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Fans of Lucy Foley know to expect a novel about a small group of people, each with secrets they don't want the others in the group to discover—and one of the group will kill to keep his or her secret hidden. THE PARIS APARTMENT begins along those expected lines, and anyone looking for the usual Lucy Foley fare won't be disappointed—but they might be surprised.
Set in an apartment building in Paris, the plot follows Jess's search for her missing half-brother. Ben is a journalist hoping to break into serious investigative reporting, and, after recently having moved into a very ritzy apartment, he seems to have stumbled upon what might be his big break. The posh address doesn't surprise down-and-out Jess when she arrives. Ben has always been one able to charm his way into and/or out of situations to suit himself and his ambitions. What does surprise her is that Ben is nowhere to be found when Jess arrives, in spite of having talked to her just hours beforehand and assured her that, while her timing wasn't great, she was welcome to stay with him. As Jess begins her search, she meets the other residents of the apartment building, each living on a separate floor. The narrative moves from one resident to another, offering differing perspectives of the events as they unfold, giving Foley a neat way to both reveal and obscure information (as a side note, Foley does not play fair a couple of times in an irritating manner, but mostly the shifting-perspective method works well). Before long Jess realizes she's digging into secrets that the other residents would rather keep concealed, and that by doing so, she's endangering her own life. Making it worse, her instincts strongly suggest that Ben has already lost his.
Full of unexpected events, clever twists, and only a few marginally unbelievable coincidences, the novel explores human motivation and an underground Parisian world most tourists never see or even suspect. Foley's skill as a novelist is particularly evident in the neatly devised solution that wraps everything up. Even more illustrative of her skill is the way she keeps the reader interested in the predominantly unlikeable characters who drive the plot. All the characters have complicated back stories that give them quite a bit of depth and richness, but almost all of them are off-putting in one way or another, and at one point, the novel seems to take a turn that almost made this reader put it down and refuse to read further, suspecting the entrance of vampires (the fear was unfounded; the only vampire who makes an appearance is a guest at a Halloween party). Nevertheless, the action and intrigue keep the pages turning, and the intricately woven (and interwoven) plot is satisfying. By the end, some of the characters are even somewhat redeemed. One reviewer noted that this is Foley's best novel yet, and its inventiveness, quick pace, and deeply drawn characters support that judgement, making this a good introduction to Foley that will also keep her established fans happy.
§ Meredith Frazier, a writer with a background in English literature, lives in Dallas, Texas
Reviewed by Meredith Frazier, December 2021
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