A review by nat1577
The Apartment: A Horror Story (Blumhouse Books) by S. L. Grey
3.0
I had mixed feelings about this book. I was really excited about it when I read the blurb; I LOVE horror, and haunted house stories are always great in my opinion, so I was really looking forward to reading this.
It wasn't exactly what I expected though. I definitely loved the start of the book, and my favourite parts had to be their time in Paris - I thought it was creepy, and did a great job of building up suspense. The apartment, and the building the apartment was in, was like something straight out of a horror movie, and the author did a great job of setting up the atmosphere.
However, I feel like the story, once the main characters had arrived back home, just wasn't as good. It lost that creepy atmosphere that the Paris sections had had. I think maybe if they'd spent more time in the apartment itself, it would have improved the overall story.
This wouldn't have been a huge issue for me if the story hadn't left me with so many questions. The author did a great job of setting up heaps of mini-mysteries within the story, that had me desperate to know what they all meant, and how they connected to each other. One of my favourite out of these was the mystery of the Petits; and while this was somewhat dealt with by the end, there were still heaps of plot holes, and things that left you wondering, "well why was that even in there, and how does it connect to the rest of the story?"
I think that's what annoyed me the most, because I wanted to know the answer to these questions. I don't know if the author thought they'd been dealt with already, or that they weren't as important, but I didn't like the feeling that the story was unfinished once I had read the entirety of the novel.
Overall, I did enjoy this. Despite the issues I experienced with the story, it is a book worth reading, if only to enjoy it's creepier moments.
It wasn't exactly what I expected though. I definitely loved the start of the book, and my favourite parts had to be their time in Paris - I thought it was creepy, and did a great job of building up suspense. The apartment, and the building the apartment was in, was like something straight out of a horror movie, and the author did a great job of setting up the atmosphere.
However, I feel like the story, once the main characters had arrived back home, just wasn't as good. It lost that creepy atmosphere that the Paris sections had had. I think maybe if they'd spent more time in the apartment itself, it would have improved the overall story.
This wouldn't have been a huge issue for me if the story hadn't left me with so many questions. The author did a great job of setting up heaps of mini-mysteries within the story, that had me desperate to know what they all meant, and how they connected to each other. One of my favourite out of these was the mystery of the Petits; and while this was somewhat dealt with by the end, there were still heaps of plot holes, and things that left you wondering, "well why was that even in there, and how does it connect to the rest of the story?"
I think that's what annoyed me the most, because I wanted to know the answer to these questions. I don't know if the author thought they'd been dealt with already, or that they weren't as important, but I didn't like the feeling that the story was unfinished once I had read the entirety of the novel.
Overall, I did enjoy this. Despite the issues I experienced with the story, it is a book worth reading, if only to enjoy it's creepier moments.