Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Lock Every Door

What a ride, and what a satisfying (for me) ending. Genuinely creepy stuff. I have to admit to getting frustrated with the protagonist's obliviousness more than once, but very few complaints apart from that.

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ettbokland's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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taelights's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

I decided to read this one because I recently read The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley and I saw some reviews comparing her book to this one. I really enjoyed The Paris Apartment and wanted more stories with similar vibes so I gave this one a chance and oh my god did I love this one. I got hooked so quickly.

While I did figure out who was at fault and who couldn't be trusted pretty quickly the reason behind their actions shocked me and was something I didn't see coming. This was honestly such a great read and I had such a good time listening to it. This was my first Riley Sager book and I'll definitely be reading more by him in the future.

The only reason I'm not giving this four stars is a thought a lot of Jules' actions where very dumb and I found myself sometimes getting very annoyed at her.

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aus10england's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Oooh what a fun ride! I don’t mind a simple thriller, something you can digest without feeling overwhelmed and that made this an enjoyable read for me.

Loved the setting, it felt very vivid, and the last chunk of the book really turned up the pace and had me rooting for the main character!

Some of the main character’s choices were VERY questionable, so some disbelief had to be suspended, but at least their choices were well written.

Would recommend for the casual thriller reader! Those who are obsessed with the genre I could see tearing into this book, buy I’m just hear for the spooky vibes.

Def curious to check out Sagers other work!

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beckyremillard's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Jules, newly unemployed and in need of a place to leave, finds an ad looking for an apartment sitter at the famous Bartholomew. However, she doesn’t know if it’s as great a job as she was expecting.

I wasn’t quite as captivated by this book as I have by other Riley Sager books. It was interesting and I was definitely planning on finishing, but it was slow at first.

I did not expect the major twist, which I always appreciate in this kind of story. Some smaller aspects were a bit predictable but overall it wasn’t.

I wish there was some sort of resolution with Jane. She was such a major plot device and there’s still no hint of what happened.

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serendiptii's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I didn't expect much from this book, having heard only mixed reviews. It was pretty well paced, it got a little repetitive when it came to mentioning her family and Jane's disappearance (not a spoiler, its a running theme introduced in the beginning). The story only spans over 5 days, but it feels like longer; I found myself thinking, "wow did she really do this thing the same day?"

I was however a little disappointed that we didn't get closure about Jane that we got for everyone else. I guess that just reflects on the reality of life, that you don't always get closure for everything and you have to move on.

The main character was a bit dumb and remained dumb throughout till the very last 20% where she redeems herself (out of the blue!) and it sort of feels like whiplash cuz you don't expect her to become smart in 5 days.

It was not a horror book but the author had the ability to create a very haunted atmosphere.

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bookishgoob's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

this was very entertaining. i have some problems with the way sager writes and the pacing of his stories but he has good stories.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Y'all, this one was a ride.

I put my physical TBR in a randomizer and let it choose for me, and it chose spooky apparently - and in terms of spookiness, this book delivers on all fronts. I loved the gothic apartment building setting. To me, it felt extremely vivid and claustrophobic. The gargoyles, the colors, the faces in the wallpaper, I felt like I could see it all. I loved that every single person in the book was suspicious as hell. There wasn't just one person I was side eye-ing - I was side eye-ing them all, even the MC's parents who were dead when the book began. I would compare this to American Horror Story: Hotel, but less unhinged because the writing is better. As a whole, the story was compelling and kept me guessing what direction it was going in.

There are parts, however, that had me scratching my head or made me uncomfortable - and not in the way that you hope to be uncomfortable when reading a thriller. There was some casual homophobia within the inner monologue of the main character that really took me aback, it didn't serve the story at all and it was the kind of casual homophobia that queer people like myself pick up on very easily. Additionally, there is some queer "rep" in the history of the Bartholomew, but it is all negative rep that does not serve the story. Speaking of the MC, Jules, she was incredibly annoying, and not to be mean, but she was dumb as rocks. I didn't care about her breakup, I barely cared about her life, I wanted to know more about the Bartholomew building and its history. This next critique is petty, but I'm wondering if Sager really needed to use the word "meager" as many times as he did while writing this book. It got to a point where I had to roll my eyes every time I saw it. Please open a thesaurus, for the love of God.

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