Book Review – The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley – Intriguing Tale
Table of Contents
My Rating – 4 out of 5
Plot Summary (Storyline) – The Paris Apartment
In the follow up novel of the 2021 bestseller, The Guest List, Lucy Foley released The Paris Apartment this year (2022). And after the chilling atmosphere she’d created in The Guest List, I was eagerly looking forward to this. She does live upto the expectations, though this one at times seems to lose a little steam (only for a little bit though). The climax comes in a rush, with the surprise twist, well, comes as a surprise. Still, it’s an impressive read and tackles a disgusting societal malaise under the guise of a thriller. Many a book has already been written about it, but it still exists and still continues to be just as repulsive.
As the name suggests, this is centered around a Paris apartment in a tony section of town, and it’s four floors are luxurious and opulently decked out. Benjamin Daniels is a freelance journalist, aspiring author and also a product of the foster care system, but luckily got the best of it. Cambridge educated and posh accent acquired, he lands up in Paris, following a story. He lives on the third floor of this apartment, surrounded by other tenants and a creepy concierge, whose name is not revealed till the end of the novel! Ben has a half-sister, Jess, who didn’t get the best of the foster system and has ended up drifting around, without a steady job or life.
Escaping a bartending job in London (at a seedy bar), Jess tells Ben that she’s coming to Paris to stay with him. But when she arrives, Ben is nowhere to be found, with no information as to his whereabouts. Other people in his apartment are either hostile to Jess or give her the merry go-around. All Jess has is a voice message from Ben in which he tells her to come over, gives her the address and then the message abruptly ends! When Jess arrives, Ben’s wallet, keys, his Vespa and even his St. Christopher pendant are all there, but no sign of Ben. Even though the two of them had never been very close, Jess can’t give up.
Finding a business card in Ben’s wallet of somebody called Theo – who also seems to be a journalist- Jess contacts him but Theo is more interested in the story Ben was working on, rather than on finding Ben. When Jess approaches the police, they cold-shoulder her and don’t seem keen on finding or even trying to find Ben. As Jess starts interacting with the other residents of the apartment, she discovers that they all have something to hide and none of them are willing to genuinely help her. Soon, Jess starts fearing the worst for Ben and she starts stumbling upon more and more clues as to what Ben was working on, that could have led to his disappearance.
Conclusion – Book Review of The Paris Apartment
The other residents of the apartment are all characters that are well developed, with chapters dedicated to them in first person, but they all have their own agendas and other vital secrets to hide. Soon, it becomes clear to Jess that there is a deep, dark secret that is held within the confines of the apartment, and someone is not happy with her nosing around. It’s a classic tale of intrigue, where all characters seem to have their own motivations to have committed a crime, and all the reason to hide it from anybody looking for it.
The writing is vivid, the settings detailed, and the characters described in-depth. The plot is as twisty as her earlier novels, Lucy Foley excels in the complicated yet simple narrative. Though the main motive comes to the fore at the very end, the road to it has been successfully muddied to create that surprise in the reader’s mind. Little faults aside, this is another winner from Lucy Foley, so go ahead folks, pick up The Paris Apartment and get set to enjoy!
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