Catherine (alternativelytitledbooks) - so very behind!'s Reviews > The Paris Apartment

Well, merde.

It really pains me to say that I read the majority of this book last month...let it sit for 3 WEEKS, with barely any pages left to read...and JUST NOW completed it.

Why, do you ask?

It all started for me when the book jumped the shark, not too far in...

Jess is in search of her brother Ben. He leaves her a message to meet him at his apartment, but when she arrives, he is introuvable. As she snoops around this gated community, she runs into an interesting cast of characters, from an old biddy concierge in an adjacent cottage, to a married couple with said marriage on the rocks, to a swoon-worthy hottie who used to be friends with Ben. As hours turn into days, Jess' suspicions rise, and it appears the building is more than stunning, historic Parisian architecture...and that this unique cast of characters may have more to do with Ben's mysterious disappearance than Jess could have even imagined. They ALL know him...but who was REALLY the last to see him...alive?

First off, Foley certainly did her research for this one...which I always appreciate. However, her research, aside from providing a fairly realistic dose of atmosphere, seemed to be focused on interjecting naughty French word after naughty French word, sort of like the kid giggling in the back of the classroom. I imagine this may have been far less annoying in an audio book, but constantly switching back and forth from French to English for the reader's sake when it didn't FEEL authentic just seemed like an opportunity to demonstrate Foley's 'research'. And I'll be honest, every time she used the word poutain all I could think about was poutine. Which is NOWHERE NEAR the same thing, but it certainly tripped me up plenty! 😂

And now, for the 'jump the shark' discussion for those who've already read this...

(view spoiler)[Early on, Foley made it pretty clear Jess needed a code to get into the complex, and essentially snuck in by watching another resident type it in, and then typing it in herself a few moments later. Okay, fine, makes sense. However...why on EARTH, when ALL of the residents had a very good reason to not want her to be there, would nobody change said code...or get the police (corrupt or not) to remove her for trespassing and just be done with it?

It would have been pretty simple for anyone to take a page from Joe Goldberg's book, grab Ben's cell phone, and head Jess off. I mean, that would have made the entire plot unravel, but since it was so easily unraveled, I think that's what bothered me most of all. I know Foley was trying to write a locked room mystery...and essentially, since Ben WAS in a locked room all along it WAS a locked room mystery...but in that case, it didn't seem like Jess was a necessary character at all. I kept hoping it would all make sense by the end, but I felt once everything had been revealed, I just felt the wind go out of my sails and I was simply disappointed by how everything played out.
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So yes, this is another Foley full of unlikable folks, although I had a lot more trouble getting into the POVs in this book than I did with Foley's Guest List, so who knows if the audio would have made that a more interesting experience. I mean, there's a character who wants to eat another character's body hair trimmings...so you've been warned. 🤢 As always, Foley's short chapters are appreciated, although in this one it was more of a "let's read 10 more pages because I know it won't take too long" rather than a "how fast can I finish this addictive page turner" type of feel, evidenced by the fact that I was so able to let this one sit and not really care when I got back to it. Something tells me that much like the other scenic reads I've had this year, an actual vacation to Paris would be a far more exciting use of my time. Or at the very least, I’ll take some French Fries...hold the poutine. 😉

3.5 stars