The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Blog tour: 3 to 25 March 2022

Synopsis

Welcome to No.12 Rue des Amants: a beautiful old apartment block, far from the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower and the bustling banks of the Seine.

Where nothing goes unseen, and everyone has a story to unlock.

The watchful concierge
The scorned lover
The prying journalist
The naïve student
The unwanted guest

Something terrible happened here last night. A mystery lies behind the door of apartment three. Only you – and the killer – hold the key …

My review

It’s the end of October and, after losing her job at a bar in Brighton, Jess decides to visit her half-brother, Ben Daniels, in Paris, but she’s surprised to find no sign of him when she arrives. The block of apartments is located in the back streets of Montmartre and Ben has been living in a third floor apartment after an old friend from university offered him a place to stay. She’d only spoken to Ben the previous day to sort arrangements so he was expecting her but now he seems to have completely disappeared, leaving all his belongings behind.

The apartment building is very mysterious and contains a right mix of occupants. There’s Sophie and Jacques Meunier who live in the penthouse, flatmates Mimi and Camille (4th floor), Nick (2nd floor), Antoine and Dominique (ground floor), and a curious concierge who lives in the loge and spies on everyone and seems to knows everything that’s going on.

The characters are all hiding lots of secrets, even Jess and Ben. The story is told from the viewpoints of several of them and we get to know more about who they are and what’s going on. They’re a rather dysfunctional and flawed group of people.

The old apartment block itself is very atmospheric and creepy and seems to have a life of its own and be watching its residents – it’s old and has many hidden levels and areas. I was particularly fascinated by the dumbwaiter, a concept that always rather freaks me out as you never know what you’re going to be greeted with when you open it!

Jess is determined to discover what’s happened to Ben, who is an investigative journalist, but struggles with the language barrier and isn’t sure who she can trust. At times, I was really worried for her safety as she found herself in tight spots and had no idea what she was getting herself involved in!

The Paris Apartment is a gripping and tense read and there are some intriguing scenes as we discover what the occupants of 12 Rue des Amants are hiding. I had no idea what the connections between the characters were going to be and was shocked by the twists and turns and the various revelations.

The short and snappy chapters really help to move the story along and I was frantically turning the pages, desperate to find out how it was all going to reach its compelling conclusion and learn more about what happened to Ben.

This is the third thriller from the author that I’ve read and it was another entertaining and intriguing read. I must check out her other books now!

Buy the book

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. See also Ethical Book Search.

About the author

Lucy Foley is a number one Sunday Times bestselling author. Her contemporary murder mystery thrillers, The Hunting Party and The Guest List, have sold over a million copies worldwide and also hit the New York Times and Irish Times bestseller lists. The Guest List was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month selection, a Reese’s Book Club pick, it was chosen as one of The Times and Sunday Times Crime Books of the Year, and it won the Goodreads Choice Award for best mystery/thriller.

Lucy’s novels have been translated into multiple languages and her journalism has appeared in publications such as Sunday Times Style, Grazia, ES Magazine, Vogue US, Elle, Tatler and Marie Claire. Lucy lives in Brussels with her husband and their baby son.

Twitter: @lucyfoleytweets
Facebook: @LucyFoleyAuthor
Instagram: @lucyfoleyauthor

Blog tour

Thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my lovely hardback copy of The Paris Apartment and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.