This was a super entertaining read.

It's a fast paced mystery that kept me guessing until the very end.

There are quite a few characters to keep up with, but it doesn't get confusing or hard to follow.

Lucy Foley is a great writer. All of her books are wonderfully written and they always end up shocking me with their twists and big reveals. I'm looking forward to her next book!

Thanks so much to Harper Collins for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

Note: Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers Australia for the ARC!
Trigger Warnings (because where would we be without those): deceit, assault, murder, infidelity, drug use, alcoholism, domestic violence, homophobia, death by illness, negative language towards sex workers.

Idk where to start. I'd probably get lost - just from mentioning all the endless characters firstly.

There's just too many - Adam, his sister, various snobby brattish french fries (people who are french) who seem to eerily know each other, pets getting lost, and Michael Jackson dancing in the corner.

Just kidding. If he had been it, probably it would've been more interesting.

Something about the main guy disappearing and his sister just coming to live with him but finding home gone and racing to find him, a hot guy who shows up out of nowhere to help, an older couple who resent adam for specific reasons, a young teen girl who also raises her nose at the mention of adam, another guy who would've been perfect for MJ's THriller music video 2.0 - the way he be snapping everyone's head off verbally, an old concierge - yeah I don't really remember the rest and neither do I care.

This is like if Ray Romano disappeared and everybody hated his name - Everybody hates Raymond.

Plus - so many affairs, my god - I mean both in the mafia kind, and romantic ooh la la as the french fries say - and endless secrets - probably Dynasty would've championed this book as a tv show on its own.

I guess that's why I lost the key to this supposed intriguing locked apartment mystery. I mean it had so much potential but I guess it just lost track somewhere of whose story it was to be - I swear they were all like "PICK ME OH PICK ME PICK MEEEE! (Like Donkey from SHrek) and the author is like - fine whatever do whatever you want - I am getting me some hot wine and da da deliciously bonkered over tonight in them french clubs y'all seem to be writing so well without me.

Seriously starting to regret buying the guest list by this author - and it was such a good deal too at the time - damn you goodreads, bloggers, friends, and bookstagrammers alike.

Now, I am gonna go to my own home (an actual standing on one stairs home) and drink to my very south asian culture, and tell the french asshats in this book to go screw themselves or Macron.

Definitely more fun than this stuck up, messy french fry read.

Well, well. It seems like I should definitely stay away from anything Mystery Thriller for a while because it looks like the latest releases keep on disappointing me, especially those written by authors I've never read before, like in this case. I didn't dive into The Paris Apartment with huge expectations, but given that it was one of the most anticipated releases of 2022 for many fellow bookstagrammers, I thought it was about time I gave Foley a go. Of course, I should know by now that the second I start feeling any sort of semblance of FOMO, I should simply stay far away.

I knew this novel was not my cup of tea around the 30-page mark. I was constantly annoyed by Foley's writing style and her incapacity to write sentences with more than five bloody words. Maybe this might not be an issue for many, but to me it speaks about abysmally poor editing because undoubtedly, a professional could've recommended some tweaks to add a much-needed flow to the narrative.

In addition, someone surely could have spread some wisdom and explained to Foley that, more often than not, less is more. The number of secondary characters -with their own perspectives- was terribly detrimental to what could have been a great story. Every single character, especially the protagonists, were mere walking cliches, and each of them directly contributed to a constant eye-rolling state that I did not appreciate. The characterisation had no substance and, therefore, no credibility. There is not much left to enjoy when the entire cast is purely and intensely unlikeable.

Even though identifiable, the author's attempts to build suspense and an eerie atmosphere, as well as throwing some shocking plot twists to add some sort of value, were poorly executed. It was extremely hard to engage with the plot development given the far-fetched storylines that ultimately did not contribute anything positive.

Overall, The Paris Apartment was not my cup of tea. Way too commercial for my liking, so I wouldn't recommend it to well-versed readers in the genre.

The Paris Apartment
By Lucy Foley

🎉 HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY 🎉

📚 About the book - Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.
The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.
The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge
Everyone's a neighbor. Everyone's a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

📚 My Review -
This is my first book by this author and suffice to say I’ll be reading through her back list now. I loved this one!

It’s a slow burn, however with the amazing cast of characters and wonderful atmospheric descriptions it became a quick page turner for me and was hooked from the start. Drama, intrigue, sibling rivalry and dysfunctional families set in the heart of Paris.

Told mainly from protagonist Jess, there are also a few shady, unreliable narrators which I loved to hate. There are some jaw dropping twists that were just brilliant and a series of secrets to unravel with an air of menace surrounding it all.

Utterly compelling right up to the dramatic conclusion. I highly rate this one.

Always, and with many kind thanks to @kimberleyallsopp and the wonderful team at @harpercoliinsaustralia for my review copy and @netgalley for the audio copy

Claustrophobic, Intimidating, eerie atmospheric mystery thriller.

What happened to Ben? Jess (Bens Sister) only spoke to Ben two days ago about her plans to come to Paris and stay with him. When she arrives at Bens apartment complex, he's missing and there is definitely something strange going on with the other residents.

I really enjoyed this one, the "Locked In" Claustrophobic atmosphere. There are a cast of characters, I cared for Jess and was rooting for her to find her brother. It becomes a dangerous game as Jess uncovers what Ben was working on before he disappeared, the secrets the building has been hiding and the residents..... The closer Jess gets to the truth, we see how it is all intertwined. Jess has nothing to lose, Ben is her only family she will go to any length to get the truth.

She's done it again!
The Paris Apartment is one of those books that you are excited to pick up.
Short chapters, multiple POV and a beautiful Parisian setting - I loved this!
Very easy to read!
Thought it was going somewhere, then it went somewhere else and then somewhere else and then it ended up in a nice little neat package.
Absolutely love Lucy Foley's writing.

I have loved Lucy Foley’s previous books – The Hunting Party my favourite of all. “The Paris Apartment” was a little harder to get into. Jess arrives in Paris at her brother Ben’s apartment to find he is not there, and immediately everything is not what it seems. Jess seemed a little helpless but curious. No-one wanted to help Jess; everyone wanted Jess to go – why? No one knows anything, but everyone knew something. What sucked me in was the whole location and design of the apartment building; it seemed to real, so rich in description. It was equally an old building full of character as it was oppressive and a little claustrophobic – the hidden doors and basements, locked doors and peering around corners kept it edgy. You become immersed in every level of the apartment building, in every apartment.
The characters were interesting: they seemed like they were developed with their weaknesses hanging out for all to see at once, which was not often what you expect as usually it’s character traits that start to evolve through a plot. This didn’t have me on the edge of my seat; it did create more of a mystery feel where secrets slowly bled out of everyone. Did I miss a vital clue or was I still being held in suspense? The majority of characters, apart from Jess and Ben were all connected, and I wonder if that is why they seemed to blend into each other a little? The concierge, connected to those in the building but not I ways you would think. And Theo, a character off to one side and connected to Ben seemed very plain; he served his purpose, and I can see why he was left out of a lot of the drama. Jess needed to make her mark on her own, which was part of the build up in the book.

If you are a Foley follower, this one will be for you! Thanks @netgalley for the e-ARC.

Jess and Ben are half brother and sister who haven't lived together since their mother died when they were young. Now in her 20s, Jess has come to Paris to stay with Ben but when she arrives at his apartment he is missing. His wallet, keys etc are all there and she starts to suspect that something bad has happened to him.

As she gets to know the other residents of the small apartment building, she senses that they all know more about Ben's disappearance than they are letting on. They are evasive and secretive but she is determined to find out what has happened to her brother.

Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party and The Guest List were both locked room type mysteries when the characters were isolated in a remote location. Although that isn't the case this time round, she has created a similar sense of claustrophobia by having all the main characters living under the same roof and only very gradually revealing their secrets and connections. I kept changing my mind about who was trustworthy and who was going to hold the answers to the mystery. There is also a great twist that took me completely by surprise.

I didn't like this quite as much as her last two books. It was more of a slow build than a book that grabs you from the outset. But the location is atmospheric, the mystery is genuinely mysterious and towards the end it becomes very hard to put down.

Well, haven't I been missing out by not reading a Lucy Foley book before this one.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Paris Apartment with its narrative of the one incident/one group of people being told by multiple points of view over a small timeframe.

This book really hooked me in, with each character blaming Ben for his own disappearance and not sharing what knowledge they have about his status, their relationship with each other or how they financially afford such a big apartment in Paris.

The characters are believable, even though they are quite dysfunctional. We see a few glimpses into their past throughout the story and slowly, the story weaves each life into the other characters living in the apartment, and we see how their lives are intertwined with each other.

This book kept me up reading late into the night as I really wanted a resolution to everything going on in the story.

A classic crime novel, with a cast of suspicious characters. The multiple narratives work very well, and with it all set in an apartment block it loosely reminds me of an Agatha Christie novel but within a very contemporary setting and with a set of complex characters. Full of good twists, it’s a quite original novel.

Big fan of The Guest List here, so naturally I jumped at the chance to read this one ahead of its release.

This is a story of Jess agreeing with her half-brother Ben to stay with him for a while in his very nice apartment in Paris. Problem is, when she arrives, Ben is no one to be found. Jess quickly throws herself into finding out where he is and why he is missing. She meets some pretty interesting and mostly unfriendly characters along the way, all of whom know Ben. These include the socialite, the nice guy, the alcoholic, the girl on the verge and the concierge. Jess suspects them all, and it’s obvious they all have secrets.

Once again, Foley delivers an atmospheric, pacey and twisty novel that is easy to enjoy. The characters are well drawn and all shady as anything – who is responsible is anyone’s guess! The plot was meticulously built, providing many avenues of scenarios, but hits hard in the final ~100 pages as it delivers the twisty and clever ending that Foley is renowned for.

I particularly enjoyed this one because as a reader, you don’t even know what happened to Ben, let alone how and who might have been responsible for his absence.

If you loved her other work, you’d better believe this one will tickle your every mystery fancy.

Thank you to @NetGalley for sending me a copy in return for this honest review.

A thriller set in my favourite city, yes please.
The book starts as Jess arrives in Paris to stay with her brother Ben, but when she arrives at his apartment he is nowhere to be found. Jess tries to unravel the mystery of what has happened to her brother amidst the frosty atmosphere at the Paris apartment block.
I really enjoyed Lucy Foley’s newest novel, it has a very similar structure to her other work so if you liked the short chapters and alternating viewpoints of The Hunting Party and The Guest List, you will enjoy this one too. The suspense was really built up in the first part of this book, there were a few twists that I did expect at all and thoroughly enjoyed.
I would have liked to see Jess and Theo meet up earlier in the novel, I think this could have added more depth to how the mystery is investigated.

Jess arrives in Paris and goes to her brother's apartment as arranged. He's not there and can't be contacted. Jess gains entry to the apartment and increasingly feels like her brother has met with foul play. She sets out to investigate with the starting point of the apartment building and it's residents. Twists and turns ensue. So many times I was internally yelling at Jess to go to the police. But of course there's a reason why she can't go to the police, it seemed kind of flimsy to me, but I can see why the plot needed it. Told from multiple characters points of view this can sometimes be a little confusing and I'm not sure it allows for much depth in the characters, what it does is create Foley's signature fast pace. Not my favourite of Lucy Foley's but an absorbing read just the same.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for the

#TheParisApartment #LucyFoley #HarperCollinsAustralia #NetGalley

Lucy Foley has absolutely nailed the setup of a dark, suspense driven who dunnit mystery... I felt like I was unravelling a perfectly curated game of Cludo, which is by far my fav boardgame ever. 🕵️

📖 Jess needs to quickly escape from her life in London and heads to Paris to crash with her journalist brother, Ben. While on her way to Paris, Ben leaves her a voicenote to say he will be awake and waiting to let her into the building when she arrives. Only when she does, Ben isn't there...

When the neighbours start acting suspiciously and Jess's concerns for her brothers whereabouts are ignored, she starts digging into Ben's life. She soon comes to realise that there is so much about her brother that she didn't know, and that nothing and none in the apartment building is as it seems.

What are they hiding?
Who can she trust?
Where is Ben?

💭Thoughts:
The Paris Apartment is told from the multiple POV's of Jess and some of key residents of the apartment building, providing us with glimpses into their lives and the secrets they are hiding.

One of my favourite aspects of this books is the way the Apartment building became a character in and of itself. As Jess explores the hidden corners of the building, a lurking sense of intrigue remained throughout the story. Someone is always watching...

The midway reveal had me absolutely stunned, I had not been expecting that at all 👏. With the suspense and tension continuing to boil as Jess uncovers more of the apartments kept secrets, making for a page turning conclusion.

Thank you to Netgally and Harper Collins for this e-ARC copy of the Paris Apartment which drops in Aus on on 3rd March 2022.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
4.5 STARS

A wonderfully atmospheric setting as protagonist Jess finds herself at a Paris apartment block looking for her brother Ben. But Ben has disappeared and everyone in the apartment block are fast becoming suspects in his demise. Can Jess piece together what has happened to Ben and keep herself safe in the process as some very dubious tenants emerge all with their own tales to tell.

Another blistering read from Lucy Foley, I loved the short chapters and the twisty turns that kept rolling through. With lots of very unlikeable characters it was hard to pinpoint who would be the likely suspect and while I did work part of this one out I was completely satisfied with its delivery and the surprises along the way. A very quick read that will have you flicking pages at a rapid pace to find out just what did happen to Ben. Get your popcorn ready as this is one you will not want to put down, and it is out on the 3rd March so not long to wait!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins Australia for this early reading copy, I thoroughly enjoyed it and is one I would definitely recommend.

3.75 stars

The Paris Apartment uses multiple POVs to sow discord, set the pace and unravel the mystery in a compelling way. I always love an unreliable narrator in a thriller and find that Foley uses them smartly to build tension - my theories were starting from early on.

While this isn't my favourite Foley book, I still had a great time reading this and any fans of hers are going to find themselves consumed by this story. I also think that if you're new to thrillers, this might be a good way to ease into the genre.

Review: The Paris Apartment (★★★★)

In 3 words: Surprising; Fast; Foreboding

A Summary (No Spoilers)… After the mysterious disappearance of her brother, Jess is left alone and confused in Paris with no clues as to where her brother is. In a race against time, Jess must discover the secrets that lay buried in the Paris apartment to save her brother and herself. 

Lucy Foley has become a big name in recent years with the well-deserved success of The Guest List and The Hunting Party. The Paris Apartment will not disappoint her fans - intricate and surprising, this one proved an extremely quick read because it was so compelling and easy to follow. 

While the setting and plot follows the trend of contemporary thriller novels and films- parodied in the recent Netflix mini series The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window - this one didn't come off as unoriginal because the plot twists were creative and the characters were realistic with well-developed motivations and secrets. 

A must read for any thriller lover or Lucy Foley fans. Full of twists and turns, the exciting plot is balanced with an intriguing set of characters. This is one of those books that get better and better, culminating in a superb finale.

Lucy Foley's 2021 novel The Guest List was popular with readers and critics alike so it bodes well that I actually enjoyed her latest novel The Paris Apartment even more. It's choc-o-block full of twists and surprises - bumping this up to a rare 4.5 star rating from me.

However... I have to confess the unlikeability of basically ALL of the characters meant I was tempted to be less generous. Though, of course I realise (in some ways) Foley's issuing a challenge to we readers to dislike yet engage with [our lead protagonist in particular] at the same time.

Jess's brother Ben has begrudgingly agreed that she can stay with him at his Paris rental apartment to get back on her feet. She's arrives however, to find he's gone missing.

I talked in a recent review about flawed main characters and their reliability. Here it's not as if our primary protagonist (Jess) is unreliable as such, it's more that I just didn't like her as much as I wanted to. We learn she and her half brother lived very different lives after the death of their mother. Ben was adopted into a middle class family while Jess continued to be shunted around to foster homes.

It's not that she's evil in any way, but even the basic stuff - like her pilfering money from her brother's wallet without giving it much consideration - said something about her character and lack of conscience. That said, I completely understand why she's distrustful of others and feels entitled to take what she can, when she can. 

And as for the other characters.... well....!

Foley introduces the other inhabitants of the Paris apartment building one by one, from their point of view so we know they knew Ben and we know they're hiding something. 

From Jess's arrival she's warned about the 'evilness' of the place. And Foley easily establishes a sense of menace.

"The gate clangs shut behind the girl. She thinks that she's staying in a normal apartment building. A place that follows ordinary rules. She has no idea what she has got herself into here." p 106

This made me worry there'd be some gothic nuance as it's not a genre I enjoy. And Jess is left to wonder if it's the place or the people. #SpoilerAlert... Both are weird.

Initially Jess receives little support in her efforts to find her missing brother. Though eventually Nick (her brother's friend) helps and she seeks out Theo - a newspaper editor with whom Ben was working. But in essence it all falls on Jess and she doggedly searches for answers, despite it becoming obvious that something nefarious (well, certainly illegal) is afoot.

I LOVED some of the twists here. Because we're with Jess who comes into Ben's life (and his world) cold, one of the first big reveals (discovered while she's poking around the complex's penthouse) is a shocker. Completely unexpected. But it explains a lot and sets the scene for what comes next. It does also however, make things a smidge more creepy.

It's impossible to talk about the following twists and turns without giving much away, but Jess does retrace some of her brother's footsteps and find that his presence at the apartment may have been on the pretext of something more than needing a place to stay.

This is a great read with lots of surprises. I read it in a sitting and was actually very satisfied with its conclusion (which doesn't often happen). I've not been to Paris so - even though I skim detail - appreciated that Foley has included references to things others might know or recognise - streets, landmarks, food and wine for example in an effortless way.




4.5 stars

The Paris Apartment is a character in its own right in this riveting, spooky suspense from Lucy Foley. An old house, split into five roomy apartments, one on each level, it's opulent and decadent but also decaying and is home to a strange collection of residents.

In the penthouse live the wealthy Meuniers; Jacques a wine merchant and Sophie, his snooty, sophisticated wife. Two young women live on the fourth floor, anxious, reserved Mimi supported by her parents and Camille, her unlikely friend and a party girl. New arrival Ben from England lives on the third floor. A journalist writing restaurant reviews, he aims to be an investigative journalist and has told his editor that he is working on a good story. Ben's friend Nick who he met at Cambridge years ago, lives on the second floor. Nick was living in the US where he had a start-up tech company but fled back to Europe after it failed. He arranged for Ben to rent it the vacant apartment. Drunkard Antoine lives alone on the first floor after his wife Dominique left him. Then there is the Concierge who lives in a tiny run down Loge at the back of the building. She is mostly invisible but sees and hears everything. The only thing these people seem to have in common is the secrets they are all keeping.

Ben has a sister, Jess who has to leave her job suddenly in England and decides to run away to stay with Ben in Paris. They are not close, having both been left in care after their mother died, but have kept in touch. While Ben was lucky enough to be adopted by a wealthy couple and received a good education, Jess bounced around from one foster home to another. She might not be as well educated as Ben but she's smart and resourceful and doesn't take crap from anyone. When she turns up at Ben's address, he's not there even though he's expecting her. She manages to get into his apartment, but when he still hasn't turned up a few days later, she starts looking for him.

This is a riveting and hugely entertaining suspense. The air of mystery about Ben and the apartment is sinister and tinged with more than a hint of evil. The short snappy chapters and flowing prose make it easy to say 'just one more' and suddenly another hour has passed. Mostly narrated by Jess, all the residents get to have their say and gradually a picture builds of who Ben is and what he has done to lead to his disappearance. Even once some of the secrets of the apartment building have become apparent, the ending is still unexpected and full of jaw-dropping twists.

4.5/5 - ARC courtesy of NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Mystery/Thriller

Lucy Foley knows how to create an atmosphere. A locked door mystery, similar to The Guest List and Hunting Party but this time set in an old Paris Apartment Block. Each of the residents is a potential suspect, all seeming to be suspicious in a multitude of ways.

The characters are so flawed that it's hard to know who to trust, but in a way that's what really drives the atmosphere of the book. Although it wasn't creepy, the vibe of the book is quite dark. Hidden rooms, dark corridors, shady people in windows, this book made me look over my shoulder quite a few times.

An amazing pace, the book was so easy to read. Definitely able to read in a day, and you want to. This book leaves you wanting more after every chapter.

We follow the perspectives of four different residents of the building, constantly getting information from the past and present as we try to piece together along with Jess what really happened the night she arrived.

Perfect for fans of Foley's other work and a good Locked Room Mystery