The Paris Apartment is a gritty, locked room mystery from Lucy Foley.
Jess Hadley arrives at her brother’s apartment in Paris but, despite his message saying he will wait up for her, he is nowhere to be seen. It’s not long before she notices that things aren’t as they should be – why would he leave without his wallet and keys? But more than this it’s her sense of uneasiness that something is just not right. She’s in a foreign city, her brother is missing, and she has no idea what to do.
Benjamin Daniels is charming and confident. So why is it then that he seems to be intensely disliked by so many of the neighbours?
Jess is determined to find her brother, but as she meets the residents of the apartment block she wonders who she can trust as each seem to be keeping their own secrets. There is Ben’s friend who invited him to stay here, an elderly concierge who sees all, a rich married woman who lives in the penthouse suite, an obnoxious man who seems to be having marriage troubles, and a timid younger woman.
As the story slowly unravels, you, like Jess, will feel that there’s definitely something not right at the apartment block. There’s seems to be something that simmers below the surface, an evil of sorts that lurks within the walls, and threats that are hidden behind polite words. And still the question remains, where is Ben?
You’ll get to know each of the residents as the story is told from the different character’s point of view. Truth be told I found the short chapters and multiple narrators slightly jarring and, although designed to give depth, I found it slowed the story down too much. The twists that emerged later in the book were satisfying, but in all honesty I felt it took a bit too long to get there.
Thanks to Jonathan Ball Publishers for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
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