After Jules loses her job, her boyfriend and her apartment on the same day--she moves out when she catches him having sex with someone else on the day she's laid off--she answers a Craigslist ad looking for an apartment sitter in Manhattan. She discovers during the interview it's not just any apartment, but one in the historic, elite Bartholomew building. There's always a years-long waiting list for its units, which have to-die-for views of Central Park. Jules can't believe she gets to be a temporary resident for three months, and receive $12,000 as compensation.
The Bartholomew's rich and famous residents don't roll out the welcome wagon, but Jules befriends another young sitter, Ingrid, who occupies the apartment directly below the one Jules is in. Then Ingrid disappears mysteriously in the middle of the night--after Jules hears a scream from her new friend's unit. Jules embarks on a search for her friend, and discovers the Bartholomew has a history of residents ending up dead.
Riley Sager dedicates Lock Every Door to creepmaster Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives), and that's a clue to what comes next: beware the sinister beneath the beautiful exterior. The building and its residents look good, but there's something off about them, causing a creeping sense of dread as Jules delves into the Bartholomew's dark secrets. Sager (Final Girls) strips her of resources and confidantes to ensure she is alone and vulnerable--even if she finds answers, who could she tell and where would she go? A red herring requires a coincidence to sell it, but this obsessive read invites readers in for spine-tingling fun. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd