Meera Nair posted: " Ben and Jess are half-siblings. They don't have the closest bond, but when Jess rings up him, asking to crash at his place in Paris, he hesitatingly agrees. Only that when Jess arrives at his house a few hours later, there's no sign of Ben. And suspi" The Life Stories
Ben and Jess are half-siblings. They don't have the closest bond, but when Jess rings up him, asking to crash at his place in Paris, he hesitatingly agrees.
Only that when Jess arrives at his house a few hours later, there's no sign of Ben. And suspiciously, none of his neighbours seems too fond of him or is interested in solving the mystery behind his disappearance.
This leaves Jess to figure out what has happened to her brother. A task that proves to be difficult when she knows no one in the country and has little resources to her name.
The novel starts with each chapter being written from a different character's perspective. There are about 5 of them, and it was quite a lot to wrap my head around in the beginning. But the more I got to know about how each of these characters is linked, the more intriguing the mystery became.
I have enjoyed Lucy Foley's previous works, such as The Guest List and The Hunting Party. So, of course, I picked this up as soon as it was released. I wasn't disappointed at all; in fact, The Paris Apartment might just be my favourite Lucy Foley book.
The way the apartment is explored added to my enjoyment of the novel. There's a lot more than what meets the eye.
Jess' character brought such potential. She is escaping her past life in London and looking to start anew in Paris. There's an air of suspense as the author repeatedly alludes to some incident that has happened in London.
That said, I felt like what she says and how she behaves doesn't add up. For one, she says she doesn't trust people but is quite gullible throughout the book. You'd think that a person who is "running" from her past would be a bit smarter and make logical decisions.
Somehow, while reading this book I kept being reminded of Lisa Jewell's The Family Upstairs even though the stories have nothing to do with each other.
Do keep in mind that there are quite a lot of phrases and dialogues in French. That's probably to be expected as a majority of the characters are native speakers.
You know how in a typical mystery novel everyone seems to have a secret? And how many times that's just a decoy the author uses to make the plot appear complex? In this case, each of their storylines involves significant backstories that connect to not only Ben's presence in Paris but also what has happened to him.
I wasn't a fan of how Mimi kept judging Camile for her choices and slut-shaming her at every instance. Come to think of it, the characters in this book aren't likeable. The only reason I kept reading was because of the atmosphere and the mystery plot.
The revelation at the end surprised me as it was far beyond the realms of what I was anticipating.
On the whole, The Paris Apartment is definitely worth the read! I can't wait to pick up Lucy Foley's future works.
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