Real Time Review: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

There’s a certain fear that I think that is innately human, which is our hesitancy to trust new people or places.  The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley, plays into this fear, and shows us why (or why not) our instincts about people and places are usually (but not always) correct.

Jess’ brother Ben is living in Paris, in an impressive but looming apartment building.  Ben is a charmer who knows how to talk to people, but eventually this comes back to bite him when he goes missing (not a spoiler as it happens in the first few pages). Jess, who just happens to be coming to visit the day after he does go missing, is hellbent on finding out what happened to him and if her hesitation to trust this new place and new people is truly warranted.

The Paris Apartment certainly plays well into these fears, but in my opinion, the execution of the story was a bit bumpy.  

There were parts of The Paris Apartment I really did enjoy, with a few twists in the end that I truly did not expect. It is a good thriller, but this was one I truly did not find myself fully invested in. I found myself struggling to get invested in the characters and their stories, and had to push myself to finish.  

I found the language to be a bit melodramatic at times, and the story to be far-fetched at times.  I will be honest and say there was an eye roll or two from me. The author does make attempts to humanize and develop the characters back stories, but for me, these moments come across as forced and simply included so the character actually has a backstory. 

Additionally, I felt that for a book titled "The Paris Apartment", the setting never really felt like Paris, but more like Paris-adjacent. There could be a message here that behind every beautiful place or person, is a dark side, but that may be forcing it.

There were several loose ends that I felt needed tying up given there was so much backstory devoted to them, and because of this, the conclusion of this one was not satisfying and I felt myself wanting more.

The Paris Apartment is available through HarperCollins Canada.