This started out pretty well for me, but ended up being just a little too creepy and far fetched for my liking by the end. Not my favorite....

I first got engulfed into the world of Riley Sager thrillers with Final Girls. Absolutely loved it! There were many moments where I gasped aloud as I was reading. Same thing followed with The Last Time I Lied. And sure enough, it was fair to believe that Lock Every Door would give me that same excitement. I certainly didn’t expect what I got! This book had me on edge throughout! Get Out mixed with Panic Room! Mr. Sager’s strong female lead reminds us that we can either take the pills or fight like hell 👏🏼 👏🏼 consider this my standing ovation

I could not put down this book. It was so interesting and the writing was great. I will definitely be recommending this to customers at my work!

Great suspense building!!! Slightly unbelievable ending. I think as more psychological thrillers are written more and more are relying on unrealistic elements. Would I read another Riley Sager??? Yes, even knowing the books have crazy twists the story is that good.

Four out of five stars! Lock Every Door is the first book I've read by this author and I know it won't be the last. His writing style is really good! It has you hooked from page one and it doesn't let you go until the very end. The whole idea of a building being the central character in a book is not new, but the author manages to make it very interesting.
As for the things that didn't work for me, I didn't care much for the main character because her decisions made absolutely no sense to me, especially in the last third of the book, when everybody decides it's ok to act without stopping to think for a second. Also, why this title? It seems like there were too many other possible titles with a closer connection to the story.
The big reveal at the ending felt very far-fetched and it left me feeling a little bit disappointed, but other than that, I really enjoyed reading this, it was creepy and fun, and I will definitely read more by this author!

Jules Larsen is down on her luck and stumbles across a job offer that seems almost too good to be true - an apartment sitter in a private, chic building named the Bartholomew. Even though there are strict rules - no visitors, no nights away from the apartment, and no disturbing the permanent residents of the building. Jules in awe of the beauty and mystery surrounding the building. She befriends Ingrid, a fellow apartment sitter who lets her in on the secrets of the old building - and soon disappears. Can Jules figure out the mystery of her new friend's disappearance and make sure she doesn't become a guest who can never leave?
This book had man twists and turns and overall is an awesome, creepy read! I finished it in 2 days and am looking forward to the next Sager book!
Thanks to Riley Sager, Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!

I don't know what I was expecting, but this was not it. The story was so rich and the world-building was absolutely amazing -- the history of the world built within the novel was so impressive and fascinating. The story had an "American Horror Story" feel to it that kept me completely hooked. I read it in one night!

Lock Every Door was one of my most anticipated titles of 2019! This creepy, atmospheric, gothic thriller was incredibly different from Sager’s previous books, but no less enjoyable. It centers on The Bartholomew, an infamous apartment building on Central Park shrouded in mystery. When Jules, down on her luck and just on the heels of a terrible breakup, is given the opportunity to apartment sit in the building she’s dreamed about since her childhood, she jumps at the chance. The rules are odd and extreme (no visitors, no nights away, no talking to residents), but she needs the money and a place to live, and who wouldn’t want to live in this beautiful old building? It almost seems too good to be true...
While I didn’t love it *quite* as much as I loved The Last Time I Lied and Final Girls, Lock Every Door is a compulsive, highly entertaining read, and it gave me alllllll the gothic Rosemary’s Baby, Hitchcockian vibes, and that is *always* wildly fun! This is a movie or mini series waiting to happen.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free book in exchange for review.

Lock Every Door was my third Riley Sager book. After loving The Last Time I Lied I had high hopes for Lock Every Door. The beginning really pulled me in and I loved the setting at the Bartholomew. The idea of Jules housesitting in a luxury apartment when little things start to feel very wrong was intriguing.

Unfortunately, after a good start, the pacing just started to feel off and the story ended up dragging for me. There were little twists along the way but I just didn't feel very connected to the storyline. I will say he did keep me guessing but when we finally did get our answer, it just didn't work for me.

All of the signs and little things that kept us guessing did not line with how the mystery played out and it just made it feel like a very frustrating ride as the reader. I also was left wanting more. I wanted to know WHY and learn some of the backstories and instead, we just get this mediocre ending but not a lot of answers.

I do think some of this is just me. I get frustrated a lot with the thriller genre and the generalizing that happens, often so they can fit it all the thrills I am sure. I just didn't really understand the why and it all seemed so far-fetched and out of left field as a reader. I still look forward to Sager's next thriller and I highly recommend The Last Time I Lied for a thoroughly engaging and wild thriller ride!

*1.5 stars

Review contains spoilers

I was initially drawn to this because I thought it had an interesting premise: a woman agrees to "house sit" a beautiful apartment in the famous Bartholomew, a building with a mysterious past. She's relieved to have found a well-paying job that will allow her to get back on her feet, but she can't help feeling that something isn't quite right. When a fellow house-sitter goes missing, she begins to unravel the mystery, thus putting herself in danger.

Despite a slow start, I was willing to invest myself in the story because I expected something big to happen. The author had the perfect opportunity to build tension by focusing on the eerie atmosphere and disturbing history of the Bartholomew. Unfortunately this felt more like a watered down Ruth Ware novel. I had a hard time connecting with the characters' fear and unease because the creepiness of their experiences was so muted. For instance, the protagonist wakes up a few times and hears a noise that makes her think there's someone in the apartment with her. There's some odd wallpaper in the sitting room that resembles human faces. One night she thinks she hears her friend scream. I kept expecting more-- things that would make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But I found none of that here. Overall the pacing was just very off. Jules learns of Nick's involvement way too early. So early, in fact, that I kept waiting for a plot twist that never came. The last chapter dragged on unnecessarily, with Jules giving a long winded summary of how everything worked out for everyone-- Ingrid even found a job at Sephora! All the "good" people prevailed, all the "bad" got what was coming to them.

This brings me to the biggest issue, and the main reason for my low rating. The big reveal is that Nick's family has been harvesting organs from individuals of the lower classes for years. Nick has taken up his family's practice of helping wealthy people receive organs if they've been languishing too long on waiting lists. If they have the cash, Nick will find the needed organ by kidnapping someone he considers unworthy of life. As a rich man, he believes that poor people are only worth the organs growing inside them. By the end, he is reduced to a one-dimensional caricature of an evil rich guy. There is no explanation for why he's motivated to behave this way. We're just expected to believe that he hates poor people so much that he's willing to murder them so that their organs can go to rich people. I understand that belief needs to be suspended to varying degrees for any novel, but this asked the reader to suspend belief to the point of ridiculousness. The best thrillers, the ones that really get the skin of the reader, are the ones that are just a little too close for comfort. The reader is then able to connect with the story because it successfully mimics reality. That was not the case here.

Perhaps I might have gotten over the unlikeliness of the organ harvesting plot, but what really bothered me was the way in which the author paints the characters with such a broad brush. If they're rich, they're bad. If they're poor, they're good. Not only is that taking the easy way out, but it's an incredibly simplistic world view that is just insulting to the reader's intelligence. Again, I understand this is a novel, but it's not anywhere close to reality. A story that's grounded in black and white is so boring. Give me the gray area, where real life actually exists, and maybe I'll feel a connection with the story, plot, or characters. I felt none of that with this book. I've noticed that this seems to be a trend with authors these days, and it is incredibly disappointing.

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

Y’all, this book was so good! Even though I had other things that I needed to read, I didn’t want to put this one down!

I absolutely love books that are set in New York City. It’s my absolute favorite place in the world and yes, a lot of its history is pretty dark. I’m sure every building on every street has a story, something I’ve always wondered about, which is part of what made this book so good.

Let’s talk about our characters. I absolutely loved Jules. She is a great narrator and someone who is easy to relate to. How many of us have been at the end of our rope, looking for some sort of miracle to help us get through the week? I know I have. She’s a very strong person, surviving the deaths of her parents and the disappearance of her sister, and when Ingrid disappears, Jules is determined to find out what is going on. But the thing is, there are so many twists and turns, it’s easy to see how Jules could either be reading way to much into things, or have her suspicions completely confirmed.

The pacing of the story was great as well. It never dragged, always kept me wanting more. There is a pretty big twist towards the end that I was in no way expecting, which was great. You know who some of the villains have to be, but you definitely don’t realize just how bad some of the people are until the very end. They are complex and intricate and just great to read.

This book had all the things I love: set in the best city in the world, interesting characters, and a story that I couldn’t put down. If you like mysteries and thrillers, check this one out. One brief thing: one of the genres listed for this one is horror, but there isn’t anything to graphic. So if you like suspense-filled stories, but don’t like a lot of blood, you’re good to go with this one.

This was my first book that I’ve read by this author and it definitely blew my mind. I was on the edge of my seat the entire way through and didn’t know what was going to happen next. I never could tell if the narrator was reliable because of how well written the novel was. I definitely will be continuing on with the other books by this author.

Would you take a job apartment sitting for $1K/week with rules like no visitors and no nights away? (Hell yes! Sign my broke self up.)

This is the first Riley Sager book that actually took me longer than a day to finish. I think that's more my general mindset than this particular book. It does start off a lot slower than Final Girls or The Last Time I Lied since there isn't a crime to be solved in the beginning of the book.

I wasn't shocked by any of the twists in this book, but I really liked the progression of theories about what was happening at the Bartholomew. Also, never has a thriller made me want to cry at the end of it. I was rooting for Jules so hard to figure out what was going on at the Bartholomew and escape.

I think it's safe to say that this book won't dethrone Final Girls as my favorite Riley Sager, but it's a solid read nonetheless.

Thanks to Dutton Books and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Riley Sager novel but it will NOT be my last. This was definitely a page turning novel and a lot that I enjoyed.

I felt for Jules throughout the novel. I related to her using a book to keep connected to a loved one she lost.

I felt the ending was a little out there and somewhat dragged out but all in all this was a good thriller.

A throw-back to the "Rosemary's Baby" type storytelling, this compelling book combines today's psychological thriller space with yesterday's gothic horror, and the result is a clear winner. The setting is clearly contemporary, while the "be careful what you wish for" theme is timeless. While the ending was a bit of a let-down, the ride itself was glorious. Kudos to Riley Sager; the author deserves all the accolades the book is receiving.

Riley Sager is a great thriller writer. I have always been blown away by the storyline and twists his books give. That is until now. This book just made me want something more. It took me awhile to get into the book & once the point of Lock Every Door was found out I was totally disappointed. I kept waiting for the next shoe to drop, like it had in his first 2 novels, but it never came.

We have reviewed this book for our podcast, Genre Junkies. The episode can be downloaded from Apple, Stitcher, and other podcast apps.

We were given the absolute pleasure to interview Riley Sager about this novel. Riley is funny, bright, creative, unique, and with a hint of a dark side! It’s no surprise he wrote this fantastic novel.

Lock Every Door is a welcome blend of horror, thriller and contemporary. A perfect love letter to Ira Levine’s Rosemarys Baby. Sager knows just how to make a page turning novel sure to leave his readers reluctant to close the cover for the night. We have recommended this book to so many people and have had nothing but like praise in return.

dude riley sager is amazing, this was super interesting and engaging and i loved how thrilling it was (so many thrillers i've recently read have been lacking) a good time

I have loved Riley Sager's previous two thrillers, so I was going into this one with high expectations. I was not disappointed.

The twist really caught me off guard (and was still realistic to the story), the characters were intriguing, and the tie into historical elements was interesting. I liked how this book was different from his previous novels. No flashbacks, and no cabin in the woods (not that those are bad things, this one is just fresh!).

I don't want to say much more so as to keep your reading experience pure, but if you like a good thrillers then I suggest this one.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Review:
So, Riley Sager has easily become one of my favorite thriller authors. I loved his first two books and I thought that his writing was improving with each story. So, naturally, I was hyped to see Riley Sager take on a spooky apartment story. 

With most thrillers, I think it's best to go into the book blind. I didn't know much about this one other than apartment hunter experiences spooky stuff and I think that's really all you need to know. 

That being said, if you're ready to know my thoughts, let's talk about this wild ride. 

—>characters<—

Jules - Jules is the ONLY character I'm going to talk about in this section to avoid accidentally going into spoilers. Jules is our protagonist and we follow her adventures in this gorgeous, yet creepy apartment. 

The Bartholomew -  Okay, so due to the atmosphere Sager creates, the building itself takes on a life of its own and feels like a secondary character at times. Ah, love it! 

–>plot<–

Okay, so I was LOVING this book, up until the final reveal. 

I thought the deal signed into was creepy, yet compelling. I too wanted to know what the hell was going on with the missing residents. The fact that they were hiring people with no family or connects made me immediately suspicious and started having the wheels turning. 

I also really connected with Jules when she was talking about being in debt and how hard it is to get out when you're feeling like you're drowning. As someone who is suffocating from the amount of debt I'm in after school, I completely understood where Jules was coming from when she made some of the decisions she did. 

I also loved how the first reveal came to be and how this book allowed you to piece *some* things together. 

That being said, I HATED what was actually going on. From around the point that Jules thinks she figured it out to the actual final reveal, this book lost me. Most of the suspense and grip this book had on me completely got broken and it took me a minute to actually get back into it. I will say there was a thing that Jules discovers in the midst of the stuff I didn't like that I did actually enjoy. 

I will say, I'm happy that the book did not go in one direction I thought it was going to, I'm still disappointed it went where it did. One of my thriller loving friends, Natasha from myreadingisodd compared this book to American Horror Story: Hotel and I'm not going to lie, that comparison is so on and so off at the same time. I did spend a chunk of this book waiting to see the Hotel connections, but I feel like you figure out where it comes the second it does. 

Final Thoughts:
Riley Sager can construct addicting and enjoyable thrillers, that even if the ending doesn't stick the landing, the reader can still assess the read as enjoyable. Lock Every Door is probably my least favorite Riley Sager, but that was exclusively due to the ending and it not being something I like to see. I feel like many readers will love this ending, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. 

I will say, I'll definitely continue to pick up Riley Sager books as he is able to create such addicting reads. 

I'll also be coming out with a video soon going into more depth as to what exactly I didn't like about the ending of this book in case you want to know more concise and spoilery thoughts!