Julie's Review: Lock Every Door

Author: Riley Sager
Series: None
Publication Date: July 2, 2019
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Horror, Psychological Thriller
Rating: 3/5
Bottom Line: Kind of expected a bit more
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

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 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. ~amazon.com

Review: The first part of Lock Every Door totally freaked me out. So much so that I debated it reading the book before going to bed at night.  It was giving me some wicked dreams as well. Jules is having a bit of bad luck (lost job, cheating boyfriend) when she seems to get perhaps a bit of good luck might be coming her way. She interviewed to be an apartment sitter in the exclusive Bartholomew. She's not even put off by all of those rules that seem a bit excessive. Plus if she completes the 3 month stint she'll get $12K.

She quickly becomes acquainted with another apartment sitter, Ingrid, who seems a little scattered and agitated when they meet at the park. Jules blows it off until the next day when Ingrid doesn't show up for their lunch date and won't answer her texts. This sends Jules on a wild goose chase to find Ingrid.

In a lot of ways I understand why Jules' sister disappearing years ago fuels her fire to find Ingrid but she ignores a lot of red flags for a person she's known for 2 seconds. That perhaps is the thing that drove me most nuts about the novel. Why would you put yourself in harms way for someone that you don't even know without protecting yourself?!

While it was definitely a thriller, I felt that it definitely has elements of horror in it as well. While there are twists and turns, I didn’t feel that the ending was completely surprising.

For what it's worth, I think Final Girls was a better novel.

Julie's Review: Final Girls

Author: Riley Sager
Series: None
Publication Date: July 11, 2017
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Edelweiss
Genre:  Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: A fast-paced thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the end
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet. Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past. That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished. ~amazon.com  

Review: Let's get this out of the way first, Final Girls would be a fantastic film. It's part psychological thriller, suspense and slasher film. Thank goodness for most of the book that last part is alluded to and not described in detail. Quincy has been a survivor of a massacre for 10 years. She's powered through the aftermath and built a life for herself in NYC. She's got a popular food blog and a live-in boyfriend who she thinks is going to propose.

Then her life begins to slowly unravel as Lisa is found dead and Sam, who has been off the grid for years, shows up at her house. The life that Quincy has so carefully crafted is starting to fray at the seams as Sam pokes at the very things that she has tried to bury. Sam wants to make Quincy remember what happened at Pine Cottage but why? Why is it so important to her that Quinn remember? What's in it for Sam? It certainly isn't Quinn's mental health. As Sam causes Quinn to unleash her rage, it will have consequences for both of them and set in motion things that can't be stopped.

There are a few twists and turns throughout the book with puzzle pieces coming together. Honestly I felt that Ms. Sager was moving us in one direction with the story while waiting for the other shoe to drop. Throughout the whole book I kept thinking that I should really be figuring it out a lot quicker than I did. The ending to me though, wasn't the biggest reveal and twist; that came earlier for me. 

Quincy is a complex character. At times you truly feel sorry for her and want her to be ok and then other times you wonder if you even know her. You want her to be able to be her true-self but you also begin to doubt her and what she's forgotten. Has she really forgotten or is she just protecting herself? It's understandable that she doesn't let people in very easily. So it irked me that she so willingly opened her house and emotions up to Sam. The only thing they shared was a similar experience but other than that, their lives were vastly different.

You will turn the pages very quickly during this novel and you won't want to put it down until it's over. I highly suggest you start it when you have several hours to devour it. Final Girls is the epitome of a summer read because it sucks you in and doesn't let you go. I can't wait to see what Ms. Sager writes next.

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