Lock Every Door: A Novel Hardcover – July 2, 2019

There's a reason for using a pseudonym. Bad writing. Guessed the plot a third of the way in. So obvious. And. As an homage to Rosemary's Baby in this faux Dakota building, not even close. None of the spine-tingling psychological characterizations. More a Rogue's gallery of two-dimensional caricatures. A tourist's description of Central Park with numerous references to hackneyed landmarks. As a resident of Central Park West, it was so silly. So. No. Not much to recommend this even as a summer light.

Ladies and gentlemen, he’s done it again.I’m pretty sure all of you know that I’m a Riley Sager superfan so this book has been on my radar FOREVER.Seriously, I camped out on @netgalley when I heard that e-ARCs were available.First of all, Sager’s writing just SUCKS me in. With all of his novels (okay, just the three...) I was captivated by page 10. This was no exception. The synopsis already intrigued me, but once I got into the first couple of chapters-I couldn’t put it down.The characters were obvious yet still mysterious. I wanted to shake Jules (the main character) and yell DUDE, RUN! As for the others, you know they’re all playing a part- you just don’t know what it is.Now on to the plot- as in all Sager books expect a major plot twist. So again, you know it’s coming and everything ‘clicks’ and you’re left thinking ‘HOW DID I MISS THAT!?’ But then within the last couple of chapters everything is explained and it makes so much more sense than your original theory.The premise of this one infuriated me. Like seriously how the hell could they get away with that for so long!? At the end, I totally backed Jules decisions.It’s also the first of Sager’s three books that felt ‘real’ to me (I was a house sitter for a while). Like Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied was of course thrilling and suspenseful, but Lock Every Door actually gave me chills.So The Last Time I Lied is still my favorite, but Lock Every Door is great and an awesome read.

I loved "final girls" and was so looking forward to reading this. The first half of the book I just kept waiting for it to get better. By the 2nd half I was skimming it and couldn't wait for it to end. Truthfully if I hadn't paid $12.99 I wouldn't have even bothered after the first 20 pages. It was just boring and unbelievable and kind of stupid. If you just HAVE to read it...save yourself the money and get it from the library.

This book was amazing! The only bad thing is that I think the main character/ final girl (Jules) has another story to tell, and I would read that book too. The Bartholomew, an historic, century old apartment building in Manhattan that is covered in gargoyles and filled with secrets needs an apartment sitter. The role of an apartment sitter is to stay in a fully furnished, multi million dollar, vacant apartment whose owner has died, or left for a few months. The rules are strict; no visitors, no posting pictures of the apartment on social media, no speaking to the tenants (unless spoken to), orphans are preferred. The Bartholomew has a creepy and unfortunate history, but is still revered for it being home to only the rich and famous, and a few apartment sitters. Jules is one of those apartment sitters. She just lost her job and her boyfriend. Her parents are dead, her only sibling has been missing for several years, and she is staying on her best friend's couch. She is the perfect candidate for an apartment sitter. The pay is $4000 a month to live in luxury for three months, as long as she obeys the rules. She has fantasized about living in the Bartholomew since her sister had read her a book about it. They both wanted nothing more than to have their forever after lead them to the Bartholomew. Jules is enamored with its beauty and the tenants, so much that several red flags go unnoticed. Apartment sitters mysteriously quit without a moment's notice. Or do they? Read this book!!!

Riley Sager is one of my auto-buy authors. He's mesmerized me before, but he hit it out of the ballpark with his latest release.Jules has had a string of bad luck, starting with getting laid off from her job, followed by discovering her live-in boyfriend banging another woman. She ends up near penniless, sleeping on her BFF's sofa until she finds a classified ad for an apartment sitter. $12,000 to occupy a luxury apartment in the Bartholomew—a New York high society landmark—for three months. It sounds too good to be true, especially given the building is the fairy-tale setting of a novel that bound Jules and her sister as teens.The rules are bizarre. Among other things, no visitors and no sharing any information about the residents who live in the Bartholomew, but Jules is too desparate to give them a second thought. Not long after she's in the apartment, more luxurious than she could have imagined, she realizes something is not quite right. Previous "apartment sitters" have gone missing, one of the current sitters hints all is not as it seems, and the woman who wrote the novel she and her sister loved as teens is—surprise!—a resident.The "big reveal" is a blind-side from left field, nothing I would have ever seen coming. Sager uses history, both fake and real to weave a tale that feels urgent and present-day as well as dusty with the footprints of a faded yesteryear. An intoxicating tapestry every bit as formidable as the bizarre wallpaper in Jules apartment in the Bartholomew. Extra points for the atmospheric use of the building's gargoyles. Superb!

May include minor spoilers...Looks like I’m among the few disappointed here. Loved Riley Sager’s others, especiallyFinal Girls, but this one just didn’t do it for me. It’s an easy read — finished in a couple hours — but predictable and sigh, even boring. A couple of good twists and turns with the historical reveals but also a couple of jarringly dumb moments. Like when the heroine notices the “ouroboros” and immediately knows what it is...Seriously, was I the only one that had to go look up what that meant?! Plus the rest of the plot just felt cliched, predestined to anyone who’s watched a movie and I don’t know, I couldn’t wait to finish. Zzzz

This is a very enjoyable read. I thought I had it sussed and I was about 50% correct but the truth completely caught me by surprise! Something that I love in a book is not working it out before the reveal so massive well done to the author.

Well, I wanted to see what all the hoo-ha is with Riley Sager and I’m not sure what to think. Part of my problem is the memories of my most recent five star read makes it like comparing a shark to a minnow. The book starts in an intriguing way when 25 year old Jules Larsen is hit by a car after rushing out of the Bartholomew Building overlooking Central Park and right by the famous Dakota. She is an apartment sitter and overpaid in cash for her services while enjoying the buildings luxury .... alarm bells should have been ringing. However, she’s desperately short of money and the odd brain cell and so she doesn’t ask questions. She has a rigorous list of rules to abide by which also should have rung the odd ding dong in her head. Why she rushes out of the building seven days after starting this job is explained in a daily countdown and interspersed with medical treatment she receives post accident.I really like the setting of the building which I can imagine clearly as I’ve done the tourist thing of gawping at The Dakota. The atmosphere builds up well with the building at the core with some interesting occupants. For the most part I engaged with the storyline and as weird events occur the suspense builds. However, I think it starts to unravel and becomes silly and I didn’t buy into the conclusion. Will I read another by this author?? Hmmm, I don’t know.

First and foremost,I loved this book! At first I was unsure, but Sager kept me turning the page like a madman towards the end as I raced forward the thrilling ending. This book definitely has a Hitchcockian vibe to it because it registers and turns and kept me guessing until the end.The way the author foreshadowed the events to come so innocently was just pure genius and makes me wonder how long he took to plan this thing out. Because it's a masterclass in writing a brilliant thriller.I loved the characters in it, even the bad guys/guy was completely fleshed out.I'd recommend this to anyone who likes a brilliantly crafted thriller. I have out give stars because out was superb, I'd give out more if I could. This is a definate blood pumping thriller that has to be read. Just as brilliant as Final Girls, if not more so.

Sadly this book took a long old time to get a little interesting.I think I was around 2/3rds of the way through when it got a bit interesting.It wasn't a bad story, I think I had higher expectations, based off of reviews from others. So it was a let down overall, but I didn't hate it.So it got a bit interesting, for a while, then a little disappointing when it turned out to not be going down the line of what they first made out... Gah, it's hard to explain without giving anything away!It's not a book I'll be activity recommending to others. There's much better thriller books to choose from.

When l began this book it was full of promise an echo of the fabulous Rosemarys Baby,sadly that's all it was. Is not what it tried to be.SPOILERS.it consists of a young not very bright woman playing detective which is not only hard to believe but quite boring and stupid. It pretends to be occult which it's not.l still don't know what the significance of the stone gargoyles was other than to mislead the reader.it does become obvious what is going on,but still tried to rope you in in to thinking it's more than it is.it is dry and repeats itself with the main character giving all information away on mobile phones?????Continuous reference to her sister who everyone seems to remind her of.it is made very clear why she is drawn to missing people but we keep being reminded??l did read the book but l skipped pages which l don't like to do.The book would have been better if it had not pretended to be occult.it used similar parts to Rosemarys Baby but that's all nothing like it and nowhere near as good.l felt cheated and disappointed.