I have seen many blogs comparing author Lucy Foley to Agatha Christie. And since Christie is my favorite mystery writer, I knew I also needed to try Foley’s books. The Paris Apartment seemed the most promising and intriguing of them all, so that’s what I started with.
The reason for the comparison with Christie is that Lucy Foley specializes in the closed-room type of mysteries – with a limited cast of characters and small settings.
About the Book
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone and just left her job under less-than-ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and everything would look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a lovely apartment, could Ben have afforded this? – he’s not there.
The longer Ben stays missing; the more Jess digs into her brother’s situation and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like Ben’s future is in question.
The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge
Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.
~ Synopsis from GoodReads
Review of The Paris Apartment
I think this book was not the best choice. I was in the mood for the classic locked-room trope. But Foley seems to have diverged from that formula in this book.
Yes, some tropes are there – the primary focus is on a single setting and a relatively fixed set of characters, but honestly, I didn’t see anything in this book that would cause someone to compare her to Christie. The Paris Apartment has more in common with Only Murders in the Building.
Regarding the book itself, I am not sure what to think of it. On the one hand, it completely surprised me by the direction it took (which is a good thing), but the second half seemed very out of character with the book’s first part.
It also took r long time to reveal what was happening and quite a slow burn. I usually finish even the most clichéd thrillers in a couple of days, but for some reason, The Paris Apartment took more than a week, possibly because it was so slow in the middle, with a rather clunky writing style.
Overall, I thought the book was good because it surprised me (a rare thing with thrillers these days), but I also found myself losing interest during the middle just because it was so slow. I want to try some of her other books to see if they would better suit my vibe.
