The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Publisher - HarperCollins

Publication date - 3rd March 2002

Rating - 5*

'The Paris Apartment' is Foley's best book by far! Welcome to 12 Rue des Amants, where tensions seeps through the cracks and mystery shimmers in the hallways. This book has all the hallmarks of a brilliant mystery and for once Agatha Christie won't be rolling in her grave with all the comparisons to her work. 'The Paris Apartment' takes all the classic crime plot points (grand house, locked room, superb complex characters) and brings it bang upto date!

When Jess calls her brother Ben staying she needs a place to stay, she flies out of England and crosses the Channel to live in a grand old apartment block in the middle of Paris. But when she arrives, she finds the apartment empty and Ben is missing. As an anglophile she struggles to make herself heard with the police and when she begins to ask her neighbours about Ben she suspects there is something very weird going on. Plus, does she really know Ben at all?

This book is all about the characters and the apartment block is its own character as well. I had the pleasure of staying in an apartment like this one in Paris and Foley's description is on point when it comes to this aspect! You know by now that in a Foley book that each character will be hiding their own secrets and this is certainly the case, Jess included. But that is part of the fun of reading her books, waiting for the big reveals and twist in the narrative. It helps to build up the tension. This isn't a face paced book though, it lingers on descriptions of the building and characters to paint a vivid image in the reader's mind. I can't really say much more as I don't want this to contain spoilers! I thoroughly was entertained when reading this book. Yes, Foley now has a definite type of book now but in this case it doesn't matter as it was a thrilling read!