A Spooky Season Book Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Spoiler review

Okay first off, I have to talk about the motive. I did not see the organ trafficking coming at all. It was perfectly foreshadowed. Riley Sager put the information, then he hid it by diverting the reader’s attention elsewhere.

 The maid that was killed had a few organs missing when they found her? Her employer had an affair with a Satan worshipper.

The many medical devices and equipment in the basement? Wait, that reminds Jules of her mother. Did she die of illness?

It was always a one two punch. He showed you the clue then fixed your attention on something else. It was genius. And the best thing is that everything was right there. All the inhabitants were old and of varying levels of sickness, her first elevator ride there everyone was assessing her because to them she was just a kidney and a liver. They payed Ingrid to cut her so they could do the necessary blood tests and so Nick could check her vitals_ although to be honest I really think finding a donor is more complicated than that_ everything was right in front of us the whole time. Heck, Greta and Leonard’s health issues were on full display for many moments throughout the book.

Speaking of Greta, she is definitely one of the most interesting characters of the book. I hate her for doing this but she did kind of help her escape so I don’t know how I really feel about her yet. I know nothing was said to this effect in the book but I get the feeling that she feels guilty for writing Heart Of A Dreamer. That’s why she snapped at Jules during their first meeting. She feels responsible for leading all these girls to their deaths because of how much they dreamed of living in the Bartholomew. Her book was partly responsible for this. But then again, her signed copies are something else. I get giving these girls your book. Some kind of final gift, a tiny piece of happiness for the world pain and torture they would enter, a way to somehow apologize in advance. But that phrase, ‘your youth brings me life’ that is just twisted and morbid on so many levels. She also reminds me a lot of that blind man from Get Out. I guess she’s a bit kinder but the truth is she still was ready to kill her to get a few more years to live.

A lot about this book reminds me of Get Out actually. The social commentary, for one thing, while get out dealt with racism, Lock Every Door deals with classism. How the rich are willing to crush the poor to get what they want. How they’re willing to justify it by saying that they have more to offer the world. It’s repulsive, really. Another thing in common with the movie is the constant sense of discomfort. How everything screams at you that you don’t belong here. The urgency to get out of there.

Nicholas is one of the very few things I guessed straight away. He was male, attractive and about the same age as our recently single straight female protagonist. So it was obvious that he was one of three: 1. A love interest, 2. A villain, or 3. The love interest who turns out to be the villain. He was the only one strong and capable enough to kill/kidnap and he was too charming, and let’s not forget about the door with the lock in his apartment. It was obvious he was a 3. I did doubt myself a bit when the text conversation happened and it was a while before the third act began. I thought it was a bit too early for the reveal. I didn’t realize this was just getting started.

His reasoning almost made me throw my device across the room. How some people are worthless and others are too important to die. I may or may not have cursed him very loudly when I read that part. The ending, his death though wasn’t exactly satisfying. The first part, at least. He saw her holding the kitchen knife. I don’t understand why he stepped forward anyways. I expected some more struggle. Maybe him throwing the knife across the room and her struggling to get it back. Maybe he had another syringe. But nothing. He literally just appeared, monologued for ten seconds, then got stabbed. I feel like this scene could have been a little longer and it would have been perfect. The way it is now, it’s a little underwhelming. The scene after that when he jumped off the roof was a bit more satisfying. It kind of made things come full circle, finishing the Ouroboros his great grandfather started. Although I would have loved for him to rot in jail, far away from all his luxury and wealth, it makes sense for it to end this way.

 And last but not least, let’s talk about Jules. I like Jules. I like her name and how it was used in the story, I like her determination and how she pieced everything (well almost everything) together, and I really like her motives. If she were anyone else, I would have thought it was ridiculous.  If it was someone else, I would have yelled at the book “You knew this woman for one day! Why are you dropping everything to go check on her?! Sure the scream was kind of concerning and the look she gave you was off, but you were halfway drunk, you could have imagined both.” But here’s the thing. Jules isn’t anyone. Jules already had one sister disappear because she and her parents didn’t notice fast enough. Jules has reason to worry and she has reason to act fast. The mere existence of Jane eliminates the need for suspension of disbelief (at least for this particular issue). She is gone and that still haunts Jules to this day. She knows the basics of searching for a missing person because of that. She is worried because of that. She found Ingrid because of that.

Something else I love about Jules is that she is not a stupid protagonist. Trusts easily? Yes. Bad liar? Definitely. But she isn’t stupid. She did her research, she pieced together a good chunk of the puzzle before they caught her, and she got out (almost) completely on her own.

I’m a bit disappointed that we don’t get to know what happened to Jane but I’m not really surprised. If they somehow linked her disappearance from her small town to the Bartholomew, it would have been very far-fetched not to mention too neat. I am holding out a secret hope that maybe riley sager will one day write a prequel about what happened. Or better yet, mention her in a new book. Have Jane be a former victim to a new villain or if she left willingly, find out why and see what happens to her now.

In conclusion, this is my new favorite thriller and the reason I ended up reading all of Rylie Sager’s published works.