another solid thriller from K. L. Slater. It’s a well constructed slow burner that builds to a satisfying climax, which is just unfortunately over too quickly!

After the death of her husband, Freya and her daughter Skye’s lives are upended and they have to move house to maintain some financial stability. Freya thinks her luck has changed when via a chance meeting, she is offered an apartment in an exclusive Kensington building at a price that might literally be too good to be true. As strange events begin to unfold and Freya’s very sanity is pushed to its limits, will she discover the truth about Adder House...and more importantly, will it be in time for her and Skye to escape?

The Apartment is an fun read, which initially trundles along nicely with sprinklings of suspense and action, which gradually build and intensify as the plot develops. Slater builds some strong atmosphere in places and there were certain chapters that I couldn’t consume quickly enough. Freya is a well developed character and I found myself routing for her throughout. Peppered through the narrative are chapters that are written from a mystery point of view, revealing details of a rather unsavoury and very unethical experiment on a baby during the 1920s. These chapters allude to the conclusion, without revealing who is responsible for trying to drive Freya insane. The final reveal was not a revelation I hadn’t seen coming, but the story is neatly wrapped up and I came away satisfied.

My only real critique is that once the unsettling events began to unfold and the pieces of the puzzle started to come together, events wrapped up very quickly and I felt that there could have been more opportunities for heart-pumping action and tension. However, despite this, The Apartment is still a well crafted and enjoyable thriller that is great for a quick read. 3.5 star rating

If you're looking for another Lock Every Door by Riley Sager...look no further. You've found it.

Well, a much less interesting version, that is.

I struggled and lurched through this story, waiting for something, anything, to happen. At about the 95% mark, we got a little action, but it was so silly, I was forced to bring out my infamous eye-roll.

I suggest reading some of the positive reviews to see if this sounds like a book you may enjoy. For me, it simply didn't work.

Available for sell in the U.S. on April 28th.

Many appreciative thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

I was so looking forward to reading this book and I have really enjoyed books by this author before but there was just something lacking in this and I just can't put my finger on what this is.
It was of course, well written and wasn't a difficult read at all but I just didn't feel as if I could believe it.

This is a difficult book for me to review. I enjoyed the story, but I've heard it before. Having previously read Lock Every Door by Riley Sager, it was nearly impossible for me to read this book or write this review without comparing the two books. I do understand that is extremely unfair to the author, and I am trying my best to leave that out of this review and the rating. There are just too many similarities, from the main characters having lost loved ones and being alone and vulnerable at the time they learn about the apartment, to the apartment rent being too good to be true, to the rich tenants (aside from the main characters) who never discuss the past of the apartment/building, to the foreboding facade, to the old lady tenant being the only trustworthy person in the building.... need I go on?

The Apartment is a slow building story about Freya and her daughter Skye who are down on their luck after Freya's husband/Skye's father has an affair and leaves them, and then ultimately dies shortly after. Freya and Skye are forced to find a new place to live when, with a twist of fate, Dr. Marsden appears and offers Freya an apartment in a wealthy neighborhood for hardly any rent. Freya and Skye accept the offer and move in to the new apartment at Adder House. Once they get settled, things start to get weird. Skye overhears Dr. Marsden mention the little girl who lived in the apartment before she did, while Dr. Marsden told Freya they were the first tenants in that apartment. It later is revealed that there was a tragic accident in relation to Adder House as well, but no one wants to discuss the details.

Freya starts looking into the past of Adder House and its previous tenant to figure out if she and her daughter are safe. She starts hearing noises and voices, things start moving around without Freya or Skye having moved them, and Freya starts seeing strange things as well. Could all of this be the work of her ex-husband's new girlfriend seeking some type of revenge? Could Adder House be haunted? Could Freya just be extremely stressed out from the move and the grief of the last 18 months?

This story starts off interesting enough to keep you turning pages, but nothing of much significance really happened until about 60% through the book. There was a lot of back story into Freya and Skye's lives, and also flashbacks to a doctor and his experiments in the 1920's. It was a little confusing with the 20's flashbacks until about 95% of the way through the book when it is tied into the story, kind of. I felt these flashbacks should have had a bigger part in the story, and should have been resolved more in depth by the end since they happened throughout most of the book.

As much as I felt bad for Freya's character and was hoping everything would work out for her, I also found her wishy-washy and a pushover. For example, in chapter 33, she makes the statement, "....but they will be under no illusions how I feel about it now." Then, the next sentence goes on to say, "He was so contrite and apologetic, in the British fashion. I found myself assuring him 'no harm done' before he left. But that wasn't really a truthful response." So in two sentences she is vowing to stand up for herself, and then doesn't follow through. This is just one example, but it goes on throughout the entire book.

I think the loose ends were tied, but the more I think of certain events in the book, the easier those knots are coming loose. There are at least two events that I feel were not fully resolved that I wish had more of an in-depth finality. I also thought that by the 85% mark, the tension was building and I was waiting for a blow-you-away ending, and instead it was very anticlimactic. I was awfully disappointed in the ending, not just because it felt like a let down, but because overall it seemed unresolved.

I really did enjoy this book until the last 10%. The ending really made a huge impact on my rating for this book. The anticlimactic ending after what seemed to be a long, slow tension building story, coupled with the unresolved aspects just really made it disappointing to finish. I debated for a long time on the rating, and unfortunately, the more I think of some unresolved events the more I have to give this book 3 stars. There was just too much that wasn't tied up tight enough by the end. I would recommend this book to friends, and I am willing to read more by this author. This book unfortunately just missed the mark for me.

wow what a thriller!!!

So I got the book through NetGalley.com and I am so happy I got to read it before its release.
By the way this book is amazing. I am HERE FOR ALL THE DRAMA!!!!!!! Ok it didn’t have to much drama, it was just so much mystery its wild stuff! I promise I wont spoil it, but for sure this read was straight to the point, and I love that.

This book is about a woman trying to start over with her daughter. She has gone through things in life that you cant even imagine, and now with a daughter of her own, I totally understand why she wants the best for her daughter. Freya is in this vulnerable state, its wild, she is a product of a fostering, her husband left her for someone else and also died recently, she has to get up and make moves with little income, so the offer to live in one of the most well recognized houses was a dream come true for her.

But of course not everything is as it seems. The tenants are weird, her landlords are double weird, she is seeing thing, and her daughter is all over the place with her emotions, its crazy! And the twist is what got ME! I am a sucker for twists, and the twist in this book right here took me to TOWN!!!! Thanks for this amazing read.

I received this copy from netgalley.
I loved it. it is my first book through this author.
I am looking forward to reading more of them

The Apartment by K.L.Slater was a good read. Too good to be true or kindness when you need it? That’s what Freya struggled to decide. Things are not as they initially seem to her, nor perhaps as we think either. I had a fair idea of what was going on so no major surprise there but nonetheless the book moved along at a decent pace with enough credible action to keep me reading. A good read but some bits could perhaps have been developed a little more- like the story of the ex husband and others perhaps given more depth with a slower easing of Freya and her daughter into their new and exciting fresh start

Wow!
I’ve never read this author before but I’m glad I have now.
Started and finished in less than a day, absolutely amazing and disturbing.
The literal definition of a page turner, I would urge any thriller fan to read this novel.
Can’t wait to read more of the authors works

The Apartment
by K L (Kim) Slater

Freya cannot believe her good fortune. She is graciously offered a lovely apartment in the beautiful Adder House residence in Kensington, just perfect for her and her young daughter, Sophie. When unexplained things begin happening, Freya must decide - is it her stress and anxiety? or is something more sinister going on?

This is truly a page turner, an unrelenting psychological thriller that takes hold of you in the first chapter and doesn’t let up until the epilogue. This was a quick read that will elevate your heartbeat and keep you glued to the story. Easily a one sitting diversion. I debated between a three or four star rating because while I acknowledge the writing and psychological suspense aspects, I really didn’t connect with the characters. The creepy atmosphere and bizarre characters are so disturbing. I almost abandoned the book at 95% but plowed through because I just couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon publishing for my advanced copy.

A creepy addictive psychological thriller that kept me hooked throughout.

Freya and her daughter Skye are struggling after the death of Freya’s estranged husband. A chance meeting in a coffee shop leads to their luck changing, or has it ?

Dr Marsden invites Freya and Skye to look at an apartment in Adder House. The apartment is great and with a rent reduction being offered can Freya afford to turn it down ?

A week later Freya and Skye love into their new apartment but some of the other residents are a little strange and weird things start to happen. Is it all in Freya’s head due to the stress or is something not quite right with Adder House and it’s inhabitants.

A chance meeting with a local builder cause Freya to be even more concerned but will she discover the truth ?

This is a great psychological thriller with a creepy setting and some very creepy characters. I really loved Freya and Skye and was cheering them on from the very start. If you love psychological thrillers with some added creepiness then this is a real treat !!!!

Thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

What I most enjoyed about this book was all the questions that arose while reading the book. Questions like, what the heck is happening? Why her? Don’t you miss him? Could it be this or that? And at the end, all of those questions where answered. It was a satisfying feeling. I recommend this book for readers who looking for a fast read. If you read many genres and you want to dive back into a thriller, this is a great start. It’s short, tells a story, keeps you questioning, what the hell is going on. This book is a great fast paced book for those looking to read a good puzzle.

Big fan of her books! And who doesn't love a good story about creepy things happening in apartment buildings with odd landlords and weird tenants? When Freya and daughter Skye are offered an incredible deal on an apartment in Adder House, they have no idea what they are in for; Freya quickly becomes paranoid when she senses she's being watched, they hear voices, and Skye's furniture is re-arranged. But of course you'll never guess what's behind it all as the premise involves behavioral studies from the 1920's. Prepare yourself for a wild ride (and don't plan on moving anytime soon if it feels too good to be true)!