This was a fabulous mystery suspense read which had me hooked from the beginning and wanting to keep turning the pages. The Parisian setting drew me in straight away as I love anything related to this city. The story centres around Jess who embarks on a journey to Paris to be with her half brother Ben and to make a fresh start. However from the minute she enters the apartment building things take on a very strange path and she has to get to the bottom of what is going on and unravel the mystery of why her brother Ben isn’t there to meet her. The story is told from the perspective of the different characters and each page conjures up mystery and intrigue and a dark web of everything under the surface not being as it appears on the outside. I was gripped from start to finish and the twists and turns definitely kept me on my toes. Highly recommend.

Having read Lucy’s previous books I did not know what to expect. I found the plot very slow and the characters not that well defined. In short, Jess has arrived in Paris to stay with her brother who has disappeared. She decides to stay at his flat and the story pans out with a mixed bunch of characters. This book was not for me and I found it a slog.

I think it’s safe to say that Lucy Foley has done it again! This was the third book that I’ve read from them and the third 5 star rating that they’ve received from me. This book was brilliant!
A sort of slower start but from 50% it was so action packed and I just could not put this book down.
This book uses the same format as The Hunting Party and The Guest List as the book included chapters told from multiple points of view. However the majority of the book felt like it came from Jess’s point of view with the other characters having their narratives peppered in. I felt that this really worked though.
I liked Jess. She had a tough life and had been hurt but had a good heart and trusted a little too easily. I really enjoyed the other main characters of Nick, Sophia, and Mimi. I was so interested to learn more about them! The characters in this book were all so interesting and layered.
The setting of Paris was always going to be a plus from me. I’ve been mildly obsessed with France since I was a small child. The French words and phrases added to this book added an extra little something something for me-I learned some new swear words! I loved the setting of this book as it mainly took place in a fabulously luxurious apartment building and there’s just something I enjoy about a book set in a grand home.
This book was a little bit different to their previous murder mysteries but in a good way, there was more mystery and investigation. There just felt like there was so much danger which was thrilling to read about
This book was jam packed with twists and turns. Just when I thought I’d figured out what was going on, a new crumb of information was dropped and I was back at square one.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish and I think I’m adding Lucy Foley to my list of authors that I auto-buy!
Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with a this free ebook in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to NetGalley, Lucy Foley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC of The Paris Apartment,

I am a huge fan of Lucy Foley's previous novels including The Guest List and Hunting Party, so had high hopes for The Paris Apartment. It certainly lived up to my (high) expectations. Lucy Foley has a way of drawing you in, fully immersing you in the world she has created, and becoming invested in what happens next.

Whilst done so frequently, there are very few authors who can master the multiple perspectives - at their worst leading to confusion or repetition. Foley on the other hand has perfected this skill perfectly, with short narrative chapters from a number of key characters that really. help bring the story to life.

When Jess leaves the UK and arrives at her brother Ben's apartment in Paris, she is frustrated to find he isn't there to greet her. Letting herself in to his empty apartment, she waits it out, before finding signs that her brother may not just be missing, but have got himself into some serious trouble, The occupants of No.12 Rue des Amants all seem to know Ben quite well, and all of them have history - from the scoured lover to the concierge, they all seem to be hiding something and Jess is determined to get beyond the secrets and lies to learn the truth about what happened to Ben.

Despite its somewhat unlikeable characters, this is a truly gripping read that I devoured in less than 24 hours, reading 'one more page' long into the early hours, The text builds up slowly, dropping crumbs that lead you to the realisation that everything is not as it seems. The twist is more of a figure it out gradually than a bolt out of the blue, and for me this worked really well.

Another great addition to Foley's reading list! 5 stars from me!

Lucy Foley is a master of twisty thrillers, and The Paris Apartment is another clear showcase of her skills.

Jess arrives in Paris to stay with her half brother Ben, to find that the man himself is nowhere to be found. What follows is a tense and nerve wracking investigation into his secretive and affluent neighbours, with a conclusion that I didn't see coming until the very last moment!

A must read for any lovers of mystery or thriller, I've already recommended this book to several friends and can't wait to discuss the ending with them!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Jess is running away from trouble in her life and heads out to Paris to stay with her half-brother Ben in his glorious apartment block. However, Ben is nowhere to be found, and none of his eclectic neighbours seem to know where he is, and very few of them have anything good to say about him. Jess is not prepared to give up looking for him. A twisty and engrossing thriller, which I highly enjoyable and a real page-turner.

I loved the previous Lucy foley books and this one did not disappoint. Set in Paris where a girl visits her brother only to fi she is not there. She is quick to determine that all is not as it seems and bases herself in his apartment block which appears to hold the answers. Great twists and turns and a fab ending!

This is the first time I have read a Lucy Foley book, and I will be looking out for more! I loved this book, and Lucy really made Paris come to life.
The story follows Jess ,who has travelled last minute to Paris, to visit her brother Ben. On arrival, she finds the house in darkness, and that he is nowhere to be found. She manages to gain access to his appartment where she discovers things that arouse her suspicions that Ben has disappeared.
The book is well written, and has a varied cast of characters, including Nick, an old friend of Ben's. Can Jess trust Nick to help her? Can she trust anyone at all?
The story was easy to follow, and had just the right amount of suspense & mystery to it, so you can't fail to enjoy it.

As soon as I saw The Paris apartment I requested to read it. Lucy is an amazing author and I’ve really enjoyed her previous books.

From the start I was drawn in, the mystery! Where is Ben?

The Paris apartment was a clever, fast paced suspense story that kept you hooked. It is told through the different characters in the apartment, so each chapter has a different feel to it and yet reveals a little more of what has happened to Ben.

I wasn’t expecting the ending so it was a nice ‘wow’ moment when it happened.

Overall an enjoyable read and a highly recommended thriller!

Thank you NetGalley and Harpercollins for allowing me the opportunity to read and review The Paris apartment.

With thanks to #NetGalley for the advanced copy.
#TheParisApartment #LucyFoley #HarperCollins

Another stellar offering from Foley in the murder mystery genre - in keeping with The Hunting Ground and The Guest List, The Paris Apartment is another cut and dry thriller which ticks along in time with the conventions readers have come to expect from Foley's writing.
With classic whodunnit premise, The Paris Apartment walks readers through events surrounding the appearance, disappearance and search for Benjamin Daniels, with the multiple perspective lens twisting like a kaleidoscope to portray the absent protagonist ambiguously. The journalist, the uninvited visitor, the angry lover, the naive youngster and a voyeuristic concierge Foley embeds roles as a means to craft a thrilling mystery that at the outset wouldn't feel out of place in the early decades of the twentieth century. Christie-esque with a sinister undercurrent, readers are asked to consider and listen to a family and their encounters with Ben. The key question is established early - how far should you go to protect family?
From his sister to the intriguing, wealthy family who got to know Ben in her absent, we are served well by adept writing of Foley into a tense engagement with each person and their links to the crime. Paris serves as a worthy backdrop, instigating with atmosphere and vibrancy a setting that allows reasonable breathing space for the circumstances that ensue from Ben's involvement with them. Where in her previous novels, elements of the plot have wandered into territories of the tedious or unrealistic, Foley here keeps a tight grip on the realities of what is an exuberant set of events, given the family's wealth status. And it pays off in dividends. Readers cannot help but be gripped by the events which each narrative perspective presents, and the culmination of all reach a satisfying, [if not wholly surprising], climax.

Foley has really found her stride in this her third crime fiction novel, and pulls away from the other horses in the contemporary thriller race - this does not disappoint.
In particular it's refreshing to read a book thriving in the uncomplicated syntax and well-paced reveals that The Paris Apartment gives us. Characters retain some believability and elements of the third dimension meaning you can invest, whilst also really revelling in some absurdity that always makes the well-structured crime-thriller novel so engaging to read. Foley again wins at her craft - she stays in her lane, but boy does she power forward with confidence and superiority - moving beyond the rigmarole of police detectives and twisted killers to a much more human base level. From there we jump with her into a world of 'what if' and 'how so' - we invest and we also attach to those human traits that are universal. And wonder if it were me....what would I have done?...

I had been looking forward to Lucy Foley's new mystery thriller having enjoyed her previous two books. Although I do not think "The Paris Apartment" is quite as riveting as "The Guest List", I was not at all disappointed. The plot takes some unpredictable turns, most of which fooled me, the characters are well-drawn, and the various types of Paris neighbourhood depicted perfectly. This book is quite a quick read, which is lucky because I couldn't put it down until it was finished. Four-and-a-half stars.
With thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.

Welcome to No.12 Rue des Amants
Where nothing goes unseen.
And everyone has a story to unlock.

Ben is living in a decadent, old apartment complex in central Paris. A journalist trying to find critical acclaim, he thinks that he has found the perfect exposé. On the night his half-sister Jess arrives to stay with him, he disappears. Can Jess figure out what happened to Ben in an apartment complex full of dark secrets and equally secretive occupants?

This is the first book by Lucy Foley that I’ve read and it did not disappoint. The Paris Apartment is clearly a homage to Agatha Christie’s style of mysteries and whodunits, adding a psychological thriller aspect which makes it a real page-turner. No. 12 Rue des Amants is a character in its own right- almost a living, breathing entity within the book. Told from multiple perspectives, the story illuminates the characters’ back stories as well as their thought processes. Foley’s characters are well developed and their actions/behaviours throughout the book are intriguing. There are the quintessential characters you love to hate and those who you empathise with due to their circumstances. Jess is the star of this book. She is a feisty, independent young woman who has not had an easy life in comparison to her half brother. Her stubbornness to find the truth puts her in very dangerous situations. Although she and her brother clearly don’t have the best of relationships, she is still fiercely protective of him, willing to put her own life on the line to uncover what happened.

I also loved how the story is set in Paris (thrillers at the moment tend to be based in the US or UK) and Foley really brought the vibrancy of the streets of the city to life in her book. I liked how she showed the darker, seedier side of Paris, not just the picturesque postcard version that is often portrayed in books. The darkness of the city adds to the menacing , suspenseful aspect of the story.

Full of suspense, red herrings and twists, The Paris Apartment has all the ingredients of a best-selling mystery/thriller. If you like the work of Ruth Ware, Sophie Hannah, Lisa Jewell and Alice Feeney, add The Paris Apartment to your TBR list. 4 stars

The Paris Apartment will be released on the 3rd of March 2022. Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

The Paris Apartment is a stellar book; Jess Hadley makes a spur of the moment decision to visit her brother Ben Daniels at his luxury apartment, 12 Rues de Amants in Paris. When she arrives, he is nowhere to be seen - so where is he?

The book unravels in both real-time - in Jess’ hunt for Ben and the lead up to his disappearance - this is where perhaps my only gripe occurs; there is no way of easily differentiating between past and present narratives away from hints of tone and remembering of the story.

None of the characters are particularly likeable or warm - save maybe the concierge, every tenant of the building has their own backstories and secrets; the tenants - a journalist, a wealthy wife and wine magnate husband, the student and the concierge lurking - all which work well in The Paris Apartment in furthering the who can you trust? is that a red herring? are they all as they seem? As the book unfolds, suspicions rise and tension builds making for a good psychological thrillers.

The setting in Paris was a welcome change to other thrillers I have read and I enjoyed the spattering of French throughout, a must read for Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell fans and those that enjoy mysteries and thrillers.

Jess needs a fresh start and her half-brother Ben, who currently resides in Paris, could offer her exactly the escape she needs. He is less than thrilled by the prospect but she didn't anticipate him to disappear on her exactly when she needs him the most. She arrives in this strange city with no clue as to his whereabouts and makes herself at home inside his apartment as she awaits for his return that never comes...

This was so compulsively readable and I became immediately immersed inside the strange lives of those residing around Ben's, and now Jess', apartment. As each fact about these Parisian neighbours was uncovered, and each new perspective was introduced, the plot thickened until I was never sure who could be trusted and who was to be avoided. The voyeur in me loved this insight to so many different lives and the amateur detective adored the chance to piece together the interpersonal relationships between them all.

The ending could very easily have descended into chaos, with the high-stakes and shocking reveals, but Foley pulled it back from the brink of becoming overly-dramatic and left me more than impressed with this clever and sly little thriller.

Love a mystery and this was left me perplexed for most of the book. Well written and told, I did not know how it was going to turn out and who did what and why!

This was a fun outing for Lucy Foley, focusing on an apartment block in Paris and the inhabitants that live there. Jess shows up to stay with her brother Ben, but finds him gone and totally out of contact. Jess follows leads to uncover what her brother, a wannabe investigative journalist, was working on. She uncovers a world of sneeze and figures out not everyone in the apartment block is who they seem.

The characters are all unlikeable, but I actually like that in books sometimes. It was clever how everything came together, and I found it intriguing and an easy read.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Lucy Foley's latest thriller because her previous books have left me underwhelmed. I've never been a fan of her multiple POVs and the twists tend to be pretty obvious from the start. Although, I have to say that I did enjoy this more either The Hunting Party or The Guest List. It fooled me for a little longer than either of those books ever did but that could be because I was convinced that she wouldn't go for the obvious ending. I was wrong.

I actually liked the main character much more than I have in her previous books. Jess is a flawed personality but I wanted to get to know her more. The other characters were interesting but they never felt fully developed. They simply became flat cliches that we've seen countless times before. Basic templates of bad guys that Foley never really went any further with. It's disappointing because this story could have been much better than it was. Particularly because the writer is trying to tackle some very important topics here.

The Paris Apartment isn't a terrible book and it's not as if it isn't engaging. As with her previous efforts, the chapters are short and always end on a cliffhanger. It's not a particularly skilled way of creating tension but it will keep people invested. The problem is that this never goes beyond the basics. There are so many plot strands that are left unfinished or unexplored. The most interesting aspects of this story of brushed aside for a soap opera style plot and the most interesting characters are left on the sidelines in an attempt to hide the truth. This isn't the kind of novel that you can get your teeth into and will remember after you've finished it. However, it is a pretty good relaxed and easy read.

I loved Lucy Foley’s other books The Hunting Party and The Guest List, so I partly guessed I’d love this too. It’s a great murder mystery that has you second guessing all of the characters. It has definitely been one of my anticipated reads and I was not disappointed. I was hooked from the start and did not regret staying up until all hours finishing it.

Jess arrives in Paris where she is meant to be staying with her brother Ben. However, on arrival, all does not add up and Ben seems to be missing from his elegant Parisian apartment building. As she tries to figure out Ben’s whereabouts, it’s not long until she realises there’s something strange about the residents, something she can’t quite put her finger on.

It is told through multiple POVs which give great suspense flipping between them. Foley has amazing story telling ability similar to Agatha Christie’s style. The story is quite dark at times and has many layers, but comes together beautifully in the end. I can’t say much more as it would be a spoiler other than read it as soon as you can!

Having read and enjoyed Lucy Foley’s House Party and Guest List I was looking forward to this book. The Parisian apartment complex sett8ng had a suffocating and claustrophobic feel. The characters ranged from unlikeable to downright unpleasant. I liked the multi person POV and didn’t see the plot twist coming. Highly recommended.

‘Zut alors!’ says no one in Lucy Foley’s brilliant new thriller, set in Paris. This isn’t the Paris ‘of tourist dreams’ with one or two clichéd landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. This is the Paris of violent protests, drug addicts and seedy bars, ‘the grime beneath the gilt’. Lucy Foley’s writing has really taken off in this novel: she describes the seediness of Pigalle ‘clinging to the coattails of Montmartre’, the dodgy criminals ‘sharking between’ the naïve tourists. And the characters actually speak real French - and swear like the French! Putain!

I wonder if Lucy Foley is referring ironically to Paris’s reputation as ‘The City of Love’ in setting her novel in the Rue des Amants, the street of lovers. Because there’s nothing loving about the rich, arrogant residents of these gated apartments. There’s plenty of transactional sex, but no love. And one murder.

Ben, an English journalist, is an entitled and vain narcissist who thinks he deserves his good luck when his French friend Nick offers him a cheap apartment in this elegant residence. Ben soon intuits that the other residents are hiding a secret, and uses his good looks, charm and sex to try to manipulate them into giving him the story. Has he fatally underestimated them? When his sister Jess arrives to stay with him, she finds that the only trace left of him in the apartment is blood on his cat’s paw and white ruff. Jess puts her own life in danger when she tries to investigate Ben’s death.

Jess has led a very different life to her brother. Whilst Ben was adopted into ‘a shiny rich new family’, she was bounced around the care system and scrapes a living working in ‘shithole’ bars, ‘crashing in a pad in Brighton’. She’s a sympathetic character who carries the story. I must admit that I rushed through the story, desperate to find out if Jess survives.

As is de rigeur nowadays, Lucy Foley tells the story from multiple points of view. It takes real skill to carry this off without confusing the reader, as each character needs to have a distinctive voice. Pas de problème for Miss Foley, of course. I found each character fascinating as we learn about the dysfunctional childhood and traumatic incidents that made them into the flawed person they are. But who is flawed enough to commit murder?

All psychological thrillers need a twist nowadays and sometimes I feel cheated if the twist comes out of nowhere. So I found the twist at the end of this thriller really satisfying as I could have predicted it if I hadn’t been racing to the end!

It puzzles me a bit to see Lucy Foley compared to Agatha Christie. Lucy Foley’s characters have psychological depth and she describes a detailed contemporary world, delineating all the details that separate rich from poor: the bulletproof coffee, a ‘ferociously expensive’ Celine handbag, Annick Goutal Eau de Monsieur, Chanel ‘La Somptueuse’. And none of Christie’s characters would have said ‘Putain’ or had sex in a public toilet.

So - a 5* thriller that is très, très bon! Merci beaucoup to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an ARC.