My third Lucy Foley and my least favorite. I seem to be in the minority with The Hunting Party being my favorite of hers, but I still stand by that after reading this one.

Three words to describe: Glad that’s over. 

I devoured this in the way that I kept hoping it would get better, but sadly it didn’t. If you read thrillers and mysteries a lot, I fear you’ll be in the same boat and will figure out the ending very quickly as I did. Every twist was expected and foreshadowed from very early on leading me to be disappointed. I did enjoy the multiple POVs, and wanted more from Mimi and the Concierge. 

It’s safe to say that if there’s one thing Foley does well, it’s her writing rich characters who don’t realize they’re bad.

While the the “apartment” behind the story is just as gothic as the apartment in Lock Every Door, I wouldn’t say this was a direct take on a Paris version on it like many have said. The apartment is less central to the plot here than it was in Lock Every Door and I wish it had played more of a role with the secret passage ways being used more. So no, this isn’t Lock Every Door (Lucy’s Version). 

Don't call it The Paris Apartment when the Paris vibes are basically nonexistent and the apartment doesn't really matter. 

I found that the man character, Jess, didn’t have enough background development compared to the other people in the “apartment”. Not only did we not learn much about her, what we did learn about her made her actions seem unrealistic. Someone with an abusive cop father going from foster home to foster home immediately trusting strangers and a cop that won’t speak English to her? Come on.

I think Foley spent too much time adding in side characters instead of developing the plot into something that could be more sinister in such a gothic setting. I wish she had developed Jess, Mimi, Irina, and the Concierge more because they were actually interesting. 

Making sexuality a plot device was a weird choice when it comes to how a character works their way in with the other characters and I didn’t care for it. It felt lazy along with a other things such as the inclusion of the riots. Anyways, Ben should be for the streets - not for the sheets. 

Most of the twists were expected and easily deduced from the foreshadowing: you tell someone not to go into the attic at the beginning?? HELLO, RED FLAG. Also, from the start the reader can tell something had been buried in the garden. 

This book will be for be someone, but it wasn’t for me!