After having thoroughly enjoyed The Guest List by Lucy Foley I was thrilled that NetGalley accepted my request to read The Paris Apartment.

I found The Paris Apartment a slow burner to begin with, but once I was a quarter of the way through the pace of the story and my reading certainly picked up.

I finished the last three quarters of The Paris Apartment greedily as I was eager to find out just what had happened to Benjamin Daniels. 

Jess is running away from her life in England and seeking refuge with her half brother Ben in Paris.

After a less than smooth journey to the French capital, Jess is disappointed that Ben seems to have done a disappearing act on her when she finally manages to get into his apartment. 

Pretty soon, Jess begins to suspect foul play and starts to investigate what has happened to Ben. 

As she begins to search for Ben she wonders how on earth he could afford to stay in this luxurious apartment in Paris, do journalists earn enough from restaurant reviews?

The residents of the other apartments seem less than willing to help and some even seem to want her to leave - what are they hiding? 

Everyone is a suspect in The Paris Apartment, can Jess trust anyone to help her find Ben? 

The quest for answers keeps the reader turning the pages as the plot thickens and grows darker, the sense of foreboding intensifies. 

I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, they all have their flaws but I was really rooting for Jess and didn't want her to come to any harm. 

As a former journalist myself, I could understand Ben's quest for a scoop and why his "friend" Theo may have a vested interest in helping Jess.

The plot is told from different character's perspectives and we are taken back in time too as more secrets and lies are uncovered. 

There's enough twists and turns to keep you hooked - just stick with it for the first quarter!

This is a gripping read! The main character is Jess, escaping from relationship problems in England to join her half brother, Benjamin Daniels, in Paris. Ben is a lodger with a university friend Nick whom he has met up with again. The story evolves slowly as information is released bit by bit. Nick is not whom he seems. He is actually living with an extended family dominated by a bullying father. Ben is actually a journalist so as he, like the reader, uncovers further information, he realises that he is onto a story that could make his name. That spells danger for the family he is lodging with. They need to get rid of the danger. That means that when Jess arrives to live with her brother, he has disappeared. This is an engrossing, carefully conceived story. The context of Paris is used to advantage too. I recommend this book.

I’m usually in two minds about Lucy Foley’s thrillers. On the one hand, she sets a scene very well, the fast paced plot carries the story along and this certainly makes you want to continue reading. But The Paris Apartment, like The Hunting Party, has something missing from its heart and it’s difficult to pinpoint this feeling. Maybe it’s a slight tendency for characters to be not as well rounded as the author would want us to believe or that the end chapters can sometimes feel a little far fetched. Perhaps I was wanting a touch more realism.

I must admit to having only read The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley, but was intrigued when I was able to request her upcoming book, The Paris Apartment, on Netgalley.

This is another seemingly "locked room" style book, which seems to be the theme for Foley's writing, and a plot I can get on board with. I do love having limited suspects to theorise over.

The Paris Apartment stars a cast of diverse and quirky characters, all with their own secrets. The multi narrative character really allows us to see each of them as an individual, to get an idea of what thwir secret may be.

I didn't love this book as much as I had hoped. The atmospheric descriptions of Paris certainly helped and made it feel more authentic, but I found the central plot a little stale. Am I over the "locked room" trope?

For me, this book, whilst written well, lacked a certain kick, drama and pace. I will however give The Guest List a go as this is still on my Netgalley shelf.

The Paris Apartment is due to be published 3rd March 2022.

Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced copy of this title.

One of the best books I've read this year!! I love Lucy Foley is this is her best yet!. An atmospheric mystery set in an old gothuc building deep in Paris. Taking you deep into the mind some truly dysfunctional but brilliant characters, this simply is a must read for any psychological thriller fan. If you loved Lock the Door by Riley Sager, you will love this too. A creepy, twisty, slightly crazy psychological thriller out 3rd March 2022. Thanks @netgalley @lucyfoleyauthor and @harpercollinsuk for my arc

** spoiler alert ** I love when a building becomes such a larger than life entity, it almost becomes a character itself. And 'The Paris Apartment' in this case, almost becomes the eponymous hero (or anti hero?!) - the apartment, or rather, the apartment block, is at times claustophobic, secretive and even menacing - holding it's secrets close to it's chest.

I feel the Guest List had a little of this peppered throughout, but rather than a building, it was an island with it's own mystery and power. But in this case, the Apartment Block, is protecting it's own at all costs, rather than trying to force the newcomers out, like in the Guest List.

I devoured this book in 2 days, and was swept along by the split narratives, the flash backs, the twists and the turns. I was just about one step ahead of the plot, but that just encouraged me onward - the red herrings are beautifully laid out, and not over used, just as the little flashes of French isn't over used - the idioms explained, the implications of a darker meaning behind 'blood is thicker than water' - 'the blood calls you back' - because at the heart of it, this is a book about relationships, but it also a book about how much you really know about someone - can you ever *know* a person? Even if that person is your brother?

As with The Guest List, this is also a book about class, about wealth, and about new wealth - because ultimately, old wealth equals power... or does it?

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this novel - I can't wait to see if others agree with me when this is released!

This is a very atmospheric book set in contemporary Paris. It follows the life of Jess who is trying to track down her missing brother. The narrative is via the viewpoint of the other characters which helps to move the storyline along. As usual I found this novel of Lucy Foley's difficult to become immersed into at first. However, I know to persist and as I expected it was thoroughly worth it for the journey through the book and the exciting and unexpected end.

Lucy Foley has a format and she’s sticking to it: a small group of people, in a place, stuff happens. The Paris Apartment is no different to Foley’s previous work in this respect - if you’ve enjoyed her writing in the past, you’ll love this. I would have liked it to be a bit longer with more character history in parts, but on the whole, I enjoyed.

Having read and enjoyed The Hunting Party and The Guest List I was pleased to be given the opportunity to read and advanced copy of The Paris Apartment. Having read the book, I can’t help now having mixed feelings. The plot is revealed through a multi perspective narrative, much the same as Lucy Foley’s previous two books. Even though the story is set in Paris, the apartment block could be anywhere - I didn’t get a Parisian vibe from the setting at all. Many, in fact most, of the characters are down right dislikeable.. I was just left a bit cold by the whole plot. Had I not read the two previous books, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more. For me, the whole structure of the book is too similar.

An eerie mystery that reveals itself in delicately woven layers, each bringing you deeper into the world of the Rue des Amants. The story is not one of high stakes and heart racing, but rather one that unfolds itself slowly over days, and I really enjoyed the pace of it. It was a nice break and the details were revealed slowly and steadily as the story moved, keeping you engaged and intrigued by this odd collection of people. The individual characters all had their distinct voice, and each perspective brought something new and fresh to the chapters, which is something Lucy Foley is particularly good at. I enjoyed the plot, but I think it was mostly the characters and the setting that I loved so much. It was a brilliant read. Still standing strong on my auto buy list!

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley will be a sure fire hit, given the huge success of the author's previous books. And this is both worth the wait and the best yet.

Jess has given Ben, her older brother, little notice that she will be arriving in Paris, so he has little choice but to give her directions to his apartment. However, when Jess arrives at the address she struggles to get inside and she cannot get hold of Ben. In the following days Jess searches in earnest for Ben's whereabouts, increasingly convinced that the other occupants of the block know something of what has happened to Ben. Alone in Paris, Jess struggles to work out who she can trust, as the book hurtles towards a number of neat twists.

The book is dark and atmospheric and the occupants/characters are all clearly a little seedy. The mystery is typical Lucy Foley - a clever hook which will genuinely keep you guessing. A rounded up 3.5*

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC.

I had read and really enjoyed Lucy Foley's last two books and was looking forward to reading this one. However it didn't hit the mark for me.

Jess is a young woman who is less than privileged. Her mother killed herself when she was a child and Jess is alone in the world save for her brother Ben. When things start to go wrong for her in the UK she turns to Ben and flees to Paris to be with him. When she gets there however, he is nowhere to be found in his (surprisingly) luxurious apartment. The other residents in the block are not especially pleased to see her and try to warn her off trying to find Ben in their various ways.

For me this was a disjointed read. It has several points of view which normally I don't mind but in this case the characters didn't really shine through. Although we are told repeatedly that Jess is disadvantaged somehow this doesn't come across. Overall there's a lot of telling and not enough showing and characters didn't come to life. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Jess has reason to leave England in a hurry and invites herself to stay with her brother in his Paris apartment. When she arrives there is no answer to his doorbell nor can she get an answer on his phone. This sets the scene for a murder mystery where nothing and no-one are what they seem.
This novel oozes atmosphere for anyone who knows the grand apartment buildings of Paris that are not only dutifully monitored by a concierge but also are reserved for the most wealthy. For Jess this is a completely alien environment and, as a result, everything soon spirals out of control as she struggles to come to grips with whom and what she is dealing with.
Gradually she unravels the puzzle but not before there are many totally unexpected discoveries.
Primarily due to the authenticity of the Paris setting I found myself drawn in to the plot but, in truth, I think it places too much importance on coincidence to justify a high rating.
Best summarised as a pretty much standard crime novel with plenty twists and surprises to keep the reader entertained. Personally, but for the Paris setting ,my interest would have waned.

I wasn’t impressed with this book. I didn’t like any of the characters and found it rather boring. Full of bad language and predictable.

Creepy, clever, twisty and tense. I loved the change of focus that led t you to question who and why to the very end. Though I'm not sure I fancy staying in a Paris apartment for a very long time to come.

The Paris Apartment is possibly the best book I have read this year. The writing style is so immediate, a proper use of the first person at last, which keeps the narrative tense and makes the reader feel very involved in the storytelling. The characters are, if not perfect, understandable and the author gives enough background to them to make their behaviour totally believable. The plot is fast, complex and atmospheric to the point that a few days after reading this I felt it hard to remember if it had been a book or a film! I started reading one wet, murky morning and continued throughout the day, I could not stop reading, I thoroughly recommend Lucy Foley’s novel and would like to thank Netgalley, publisher and author for the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.

This is an exciting and suspenseful thriller where the pace barely lets up - a great read! I really enjoyed Lucy Foley’s other novels but this is my favourite so far. Jess flees a job she dislikes to go to Paris to stay with her brother Ben but when she arrives, he isn’t at his apartment. The sense of location is brilliant. I could imagine the creepy apartment building so clearly. There are many secrets in the lavish apartment block and feisty Jess is out to discover them all and find out what happened to Ben. I liked Jess - she’s brave, resourceful and bends the rules. Great characterisation, a fabulous sense of place and some excellent twists - five stars for The Paris Apartment!

Lucy Foley is my new favourite author - what a read!
The ending of this book was fantastic, lots of twists which were so unexpected.
Already recommended it to friends.
5 stars

After loving The Guest List and The Hunting Party, I was thrilled to be able to read The Paris Apartment before it was released and I was hooked from the prologue! Lucy Foley knows how to draw you in instantly and keep you gripped.

Jess goes to Paris to stay with her brother Ben, except when she arrives, he isn't there. I had my own theories about what happened to Ben and was constantly shocked at the twists and turns. I read this in 24 hours as I just had to find out what was happening in the Paris apartment block and who had killed Ben.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I wanted to like it, I really loved the other books from her, but this one...it was so long and pointless, I skipped until the last third when all the action happened. I saw the twists coming, and there were too many povs.