Pretty good thriller with some fun turns in the back half. I don’t think it’ll really stick with me but I had a good time. ( )

Free ARC received in a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

Review also published on my blog.

$4000 a month to house-sit. Sounds simple… right?

For broke and recently-heartbroken Jules Larsen, it doesn’t matter if this sounds too good to be true – she desperately needs the money. With it, she can get the fresh start she yearns for. So even though house-sitting at the Bartholomew – one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings – comes with a strangely restrictive set of rules, she grasps at the opportunity. Surely these rules are just to protect the privacy of the ultra-rich and famous that live there. But as she gets to know the residents and other house-sitters, she soon finds that there is more to the Bartholomew than it seems…

Right off the bat, Lock Every Door hooked me with the way it captures that early 20th-century, old-money, Gilded Age New York vibe. Spooky high-rises with years of history and mystery are the centerpiece of the story. I was immediately reminded, (in a good way), of Roman Polanski’s 1968 adaptation of Rosemary’s Baby while reading this book. The oppressive, spooky and dark feeling of Rosemary’s apartment in that film was my mental image for the Bartholomew.

Yet, here we have our modern heroine – with student loans, no health insurance, living paycheck to paycheck, toting her laptop and smartphone into her apartment. Sager blends these two universes so perfectly – despite the modernity, this intensely spooky atmosphere is retained.

Jules’s financial situation felt so realistic, that it made her character more accessible and relatable, and therefore made for a more frightening story. Also being someone who is just out of school, facing the financial brunt of student loans and real “adulting”, I could totally put myself in Jules’ shoes. If someone offered me that kind of money to house-sit, regardless of the weird rules, hell yes I would take it! If you’re flat broke, you’d be crazy not to.

And I think for me, that was the scariest element to Lock Every Door – thinking of a situation that offered a vulnerable young person money, and which seems safe… there is no end the the way this could be used to manipulate people! Because I related to Jules, my anxiety built along with hers – as her situation becomes increasingly more alarming, the more alarmed I felt.

Despite how much I related to Jules, and the excellent buildup of anxiety, there unfortunately wasn’t a lot about the actual mystery that caught me by surprise.

I found most of the twists were pretty predictable, with fairly obvious foreshadowing. I also feel that this is a sort of story that’s been told before – vulnerable girls getting mixed up with things they shouldn’t, and people taking advantage of them; buildings with secrets, and residents fighting to keep those secrets.

Despite this, I still had a lot of fun reading this book – in some ways, it was formulaic, predictable mystery, but it was satisfying, fast-paced, and easy to get into.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Lock Every Door. It wasn’t perfect or completely original, but it was a satisfying and accessible mystery/thriller novel. I loved the atmosphere, which was emphasized by being able to relate to Jules’ predicament – when I finished it back in September, it was the perfect read to get me in the mood for fall.

Would I recommend it? Yes! If you’re looking for a quick, spooky read with a strong main character and the perfect mystery-novel atmosphere, this is the one for you.

Final Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ( )

Wow! I have never read anything by this author but that will be fixed. This story is about Jules Larsen, who answers an ad for an apartment sitter in a famous building in Manhattan. The building was the subject of a book Jules and her sister, Jane, read when they were younger. So when Jules saw the ad she was excited for the opportunity to live in the building from that book. She goes to the building for an interview and sees the apartment she will be living in for the next 3 months. Easy way to make $12,000 over 3 months is what she thinks. While at the interview, she learns all of the rules she has to abide by while living there - no visitors, no drinking, no smoking, no visitors, no spending the night somewhere else and no getting to know the residents.

The residents all seem to be someone famous whether an author, actor/actress or executive. Before she moves in, her BFF Chloe tells Jules that the building has a sinister past and she shouldn't move in. Her first day there, she meets Ingrid, another apartment sitter in the apartment directly below the one Jules is in. They start talking and Ingrid informs Jules that the building "scares" her. Then Ingrid disappears. Jules is extremely concerned and starts looking for Ingrid.

Jules discovers Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing from this building. As she delves deeper into this mystery, she begins to fear for her own life. ( )

I was enthralled by every single second of this book! There isn't a single dull moment: no, Sager's "Lock Every Door" is perfectly paced and filled with a bizarre building dripping in gargoyles, apartment tenants who are both rich and mysterious, and this beautifully eerie sense of something that is not quite right, like a curtain rustling even though the window is closed. This is without a doubt the best thriller I have read in years, and I highly recommend it. It's an unsettlingly wondrous work of suspense that's going to get some hearts pumping. ( )

3.5/5
Isolation is the key to this thriller. Jewels is one of the most likable heroines you will ever read about. She has a tragic past that is more than anyone should go through and a tough situation at hand. She has no one, aside from a loving friend that she can’t share her new employment with. Her recent relationship had also ended in a lot of hurt, so no love life to speak of either. Complete isolation. It’s the perfect set up for what unfolds in this old and very admired apartment building.
The idea for this story is pretty good. The characters feel a bit YA for my taste, and the ending is cozy. Slow build, decent pay off, not bad reveal. I do appreciate how much respect Sager seems to have for women. ( )