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A review by chloseencounter
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Lock Every Door was my first Riley Sager novel, I have heard pretty polarizing opinions on his books so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but this story gripped me so quickly and didn’t let me go until I finished.
The most standout thing in Lock Every Door for me was the setting, something about an historic apartment building in NYC with a cast of eccentric tenants really enthralled me. I usually dislike romance in books as well but even the short lived romance in this story was so tense and exciting that I really didn’t mind.
There was a lot of moments I wanted to scream at our main character for ignoring so many red flags and making so many stupid decisions. I really wanted good things for her and was practically begging her in my mind to stop digging. At the same time I definitely appreciate a girl driven by her sense of Justice and strong morals. Then factoring in her financial situation, she had very little opportunity to get out of this situation.
I never guessed the ending for a second I was all in on the devil worship theory, when Jules realized what Greta had written in all the books about the girl’s “youth keeping her young” or whatever, I totally thought she was leeching their energy or something. I actually wasn’t fully convinced Nick was in on it at all until Ingrid said he was in her apartment I enjoyed how blindsided I was by the big reveal, I am rarely thrown off guard by mystery/thriller/horror anymore.
My only complaint is I don’t think the ending was 100% perfect but it wasn’t unsatisfactory either, so this was still a pretty solid read for me. I’d just argue that the first 80% of this book was stronger than the last 20%.
Overall a very fun read that I devoured in less than two days. I was definitely enthralled with this mystery and really wanted to know what the hell was happening enough to absolutely tear through it, so I think that means it was an overall successful read.
The most standout thing in Lock Every Door for me was the setting, something about an historic apartment building in NYC with a cast of eccentric tenants really enthralled me. I usually dislike romance in books as well but even the short lived romance in this story was so tense and exciting that I really didn’t mind.
There was a lot of moments I wanted to scream at our main character for ignoring so many red flags and making so many stupid decisions. I really wanted good things for her and was practically begging her in my mind to stop digging. At the same time I definitely appreciate a girl driven by her sense of Justice and strong morals. Then factoring in her financial situation, she had very little opportunity to get out of this situation.
I never guessed the ending for a second
My only complaint is I don’t think the ending was 100% perfect but it wasn’t unsatisfactory either, so this was still a pretty solid read for me. I’d just argue that the first 80% of this book was stronger than the last 20%.
Overall a very fun read that I devoured in less than two days. I was definitely enthralled with this mystery and really wanted to know what the hell was happening enough to absolutely tear through it, so I think that means it was an overall successful read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping