Ok where to begin, i want to do this review justice.

Having read The Hunting Party and the Guest List in 2021 and loved both of them i went into the Paris Apartment with extremely high hopes. Lucy Foley has this way of writing a murder mystery and it shines through in both her backlist titles.
I thought i was in for the same closed set mystery, written the same way as her others and was totally strapped in for the ride. This book was completely different, it was written in a different way and the overall atmosphere was amazing. The pacing was spot on, the unreliable narrators where on point and the multiple POVs where written amazingly. I felt genuine anxiety reading this one and the overall atmosphere was creepy.
My overall favourite of her works so far and this book was just amazing, it has really hit the heights of Lisa Jewell and Riley Sager for me, two of my all time fave thriller writers.
Lucy Foley is now cemented as one of my three all time fave thriller authors.

Thanks for an amazing book and thanks for a copy in return for my honest review. I will be hurrying to pre order this one so i have a copy on my favourites bookshelf.

2.5 stars. I was really looking forward to this book and had high expectations for it as I thought this authors previous book was fantastic. Unfortunately I found it very slow moving with not a lot happening. All the characters were unlikeable and it struggled to keep my attention. Sorry this just wasn’t me

I have heard lots of great things about this author and was super excited to read this book. Although I did enjoy The Paris Apartment, it didn't quite live up to expectations.

This book tells the story of Jess, a girl who heads to Paris to stay with her brother, Ben, only to find that he has disappeared from the large and exclusive apartment building on her arrival. During the story, we learn all about the other residents of the apartment and try to put the pieces together to find out what has happened to Ben.

Each chapter is told by a different character, which can be confusing at the beginning. None of the characters are particularly likeable in my opinion and they certainly aren't reliable as narrators.

Although I like a story to come to a nice conclusion, in this case I found myself not particularly bothered as I didn't have that bond with any of the characters.

It was a decent story and I loved the ambience of the old building, it just wasn't quite enough to keep me gripped.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.

I’ve read all of Foley’s recent thrillers and so I was glad that The Paris Apartment deviated somewhat from the formula of her previous novels that I was beginning to find a little bit predictable. That said, this didn’t go that far - there was still an untrustworthy cast of characters amongst whom the reader has to guess at the killer.

A very, very slow storyline and only got going in the last few pages.
Jess Phones her half brother Ben who is living in Paris to say she is coming to stay with him but on arrival he is not there, nothing feels right so she try's to find him but the neighbours are all acting strange and are unhelpful to her.

The characters are all unlikeable just didn`t know what was happening or want to know where the story was going so ended up skipping through it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book. A story well told, and certainly a bit different to my usual read. The layers of the story are peeled off one by one, and build at each stage.

In the apartment, everyone is watching, and everyone could be a suspect in Ben's disappearance.

Well crafted characters, and plenty of twists and turns along the way.

It's difficult to say too much more without sounding the spoiler alert. Make sure you get a copy!

Lucy Foley for me is a great example of a writer who is just getting better with every novel. If you’ve enjoyed her previous books you’ll love this. Jess is skint and alone. She’s left her job in the UK under dubious circumstances and headed to France to stay with half brother Ben, who didn’t sound all that happy ay the prospect. But when she arrives at the luxurious apartment block where he has been living Ben is nowhere to be seen. Who are all his strange and unfriendly neigbours and where is Ben? So tense from the outset. I can't wait for her next book.

I've read and loved The Guest List and this has a similar vibe, which I also loved. Told from various points of view to find out what happened to Ben. It was such a page-turner I had to finish it in one sitting.

‘I only hope she knows what she is doing. Climbing so high, so quickly: it only makes for further to fall.’
Jess needs to disappear for a while after robbing her creepy employer. She decides to flee and stay with her brother Ben in Paris. Only when she arrives Ben is nowhere to be found. His cat, his wallet and Vespa are all left at the apartment and after a worrying voicemail Jess sets out to find Ben. She starts by asking the other residents in the apartment complex but that raises more questions than it answers…
In the end, I really enjoyed this one! I definitely preferred it to ‘The Guest List’. Honestly, the first 45% of the book was dragged out but the second half was much better. Foley’s attempt at a locked door mystery was intriguing and there were so many secrets in this apartment complex. I would have been so much more invested if the first half had been paced a bit quicker. I enjoyed flipping between different characters for each chapter, it kept the plot moving and created a degree of confusion that left me wondering who to trust.
If you enjoy the locked door trope then I think this is worth picking up. I’m glad this was different to ‘The Hunting Party’ and ‘The Guest List’, it makes me excited to see what Foley tries next.

Jess goes to Paris to stay with her brother Ben. But when she gets to his apartment, she can't find him. What she does find is a collection of quirky neighbours in a swanky apartment block, all with their own secrets to hide. What do they know? Do they know where Ben is and what's happened to him?

I could not put this book down, it dragged me into its narrative with its twists and turns, and places to hide, and I couldn't walk away. It's a really great thriller, you just don't know what's going to happen next. There are blink-and-you'll-miss-it plot twists and great action scenes, as the carefully crafted veneer of the apartment block slowly begins to crumble.

Will Jess find the truth about Ben or will the apartment residents stop at nothing to keep their secrets?

In an old apartment block in Paris, nothing goes unseen. A story lies behind the door of each apartment: a watchful concierge, a scorned lover, a prying journalist, a naïve student and an unwanted guest.

The storyline follows Jess as she turns up to visit her half brother Ben, but when she arrives he's not home. She finds her way into the block, but once she meets the other occupants, none are happy to see her nor do they want to help her find Ben.

The story is pretty good, though it could really be set anywhere, the atmosphere doesn't truly give it a Parisian feel. The point of view is seen through multiple eyes.

Some of the words are in French but its intermingled so not to be too jarring, nor left unknown. Quite a few rude terms too! Some of the time the story told rather than showed me, or sentences were super short which pulled me out.

Overall I enjoyed the story, had kind of guessed what had happened to Ben, but it still got rounded off well.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

A twisty thriller with a great cast of believable characters. When Jess goes to visit her brother, Ben, in the old, upmarket Parisian apartment block, he's not there. The other residents are a secretive and unfriendly lot. Jess is intrigued to find that her brother lived in such an expensive area and enlists the help of Ben's fellow journalist, Theo.. A modern day Agatha Christie and a great read, as always with Lucy Foley's books. Once you start reading this, you won't want to stop.

This is the third book by Lucy Foley and I am sorry to say the weakest of the three. I devoured her first two books and found them impossible to put down. The Paris Apartment is in much the same vein but with completely unlikable characters. As anyone who has read Foley's previous two books will know there are unlikely characters aplenty but there is always at least one person to root for. I didn't feel that here.

The storyline is very simple which is no bad thing but it follows a rinse and repeat of her first two books. As a simple, thriller it hits all the spots but compared to her first two books its just lacking something.

A mystery that just felt mediocre in it’s overall reading experience and it’s lasting impression once I had turned the final page. There wasn’t that expected thrill with the pay-off which felt clunky than clever. It took a while for the unfolding drama to get its clutches fully into my imagination, and by that point I was losing patience with the characters and their secrets & lies.

This seemed more of a damp squib of a thriller than a jaw-dropping firework, which considering my enjoyment of her previous book, was quite disappointing. But I’m hoping this is just a blip as I do think that Foley is an exceptional writer and maybe her next book will make more of a positive impact on me.

This was an interesting book, each person in the apartment block had a story to tell. Jess does not give up in her search for her brother even though they grew up in a completely different environments.

Fully recommend.

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
I had read and enjoyed The Guest List and The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley and was therefore looking forward to reading this novel. It began with Ben Daniels in his Paris apartment awaiting the arrival of his half-sister Jess Hadley but just as he is sending her a voice message another visitor enters his room. The story is told by various narrators but the main one is Jess. She is a flawed character on the run from events in England and turning up unexpectedly to stay at Ben’s apartment. The other narrators are a chic lady who inhabits the penthouse flat, an angry alcoholic, the isolated concierge, a young girl who has led a somewhat sheltered life and Ben’s friend from University days. All the characters have a different opinion about Ben and you are unsure which, if any, of them to believe.

Paris is in the grip of civil unrest and this adds to the dangerous atmosphere which pervades the whole book. The house in which Ben resides also has its own secrets and the author employs all its nooks and crannies to create a bizarre, tense atmosphere.
The author has created a really good whodunit with a number characters behaving suspiciously and there is animosity expressed towards Ben by various people. The tension builds as does the air of menace and there is a satisfactory twist at the end.
This is another page turner by Lucy Foley and it is an easy read which keeps you engaged to its conclusion.
Many thanks to the author, the publishers and to Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

This review was published today (21/02/22) on my blog kerry_reads at https://www.instagram.com/p/CaPuFbEAUcx/.

4/5 stars
This is the first Lucy Foley novel I’ve read and I enjoyed it! It felt like Cluedo where it was a murder mystery set in Paris. It had me constantly guessing who the killer was. I loved the spot-on beautiful descriptions of places I’ve been to in the city (and learned more about the areas I haven’t yet been to). Although initially the pace was too slow for me and some of the inner voices of the characters - Jess and Sophie’s - sounded the same within the first 50 pages, within the next 50 it became a page turner that I couldn’t put down. I was also grateful that the LGBT+ characters were realistically presented which was a nice surprise. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I’ll be reading more of Lucy Foley’s work!

Thank you @harpercollinsuk for this ARC! The Paris Apartment is out tomorrow in the US and 3/3/22 for the UK.

I enjoyed both the start and the ending of this book however the middle section was just too slow for me and I nearly stopped reading. I am glad I persevered as there were some good twists in the story but overall unfortunately it wasn’t for me after enjoying The Guest List and The Hunting Party.

Jess and her half brother, Ben, have led separate lives since their mother died when they were young. Ben was adopted by a well-off family and had a happy childhood and went on to Cambridge University. Jess was left in the orphanage and has had a disjointed, impoverished life since.

After a fracas at the bar where she was working in London, Jess quits and travels to Paris to find Ben. It was short notice but Ben was expecting her so Jess is surprised to find he isn’t there but his wallet and mobile are still in the apartment.. The apartment has four floors with a penthouse suite and is very opulent.

None of the other occupants are friendly and we learn more about them as the short chapters are the viewpoints of them all, as well as that of the concierge who lives in a tiny cabin in the grounds which is in complete contrast to the apartments. While the premise of the book based on a large apartment and being in Paris appealed to me I found the plot a little dreary and slow for most of the book. The Paris aspect was not really significant other than some of the dialogue being in French, mostly translated into English for the reader, and the occasional mention of Parisian landmarks such as the Louvre. The pace and interest did pick up in the last quarter and I liked the ending. There were times when I was not sure if the dialogue was referring to the present or past as that wasn’t clear. None of the characters seemed like people I would like to spend time with and I found the book hard to engage with due to this and the slow pace.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

‘The Paris Apartment’ by Lucy Foley is a tense and chilling psychological mystery set in a luxury apartment block in Paris. Jess flees a bad situation back home for the comfort of her half-brother Ben’s flat in the French capital. When she arrives he’s nowhere to be found, and all her enquiries lead to more questions. His neighbours have secrets of their own -but what do they have to do with Ben? And can she trust any of them?

Told from the point of view of several characters, it means the unreliable narrator is part of the story. It keeps the reader guessing. Jess is not exactly a sympathetic character, so one never knows who to trust. There are so many secrets and shifty characters. It’s quite a slow burn story but worth the wait as the ending shocked and surprised me. I did not see it coming.

I was given this ARC for review.