The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

 

Jess Hadley needs to escape her dead end job in Brighton. On a whim she heads off to Paris to stay with her half-brother Ben. When Jess gets to Paris her brother has disappeared. Things in Ben's apartment are just a little bit off kilter and the rest of the tenants in the apartment block are acting strangely. When Jess combines these with a voicemail from her brother she is convinced something sinister has happened to Ben and begins to investigate his disappearance. 

This is very much a mystery story. You feel as if you are completing a jigsaw by trying to piece together lots of tiny bits of information. We meet the tenants of the luxury apartment block, however they all have secrets. The building itself is also full of secrets with hidden staircases and locked attics. 

The description of the luxury apartment building initially makes you think of opulence but as the story progresses we begin to see the dark, seedy and sinister nature of the building. You get a claustrophobic feeling. This is in contrast to the descriptions of Paris where narrow alleyways lead to large open spaces, vibrant crowds and expensive shops.

All of your assumptions are turned on their head at the halfway mark and from that moment on it's a breathtaking ride until the finale. Lots of secrets are revealed after quite a bit of misdirection and a very satisfying ending.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley will be published in hardback, ebook and audio format on 3rd March 2022. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a review copy.