The Paris Apartment - a man goes missing and the residents of his posh building have much to hide.

Jess Hadley needs to find a new place to live. Her half-brother Ben Daniels tells her she can stay with him for a while in his Paris apartment. Jess leaves London and heads to her brother’s place. When she arrives at his imposing, grand apartment building, he’s nowhere to be found. And the neighbors are immediately unhappy about her arrival. Once she manages to find her way into his large apartment, too large for an aspiring journalist, there are clues of foul play. The most telling is blood found on his cat. (Fear not, the cat is innocent of any wrongdoings.) As the days go by, Jess learns more about the dysfunctional group of people in the other apartments including Ben’s school friend Nick; a wealthy, eccentric couple living in the penthouse and an elderly caretaker. Everyone in the building appears to be hiding something. Only Nick offers to help Jess. No one else seems to care that Ben is missing.

The Paris Apartment spends a lot of time with Jess frantically trying to find out what happened to Ben. The book starts slow and you can’t help thinking that it’s time for the story to start percolating. I found myself worrying about whether Jess was feeding Ben’s cat. But a little before the mid-point of the book, things start cooking. Secrets start being revealed and the book gets tense and twisty. Author Lucy Foley comes through. Her description of the apartment building, a character unto itself, is superb. From the outside wrought iron accents to its hidden staircases and a basement that hides sinister secrets, it sets the stage for this dark novel.

I’m glad I stuck with it and having learned that Sony Pictures has acquired the rights, I can’t wait to see the film.

Rated 4.25 out of 5 stars.

Mystery / Thriller.

Publication Date: February 22, 2022.

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