This got on my radar fairly long ago thanks to a review by The Orangutan Librarian, but I never had the urge to read it till just before my trip to France. Unfortunately, it wasn’t immediately available. Fortunately, it became available while I was still in France 

The Paris Apartment starts when Jess impulsively makes her way to her brother Ben, a freelance journalist in Paris. Unfortunately, something bad has happened to Ben and his initial disappearance cannot be excused as him chasing after a story, especially not after what looks like bloodstains and what is definitely a suspicious voice note is found. As Jess digs deeper, however, she soon realised that danger may be closer than she realises. 

Whew! This story was thrilling and had so many twists and turns. While I think the main twist doesn’t stand up to scrutiny because it requires a character not to check something I would assume they would check (especially given their motivation & relationships). There is also another, smaller twist that I didn’t see coming, and which to me seemed unbelievable. However, in general, I was continually caught by surprise in the second half of the book. 

Which may be a good thing because Jess isn’t always the most sympathetic heroine – yes, she has a bad background but she also takes advantage of others even when she doesn’t need to. Her brother Ben sounds equally unlikeable – the more I heard about him, the more selfish he sounded. But what saves the two main characters is that Ben does have a soft spot for his half-sister, Jess, and Jess does have a good heart (especially for those who also have had a hard life). Since there was a convincing expression of their familial bond, I felt compelled to read on; I too, wanted Jess to find out what happened to her brother, even if I didn’t like her very much.