I was really looking forward to this book, but unfortunately I found it disappointing. The premise is really good: a man goes missing in a block of flats full of suspicious and mysterious people, his sister turns up to the apartment to find him missing and starts investigating.

However the narration is really slow and did not really keep my interest up. The story is told in the point of view of each resident of the block; however the characters are bland and unlikeable.

Even the ending is disappointing, an unexpected turn which misses the oomph to make it a breathtaking ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for letting me review this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Paris Apartment was a thrilling read with an eerie yet elegant setting which harbours ugly hidden secrets.

The setting was beautiful! Paris, that place we all want to travel to one day just to bask in it's exquisiteness. The author, with her rich descriptive writing, has added a mysterious and eerie air to the setting. This one also has multiple POVs that meddles with your brain and not one character you can completely trust.

I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for Jess to find out what might have happened to Ben. I loved the way the story slowly unfolds to reveal unattractive backstories and the way it builds up to reveal the big twist. I did not see that coming and was pleasantly surprised! This one is a solid thriller!

This is a strange book... Well it was for me. I quite early gave up on trying to second guess things as it all got a bit, well, bonkers, as more and more was divulged. But, once I did that, I sat back and just enjoyed the ride and it became a much easier read for me.
So... Jess has had a bit of a life to date. And, once again, she needs a fresh start. Where better to go than visit her half-brother Ben who is living in Paris, in an apartment in the same building as his University friend Nick. But, although Ben knows she is on her way, when she gets there he fails to let her in. She is a bit resourceful and, well, lets herself in but what she finds in his apartment shocks her...
And that's all I want to say as I think this book is much better gone in as blind as you can. Discovering all the delights the author has to offer at exactly the right times for maximum impact. All I am going to say is that, boy I really didn't see the half of that coming!
The characters in this book are also quite interesting and, shall we just say, rather complex. I'd love to expand further but spoilers prevent me from doing so. But they are so bonkers, so dysfunctional that you could almost see them skirting the line of caricature but fortunately, the author just manages to rein them in in time. With secrets and lies aplenty, all the way through, it's a delight to see it all unravel as we race to the end. An ending that, well, shocked and surprised as well as satisfied.
All in all, although not her strongest book, this was a good solid read that I have no hesitation in recommending for fans of the genre. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Lucy Foley's "The Paris Apartment" lacked the suspense and excitement that I was looking for.
Firstly this book was very, very, very slow burning.
The multiple POVs could have been useful if the characters were more distinguishable from one another instead of being a bunch of unpleasant con artists.
The constant swearing gets irritating, just not a book for me, sorry to say.

3,5 stars!

Thank you #netgalley and #harpercollinsuk for this e-Arc in exchange for my honest review.

Well, this was a bit of a let down tbh! I loved The Guest List last year, so maybe my expectations were a little too high.

The beginning of the book immediately plunges the reader into the story. And I was immediately intrigued.

Jess, who is short on cash, arrives in Paris late one night to stay at her journalist brother Ben’s apartment. He has left a voicemail with instructions on how to get to his place, but when she arrives at his flat, she finds it empty. The fact that his cat is sitting on the kitchen counter covered in blood does not reassure her, nor does the strong smell of bleach.

After meeting the various residents of the complex, Jess begins to suspect that each of them is hiding a secret. As she listens to Ben's latest voicemail again, she hears disturbing noises in the background that she hadn't noticed before ...

I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly didn’t work for me, and besides a bunch of unlikeable characters, I think it was the lack of suspense. Although the premise was very appealing ... there were no real elements that had me fretting about Jess.

All her neighbours came through as rather eccentric, but not overly creepy or dangerous. There were many ways Foley could have raised our hackles, by making it more atmospheric as the stage for this tale was a grand old building with an ancient lift. Instead, there were hardly any cliffhangers, and the occasional dual timeline in mid chapter were rather confusing.

That being said, I loved the setting and think the author did a brilliant job of conveying the essence of Paris with some vivid descriptions and by dropping a few phrases in French here and there. 𝑃𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛！

Jess needs to find an escape route when her life falls apart. Being broke means her options are limited. When she forces her half brother to let her crash in his Paris apartment she is hoping her life will improve. When she arrives Ben seems to have disappeared. There are many suspects who all seem to be holding secrets. Jess has many questions but can't find the answers. Be prepared for some surprises along the way.

The Guest List is one of my favourite thrillers so I was really excited to read Foley's latest. And The Paris Apartment is another solid mystery thriller with strong characters, an alluring atmosphere, and plenty of unpredictable twists.

The setting of Paris instantly adds more atmosphere to the story and Foley's writing easily allows you to immerse yourself in this elegant but elusive city. It took me a while to figure out how the tenants on different floors could watch their neighbours from their windows, but a quick Google image search of a Parisian apartment quickly gave me a better feel for the surroundings, although I do think that a floor plan would have really helped.

In the same way as The Guest List and The Hunting Party, the story is told from various points of view as we get to know each character and their possible motives in both the past and present to find out why Ben has gone missing and who's behind his disappearance.

I really enjoyed how the story unfolded in this way, as I questioned every character's involvement and kept my eye out for the smallest of clues to see if I could uncover what had happened. But I couldn't guess any of what was to come. And just like in her other books, everything waits until the final minute to come undone, and it was a lot of fun to witness.

The only negative I really have is that I didn't find any of the characters compelling. In The Guest List, I loved so many of the characters that this added another level to the story for me. But with The Paris Apartment, while I did like the characters and believe that they were developed well, I just didn't have the same bond with them.

There were a couple of things that I would have liked more clarification/background on (such as Jess and Ben's parents), but overall I really enjoyed this one and I will always be on the lookout for what Foley writes next!

Having read The Hunting Party and The Guest List I just knew The Paris Apartment wasn’t going to disappointed.
I really enjoy how this was. Slow burner but not enough to frustrate, its just enough to keep you hooked, so much so I read it over two evenings.
Fantastic characters and description, really made me feel I was part of the book.
Lucy is one of my favourite authors!

This is not the first book I have read by Lucy Foley and it certainly won't be the last. She is an excellent suspenseful author.

Ben and Jess, brother and sister did not have a great start in life being orphaned. Jess spent years with different foster homes whereas Ben was adopted and had a good and somewhat privileged life. They were in contact down the years but fleetingly and were never close.

Ben has been living in a Paris apartment trying to cave out a journalist career provided by a rich university friend Nick Miller. Jess having drifted from low paid job to low paid job and having had a "run in" with her boss of a bar texts Ben to ask to stay with im for awhile and receives a text providing her with the details. However, when Jess arrives Ben is nowhere to be found and the luxurious apartment building as a number of rather oddly behaving occupants all of which turn out to be related.

A very determined and resourceful Jess is anxious to find out what has happened to Ben when she realises from various things she finds in the apartment suggest he may have come to harm.

I don't want to give any more away but throughout the book the author cannily provides information about each of the characters giving the reader the impression that whatever may have happened to Ben it could be ANY of them. I loved that about the book as I changed my mind time and time again only to find a major twist.

I highly recommend this book and other books by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley UK and publish Harper Collins for the advanced ARC copy of this book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

At times intriguing
And other times very irritating
Lets get the irritating done with, how many times in one book can you write a French swear word or phrase or insult in French ( for example putain ) in italic’s? answer in this book literally hundreds, if I were to take a test now on French insults I would do well, once maybe twice so we know but hundreds of times got boring, very quickly and lost it’s shock value
Now intriguing….set in a well to do Paris apartment block where Jess arrives from Brighton to stay with her brother Ben, it’s all planned so why is he not there to meet her? And why are the other residents so edgy and plain weird, all is revealed in the course of the story and it was an eye opener, the reality of the ‘posh’ apartments was unexpected and kinda clever albeit a bit eyebrow raising
Jess is a feisty character and I really liked her grit and determination in looking for her brother, the other characters ranged from menacing to vile…not a place in Paris you would want to find yourself resident in
Anyway the conclusion was not as unexpected as it thinks it was tbh but all in all it was a better than ok read

6/10
3 Stars

A slow paced suspenseful thriller. Lots of twists and turns while the plot slowly unravels. I usually like my books a bit more fast paced, but i really enjoyed this one. And the final reveal is definitely worth the "wait".

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Lucy Foleys work so as soon as I saw this I knew I had to read it.
A murder mystery set in Paris ‘Where nothing goes unseen. And everyone has a story to unlock’

Right from the start this gripped me. A classic ‘who done it?’ But also covering many important themes. I straight away needed to read on to find out who did what, who to, and why!

It takes a quick second to work out who is who as there are a few characters to get to know, however once you have this down you speed through reading it.

I enjoyed the location of the story, Paris, but more so the apartment block itself. It added to the tension and the mystery because you know someone there knows what’s happened and you cannot wait to find out. The characters are almost waiting for you to catch up with them.

There are a good amount of small twists to keep you interested and to go alongside the bigger ones, as well as covering some more serious topics, so it isn’t just a standard who’s done it.
A big thank you to @netgalley & @harpercollins for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was thrilled to receive a copy of The Paris Apartment as I loved Lucy Foley's previous books.⁣
⁣
When Jess turns up to visit her brother Ben, she is annoyed when he does not answer the door. When it becomes apparent that something has happened to Ben, Jess proceeds to interview the people living in his Paris apartment block, in order to find out about his last known whereabouts. Will Jess be able to find him? And what secrets are his neighbors holding?⁣
⁣
As per classic Foley, this story is delivered in multiple POV's, which I loved. The first 40% of the book I found to be quite slow, while it set the scene. Things picked up after this and I raced through the second half. The twist at the end was unexpected and I was pleasantly surprised.

When things take a turn for the worse in Jess' life, she's quick to decamp and go visit her half brother Ben in Paris. He said she could stay with him, so she's expecting him to be waiting up for her when she arrives... Only he isn't, and when she finds her way into the apartment he's nowhere to be seen. The other people living in the block all seem to be acting shifty, even Ben's best friend Nick who helped him find the apartment in the first place, but nobody seems concerned, except for Jess.

This is the 2nd Lucy Foley book I've read, I requested it from NetGalley after loving The Guest List. Although there are similarities between the two, I felt this one had a different tone to it - sort of darker and almost had an oppressive feel to it whilst reading. It's definitely an uncomfortable reading experience, and you can tell from early on that there is something very wrong going on at the apartment block.

This was a strange reading experience for me, because although I found the plot engaging and definitely wanted to know what was going on, I didn't really connect with any of the characters. Jess is the lead, witht he others making up the supporting cast. Even though Jess is the one trying to find out the truth of what is going on, there is still a lot about her that isn't likeable. It didn't sit well with me that she had a tendancy to help herself to things, and poke into places that really weren't her business. Sometimes the whole 'the end justifies the means' argument just doesn't cut it.

Across all of the supporting cast the only person who I really felt any empathy for was the concierge. Everyone else had some seriously unlikeable traits that seemed to be at the core of their personalities, even Ben who is supposed to be our concern. Some of them do redeem themselves slightly towards the end of the book, but not many.

Ultimately I've decided to go with a 4 star rating for this one. It's a well written book and ticks all of the boxes that Lucy Foley is known for - a small cast of characters, all of whom could be responsible for the crime in question, and a mystery that turns out to be far deeper than it initially seems. The reason I've dropped a star is because although it ticked all those boxes and definitely gave you a feel of a place you didn't want to be, I just didn't enjoy the reading experience quite as much as I was hoping, and I think that is because I didn't have a strong connection to a character I was rooting for.

Thanks to Netgally and Harper Collins UK for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A missing journalist. A spooky apartment building. Mysterious residents. This book has it all, right? Well actually no. It starts off great. But then doesn't really go anywhere and then it's over. And sadly is quite forgettable. Which is really a shame as I've loved Lucy Foleys other novels. I'm crossing my fingers it's just a blip as I really look forward to her novels. Disappointing.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but sadly it fell slightly short of my expectations. This is the first Lucy Foley novel I have read and I had heard such amazing things of her previous books. I thought this would be right up my street - a suspenseful thriller set in my favourite city - however, despite the well thought out plot, the writing felt a little stilted to me.

The story is told from the perspectives of several of the apartment’s residents and they are all unreliable narrators. I usually enjoy this but in this book I just didn’t believe in any of the characters and there was no one I was rooting for in the end. The plot was somehow suspenseful and yet still a bit slow. It was an enjoyable read, and I would recommend it, but it is definitely not one of my favourites.

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my third time reading Lucy Foley, and this was my favourite of her books so far!

We start in a small apartment complex in Paris, compiling of five luxury flats. We meet Ben, who is awaiting his sister's arrival begrudgingly. But, by the time she turns up, he is nowhere to be found.
The flat is being watched by the other tenants, and they all have a story to tell.

What I loved about this, is that we are in a number of different perspectives throughout the book as it begins to unravel.
There are so many twists and none of them are out of place. I guessed parts of a couple, which I didn't mind, but the ones that counted - I had no idea!

Like a lot of the reviewers comments on here, I read this in one sitting.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
I give this book 4 stars

Welcome to No.12 rue des Amants
A beautiful old apartment block,where nothing goes unseen, and everyone has a story to unlock.
The watchful concierge
The scorned lover
The prying journalist
The naïve student
The unwanted guest
A mystery lies behind the door of apartment three.
Who holds the key?

Ben has gone missing ,……. Jess is determined to find out what’s going on.
This atmospheric apartment building came alive for me while reading and the residents (good and bad) all seemed to have something to hide so who do l trust!
Told from several perspectives and a past and present timeline, l spent most of my time caught up hunting for the clues and red herrings that the author cleverly feeds you. l managed to figure out some but not all.. An entertaining dark and twisty mystery,
With thanks to Netgalley,Lucy Foley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for my chance to read and review this book.

Ooh, this was good!

As with Lucy Foley's previous books, you know there are going to be twists and turns - some of these I did see coming, but most I certainly did not!

There are lots of characters in this story and it is intriguing to see how they all combine and slot into the story.

A good, old-fashioned whodunnit, in a similar vein to Agatha Christie.

This would make a brilliant film/TV series.

Recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Paris Apartment. The author, Lucy Foley has pulled it off again. Her clever multi faceted plotting makes this book unmissable. The characters are actually not that likeable but the excellent storytelling allows the reader not to care too much. I believe this may be an intentional technique. The descriptions of the many areas of Paris are really so vivid that I felt that I was almost there with the characters.

I love the house where the apartment is and am curious to know if it’s based on an actual building. The author has inserted so many twists and turns; family secrets and sorrows that I’m sure this one will be as successful as her previous two books. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

My thanks to Lucy Foley, Netgalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review the book.