Read as part of CBR13Bingo: Home. The book takes place in an apartment complex where the protagonist is house sitting.
Riley Sager’s thing never seemed to be my thing. I tried Final Girls but quit after thirty pages because it gave me that airport bestseller page-ripper vibe. Nothing against those kinds of books but they’re not for me. I don’t fancy myself (hah!) as a high brow sophisticate when it comes to my reading tastes. But I usually enjoy stuff with more substance than what you get off the Bestseller Fiction rack at Barnes and Noble.
However, the good thing about CBR Bingo, in fact the reason why I like doing reading bingo games in the first place, is that it challenges me to read outside of my norms. I read the premise for this one and found it intriguing: a Rosemary’s Baby-style thriller set in a high end Central Park apartment complex. So I figured it was worth a shot.
Unquestionably, this is one of the best 3-star books I’ve ever read.
What I liked about it, and what I think makes it stand out from conventional thrillers, are two key things…
- Riley Sager does legit good with the class commentary that peppers the book. The perspective of the protagonist reads like someone who has really struggled with finances and housing anxiety. That makes it all the more relatable. I appreciate what he was trying to do.
- I saw a twist coming but I didn’t see *that* twist coming and I thought that was interesting and played up to the class commentary aspect.
I can’t give it more than 3 stars because it’s written that thrill-a-minute structure that annoys me, like the feeling you get when you finish eat a donut and regret it. Sager might be more competent than his contemporaries but it’s still unoriginal. Nevertheless, I like what he does with all the concepts here and clearly, I need to read more of his work.