Book Review: LOCK EVERY DOOR by Riley Sager

LOCK EVERY DOOR  by Riley Sager  (Dutton Books, July 2019) Hardcover, 371 pages.  ISBN # 1524745146 / 9781524745141  

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

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, disturbingly 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 dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew 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. 

My four-star review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     The Goodreads summary gives a great description of this book without revealing too many details.  That’s all for the best because for full appreciation of what Sager has done here you need to read it without spoilers.

     As was demonstrated with FINAL GIRLS, this writer definitely knows how to build suspense and dread and excels at it with this third novel by Sager, a former journalist and graphic designer using a pseudonym as a fiction writer. Like FINAL GIRLS, which has been announced for film development, everything Sager writes plays out like a screenplay with scenes and imagery that cry out for visualization.

     It would be easy for anyone reading Sager's works without benefit of exposure to the author's website or publicity to assume that Sager is female, perhaps a former writer of romance fiction wanting to separate those works from new fiction that borders on straight horror. I was surprised to see a photo of the author, the most unlikely person on first impression to write works that get to the core of female characters and really bring them to life. In Jules, Sager has created his most empathetic and likable character so far. 

     In an interview, Sager reveals that he was inspired by Rosemary's Baby in the writing of LOCK EVERY DOOR. There is a similarity in the background details and setting of a near-historic old apartment building in New York City with a dark past and sinister purpose, but this is quite different. He also stated that beyond the primary purpose of scaring readers he also wished to touch on some contemporary themes of economic disparity. That he does, lending sympathy to Jules and several other secondary characters caught up in the same web of disguised opportunity.

     With a first person narration, the reader is at least assured that the main character doesn't perish. Sager establishes that up front with a beginning chapter that takes place at the chronological end of the story. That doesn't stop it from being highly suspenseful and frightening. Well done.