Book Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Hi readers and writerly friends!
This is a spoiler-free review.
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager reminded me of American Horror Story’s Hotel season, where patrons of the hotel go suddenly missing under mysterious circumstances. The Bartholomew was an entity and character of its own and I couldn’t help feeling like I simultaneously wanted to visit the spooky hotel and stay a million miles away from it forever. The unsettling events that occurred behind closed doors were absolutely chilling to the bone. I found myself wishing I could shake the main character and tell her, run Jules, run!
This heart-pounding, breath-catching, page-turner of a thriller kept me hooked start to finish. I listened to the audiobook version of this novel and I was completely enthralled the entire time.
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager follows a young woman whose new job apartment sitting in one of New York’s oldest and most glamorous buildings may cost more than it pays
No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.
As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.
Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's sordid past and into the secrets kept within its walls. What she discovers pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent (Sager 2019).
The entrance to the Dakota where John Lennon was shot. Photo by Encircle Photos.
The Dakota as seen from Central Park west. Photo by Michelle Young.
Something Riley Sager is known for in his books, is the central plot twist—a storytelling element he does very well. I didn’t see the major twist coming and when my original theory was flipped on its head, I was astonished. However, the twist made sense, once all the clues he laid out beforehand were explained.
Sager employs a history, both real and invented to weave a thrilling tale that feels equal part as urgent and realistic as present-day and equal part ancient and enchanting as The Dakota, the upscale apartment building in New York upon which the elegant Bartholomew is based! Lock Every Door is an intoxicating tapestry that is every bit as disquieting as the bizarre wallpaper in Jules’ apartment in the Bartholomew and the unsettling events it has witnessed.
“I wanted the building to be seductive yet sinister, elegant yet also creepy…I wanted people to really want to live there but at the same time, to be terrified while they’re living there.” —Riley Sager on Lock Every Door.
The Bartholomew, the setting of the story, a character as much as the people in the story, evolves as the story progresses, observed initially as sophisticated and whimsical, and eventually becoming increasingly more sinister and mysterious. From elegant, gilded cage elevators that carry patrons from the top floor to the bowels of the building, to watchful gargoyles perched on the exterior, elements of the setting grow more and more unsettling and oppressive as Jules uncovers one dark secret after another.
This story is a gripping read cover-to-cover that teeters precariously between thriller and horror and stupefies readers with a chilling plot twist that doesn’t come completely from left field.
“There’s plausibility in a thriller. No matter how weird they may get, it’s something that could potentially happen in real life… It never gets otherworldly, so to speak…it is always grounded in some sense of reality. With horror, it seems like there’s a tear in the fabric of reality and that inexplicable things are going on and that just makes it even more frightening...I like to walk that fine line between the two.” —Riley Sager on Lock Every Door.
The quotes from Riley Sager about his book is from the “Interview with Best-Selling Author of Lock Every Door: Riley Sager” on the No Thanks, We’re Booked Podcast Hosted by Mollie from Mollie Reads and Katie from Life Between Words. Check out the rest of the interview here.
“Move over Rosemary’s Baby, urban paranoia has a deliciously gothic new address.” —Ruth Ware
This book makes me want to a) read more of Riley Sager’s writing, b) read Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, and c) get into more urban paranoia.
In July of 2019, Paramount Television, Sugar 23, and Anonymous Content announced plans to adapt Lock Every Door into a television series, and I am so stoked to see how it turns out. I cannot wait to draw comparisons between the film adaptation and AHS: Hotel.
And that’s it for my review of Riley Sager’s Lock Every Door. Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Have you read any of Sager’s other works? I cannot wait to check out Final Girls by Riley Sager to see more of Jules’ story and where it goes from here. Will you be watching the film adaptation? Let me know what you thought of this book and this review in the comments below!
Bibliography:
Hayes, Payton. “Lock Every Door Audiobook on Google Pixel.” (Thumbnail photo), September 19, 2021.
Sager, Riley. Lock Every Door. New York: Dutton, 2019. Amazon.
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—Payton
Immersion Reading - Audiobooks and Ambiance
Audiobooks aren’t really books. Or are they? While many argue that listening to an audiobook doesn’t really compare to reading a book, there’s something to be said about immersion reading -or reading text while listening to an audiobook simultaneously. By using two of the five senses, readers gain a richer reading experience and find it easier to get into the story.
Woman wearing headphones while reading. Photo by Karolina Grabowska
Audiobooks aren’t really books. Or are they? While many argue that listening to an audiobook doesn’t really compare to reading a book, there’s something to be said about immersion reading -or reading text while listening to an audiobook simultaneously. By using two of the five senses, readers gain a richer reading experience and find it easier to get into the story.
So, if reading tackles one sense -sight, and listening tackles a second -sound, then shouldn’t this foster a better reading experience?
Not exactly. Many readers argue that audiobooks are distracting to the story, or their reading pace differs from the reading pace of the voice actor, or the narrators read in strange voices for each character. These are all issues authors face when considering having their manuscripts formatted as an audiobook. While these are real issues to readers and authors alike, they still receive an overwhelming positive response, and here’s why:
There’s a new trend in the reading community called immersion reading. As defined above, immersion reading is when a book (or e-book) is read in tandem with an audiobook. This has helped many readers better get into the story and has fostered, for many, a richer reading experience.
Not all voice actors read character voices. If you’ve listened to George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” the first book in the Game of Thrones series, you know how fun/annoying character voices can be to listen to. This is an issue for some because it doesn’t allow the reader’s imagination to create the characters’ voices, but instead provides them with a narrator-interpreted voice. However, this isn’t always bad; readers who want to focus on the writing and the content of the story won’t have to waste their time imagining voices if they hear them while they’re reading. A quick check in the reviews of your audiobook will tell you if the narrator used character voices.
The pacing. Readers often read at their own pace and many argue that audiobooks don’t read as fast/slow as they’d like. If you’re using the Audible app, there is a slider that allows you to change the speed without butchering the narrator’s voice.
Another way for readers to experience immersion reading is by playing music in the background of your reading space. No, I don’t mean Lady Gaga should be blasting while you’re reading your next high fantasy novel. Instead, you should put on music from the Slytherin Common Room at Hogwarts, or something fantasy-based. This helps drop the reader into the setting of the story and makes for a richer reading experience. A great place to find music like this is Ambient-mixer.com or on the Ambient Mixer app. This app allows the listener to create different sound loops and has a variety of looped tracks for any genre/setting.
A quote from the Ambient Mixer site describes what the site offers to listeners:
Ambient Mixer Slytherin Common Room slider volume controls. Photo by Payton Hayes.
“Ambient-mixer.com is a community driven project offering you some unique quality soundscapes with different atmospheres for chilling, relaxing or your recordings using our endless audio loops. You can further effectively mix and create your own sounds absolutely free, with no software installations required. You can begin listening to our sounds by clicking on the images above, which are based on different themes. All atmospheres are royalty free audio files and you can use them even in your commercial projects, thanks to the Creative Commons Sampling Plus license.” (Ambient Mixer, Homepage Footer, Para 1).
While not everyone supports the use of audiobooks over reading tangible books or even e-books, immersion reading is gaining traction and becoming more popular throughout the reading community.
Thumbnail photo by cottonbro.