Lucy Foley has done it again. Her previous books was excellent but this one is on another level. At times I felt I was sitting in Paris and in the apartment. Jess has gone to Paris to stay with her brother. When she gets there, he has disappeared and she is obviously concerned. Even more so when his phone and wallet are there. Do the neighbours know more than they are letting on??.... An excellent read once again and I can't wait for more from this excellent writer.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC copy of this to review.

Jess goes to see her Brother in Paris, and quickly becomes involved in a mystery surrounding the apartment building and it's mysterious residents.

A suspense filled whodunnit, similar in style to her previous books The Hunting Party and The Guest List (both of which I quite enjoyed) where each section is focussed on a particular character and their view.

I enjoyed this and look forward to reading more of her books in future

I was a big fan of Lucy Foley's past couple of books so excited to read this one. A young woman heads to her brother's flat in Paris after having a bit of an incident at home. When she arrives she finds his keys and wallet in the apartment but no trace of him. The narrative switches between different characters which I found a little confusing at times and occasionally lost track of who was who which meant it wasn't quite as gripping as it could have been. I still raced through it and found it an enjoyable enough read.

“Five stars for Foley”
Hardback edition

by Emma Hopwood
From the first page I was hooked. The character progression throughout the book is excellent with twists and turns that are wholly unexpected. At times, you empathise with the characters and the writing is tinged wi to sadness. The plot is believable and draws you in to the point you cannot put this down. Another amazing book by Lucy Foley.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access to this book.

24th November 2021Comment (0) Helpful? Upvote 0
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The Hunting Party
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Lucy Foley
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Lucy Foley has a well-deserved reputation for her twisty plots and morally compromised characters and in ‘The Paris Apartment’ she makes use of both. Jess, from whose point of view we are given most of the story, runs away to Paris where her half-brother, Ben, has use of an apartment. It’s clear fairly soon that Jess is a troubled girl, damaged by her mother’s death and her foster home experiences, but that she can usually take care of herself. However, when she arrives at Ben’s apartment, she feels abandoned. He seems to have vanished. The reader isn’t surprised. We have already learnt that something unpleasant has happened to him.
Determined to find out what has been going on, Jess makes it her business to question all other occupants of the apartments in the fading yet still grand house on the Rue des Amants (or Lovers Road – some clunky irony there!). Whilst Jess is a plausible fallible central character, unfortunately most of the others that she comes across are little more than stereotypes: the overbearing patriarch; the weak, spoilt sons; the chic, stick-thin middle-aged wife; the misunderstood teenager etc etc.
Nowhere more does Foley rely on well-worn tropes than in her depiction of Paris. Mention is made of the best-known tourist sites, Gauloises, good wine, patisseries, bistros, and yet these details have a tick-box quality to them. A scornful reference to the popular Netflix series ‘Emily in Paris’ is given but ‘The Paris Apartment’ is equally culpable of resorting to cliches. And nowhere is the narrative more annoying than in the author’s use of simple French phrases, immediately translated into English.
All of this could be overlooked if the story’s ending was plausible. However, there are too many coincidences and unbelievable events. What could have been a really interesting exploration of the life of the illegal immigrant, as well as an intriguing mystery, ends up as a less than memorable read. There is no doubt that Foley can tell a story but ‘The Paris Apartment’ isn’t one of her best.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

And Lucy Foley does it again! After success with The Guest List and The Hunting Party I was really looking forward to the new title and am pleased to say I definitely wasn’t disappointed!

The Paris Apartment takes us to a beautiful apartment block in Paris where nothing goes unseen. What stories do the residents hide, from the watchful concierge to the scorned lover, with the prying journalist and the naive student mixed up in-between. Let’s not forget the unwanted guest, what mystery lies behind these doors?

I thoroughly enjoy Lucy’s fast-paced writing style, it keeps up with the characters actions so you too feel like you are running down the Metro platform with them as you begin reading with the emotions portrayed through the character - it leaves you exhausted at times with the ups and downs and suspense but wow is it worth it! Every chapter keeps you wanting more which is exactly what you want from a good thriller. Really like the way the ending all came together too and it wasn’t the obvious tie-up of all the pieces you would necessarily expect. Another hit and would thoroughly recommend!

A visit to her brother leads to the investigation of his disappearance. Is there more to this apartment block than first meets the eye?

The Paris Apartment 4.5*

Lucy Foley is an automatic read for me; Whatever she publishes, I devour, often in one or two sittings. This book is no exception. There’s the usual Foley ticks of approval: beautiful setting, the story told from several character perspectives, clues drip-fed over time and that je ne sais quoi that makes all her books absolute page turners.

I deducted half a star here for excessive product placement. I don’t mind the mention of an Hermès scarf or a Ghom silk rug. It’s clear that these mentions are about symbols of status. But when there are over 30 mentions of high-end brands I start to raise my eyebrows. Where a lipstick has been beautifully described by the author as “a bluish regal colour that says ‘stand back’ not ‘come hither’”, why do I need to know not just the brand but the specific shade from that well-known brand’s colour wheel?

That said above, I would highly recommend this novel and Foley continues to excite me with her work!

Many thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and Lucy Foley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

So many twists and turns within this story leaving you not sure who you can trust at any point. Absolutely hooked in from start to finish!

I was very excited about this book as I have enjoyed the author’s previous novels. What Foley does so well is create a brilliant atmosphere of suspense and I was drawn in from the beginning. I liked the plot and the various twists and turns however I struggled with the characters and I didn’t invest or care about any of them too much especially Jess. The ending felt slightly implausible and the back and forth was a touch confusing at times but overall a good murder-mystery type thriller.

Lucy Foley is a must buy author for me and The Paris Apartment was no exception to that rule!

Perfect thriller set in Paris full of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I loved the multiple POV narration and thought it kept the narrative really engaging.

I like this author and have enjoyed her other books! This one was equally as good, Based in Paris this book centred around an apartment block and its occupants! There were lots of characters, slightly confusing at first but it soon became clear! This is one of my favourite authors.

Lucy Foley is an auto-buy of an author. I look forward to her releases eagerly. Like many others I’m a huge fan of her turn to the psychological suspense genre. Glad to say The Paris Apartment is brilliant. Foley has done it again.
Jess arrives in Paris, desperate to leave her LONDON life behind her escaping the clutches of her creepy boss. She’s somehow stuck being a bartender at 28-year old. Her brother Ben is a journalist and living in a lush Parisian flat due to strings pulled by his university friend Nick. Jess arrived in Paris but her brother seems to have vanished...and she feels like the neighbours are hiding something.

This follows multiple POVs much like Foley’s previous two thriller reads. It’s quite easy to distinguish between; I wasn’t confused at all. While there are red herrings and surprising reveals aplenty there were certain threads of the story that weren’t explained properly and I wished there’d been more closure for the rest of the characters. I think this is just the perfect escapist read. I was compelled and didn’t want to stop reading. Also I appreciate that Foley didn’t go into the pandemic and decided to keep this Covid-free. A corker of a novel.

Oh merde! Why did I start this on a Sunday??! 😩 I wish I had commenced this on Saturday cause once you start you can’t stop! 🤷🏻‍♀️ Lucy Foley has done it again 👏👏👏👏👏
Another multi-star cast in an incredibly atmospheric setting. This time Foley takes us to Paris, but this is not Parisian dream.
The prologue begins with Ben calling his sister. He regrets inviting her to his new flat, courtesy of his good friend Nick. Midway through his call there’s a knock on the door and Ben is hurt. Cut to a few hours later Jess turns up outside the flat building but her brother isn’t answering his phone. He seems to have disappeared. Looking for answers will lead to unravelling the secrets of Ben’s neighbours and they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to keep their secrets hidden.
The writing grips instantly. Chapters end on cliffhangers, and I was eager to turn the pages. I was hooked through and through, unable to put this down. I loved contemporary references to things like Emily In Paris. I loved the setting, Paris is stunningly evoked, but it's gritty here and dark. There’s reveals and surprising turns. A complete rollercoaster ride!

I liked the French setting of this book, but found it difficult to get into. Having different chapters narrated by different characters is an interesting way of telling the story. I have enjoyed other novels by Lucy Foley but this one didn’t really do it for me.

The Paris Apartment is a very exciting and thrilling novel with some good twists!

I would recommend this to anyone who loves thrillers that will leave you gasping

Such a different book from Lucy Foley's other ones. It took me a while to get into it, with its stories from different characters' viewpoints, but once I did I was there, in Paris, in the apartment and totally engrossed.

My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. However, I was amazed, given that Lucy Foley's previous books were on the reserve shelf of libraries for the whole of 2020/21, at the poor quality of the writing.

The characters were, despite the author giving their individual points of view, all written the same, with no presence or style to differentiate them from each other. But this was on a par with the writing in general, which was chock full of clichés. I chose this book in particular because it was set in Paris, but there was absolutely no Parisian atmosphere, except for the few usual landmarks (the Eiffel tower, the pyramid of the Louvre) thrown into the text to remind us that we were not in Milton Keynes; the author did, I suppose, manage to get in yet more clichés about Parisian women staying thin at 50 because they starve themselves, and we couldn't go without the good old quiche at the boulangerie...perhaps Foley has sadly never been to Paris or met a real French person.

The setting and hackneyed characters aside though, what really let this book down was the boring plot. I don't usually read thrillers, but Hallett's The Appeal or even Osman's Thursday Murder Club gave the reader a good ride, and if you are a lazy reader, like me, who prefers the characters to do the detecting, then both of these (particularly the former) at least kept one guessing and provided many twists, turns and red herrings.
The Paris Apartment, on the other hand, took around 175 pages (out of 400ish) to even partially get going, then there was another boring slog where not very much happened to the insubstantial characters, until the last 75-odd pages. And - I will not insert spoilers here, but really, the term is a misnomer in this case - the ultimate dénouement was both far-fetched and slightly ridiculous. Did it surprise me? Yes, it did, if only because I have not come across such an unrealistic ending outside of Disney films or children's fiction.

My rating is more like 2 and a half stars, rounded up to 3 because of the author's popularity. If you want something trite and easy to read, that will send you to sleep, then I guess there are worse books out there. And the cover is very striking...which just goes to prove the old adage.

A really excellent, twisty thriller set in an old and spookily beautiful apartment block with an eclectic mix of characters who show different sides to the reader as the story progresses.

As Jess tries to unravel the mystery of her brother's disappearance the narrator swaps between Jess herself, an exquisite Parisian wife, the brother's old college friend and a disturbed young woman. Meanwhile there is a also creepy concierge, a drunk and Ben's editor to add to the mix as events slowly unfold leading the reader down first one path and then another as more clues and connections come to light. A terrific read with a satisfying ending, possibly even better than Lucy Foley's previous books.

I've seen so many good reviews of Lucy Foley's work but, until now, I hadn't read any of her novels. When I saw her latest novel, The Paris Apartment on NetGalley I decided it was time to change that. Plus I love a novel set in Paris!

When Jess makes a last minute trip to Paris to stay with her brother, she finds his upscale apartment empty - with no sign of Ben! Jess takes it upon herself to find her journalist brother, starting by asking his neighbours if they have seen him.. As a reader, we soon realise that these neighbours have their own secrets, and perhaps know more than they are willing to say.

I found this book so atmospheric. It felt creepy, the old historic building gave me the chills. I felt this constant feeling of dread and anticipation as I raced through the pages hoping, like Jess, to figure out what on earth was going on!

So, obviously, I cannot compare this to Foley's other work but this is a twisty, dark novel. I enjoyed the twists and turns - some I suspected, others I definitely did not. It found it such a quick read, I couldn't stop turning the pages! I think I'm definitely going to have to check out more of Foley's work now.