Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Hello everyone.

Have you ever really looked at your house? Really looked?  Several years ago we had a house built. It was a wonderful, but stressful experience. Once completed, we discovered a few feet "missing" from the interior. We finally decided that the missing space was an area that heat and air ducts ran from the first floor, through the second, to the attic.

Our current house is an early 1900's craftsman, a Sears house. Shortly after moving in, the previous owner came to the door and wanted to know if we found the secret room and met the ghost. Having lived in a haunted house I can tell you this house has no ghosts. The owner swears his wife was constantly losing her keys saying a ghost was moving them. Frankly, I think she just forgot where she put her keys. When your house is haunted, you know it. Someday I'll tell you about it. What the old owner was talking about was that there is stained glass in several places on our house. On the second floor there are two stained glass windows on the outside but only one on the inside. One window is in a walk-in closet in a guest room, the other in the master bedroom. Only the master has no such window. For some unknown reason it was long ago walled in on the interior. I'm guessing because it was difficult to decorate around. Our bedroom has double divided glass pocket doors, five windows, a fireplace, a radiator, and closet along with the entry door. Not many good places to put any furniture. I imagine putting a wall over the stained glass was done to have a section of plain wall. Old buildings were built differently, they seem to have a lot more nooks and crannies. Now that you want an English muffin, let's talk about a book.

I recently read Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. I finished this book in one day, something I (the admitted slow reader) have never done before, and we are talking 360+ pages. This is the story of a young woman who lost her boyfriend, job and place to live all at once. She has found a great offer that helps with her situation, apartment sitting. Not only does she now have somewhere to live for the next three months but a great paycheck as well. In addition, this apartment is in an old building in NYC that she has been interested in for years and is the pinnacle of plushness. Because of the noteable people living in the building, the job comes with several rules like no visitors, no discussing the building on social media, and you must spend every night in the apartment. A bit odd, but not that unreasonable for rich people that want their privacy.

This book is a thriller through and through. It starts calmly, gaining the reader's curiosity, but as strange things begin happening it quickly builds to a page flipping frenzy. While the story progresses we are presented with several possible explanations for the events at the old privileged apartment building. Racing from one solution to the next until finally the reader is given a satisfying ending you'll never see coming.

This was my first Riley Sager, but certainly not my last. As soon as my eyes recover and my hands stop shaking I'll have to purchase his other two books. Now I know to clear my schedule and get the economy size eye drops!