Isabella's Reading Corner: Lock Every Door

Lock Every Door

Author: Riley Sager

Publication Date: July 2, 2019

Publisher: Dutton

Jules is offered the opportunity of a lifetime - to reside rent free for three months in the Bartholomew, a prestigious building located in Manhattan. She readily accepts, believing this will be just what she needs to get back on her feet after recently losing her job and the apartment she shared with her ex-boyfriend. The unusual questions asked by the woman interviewing her for the position of apartment sitter should have raised alarm bells for her. Jules quickly brushes away any concerns she has as living at the Bartholomew has been a dream of hers for years. In addition, she will be paid for her time. What could go wrong?

Jules is given the guidelines for her stay, most of which are acceptable. However one rule takes her aback - she is allowed absolutely no visitors. She’s okay with it, especially as she begins enjoying the luxury of her new abode. She ignores warnings from her friend Chloe about the unpleasant history of the building and begins enjoying the luxury of her new surroundings, in addition to meeting some of the other residents. But things rapidly take a sinister turn, disturbing incidents arise, the suspense escalates and the scares pile up!

From the moment I started reading I quite literally couldn’t put the book down. I’m a huge fan of the author’s previous titles and this is probably my favourite of the three. Jules is a convincing lead protagonist and her background gives her an added depth and understanding. Lock Every Door is inspired by Ira Levin’s classic, Rosemary’s Baby and The Dakota, aka The Bramford, where the majority of Levin’s book takes place, makes a cameo in Sager’s novel. The Bartholomew is equally as brooding and spooky as The Bramford, with it’s gothic style and gargoyle adornments. It’s a testament to Sager’s descriptive writing that the building is more of a character in it’s own right, than a setting.

Lock Every Door is terrifyingly twisted! Highly recommended, my only complaint is I now have to wait to read a new Riley Sager novel!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for the copy provided for review.


From the publisher:
The next heart-pounding thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager follows a young woman whose new job apartment sitting in one of New York’s oldest and most glamorous buildings may cost more than it pays.

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 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 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.


You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on Lock Every Door here.