Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 266 pages
Published Date: April 28, 2020
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer 
Series: None
Rating: 3 out of 5

** spoiler alert ** Freya has been bounced around the foster care system her whole life. This has caused some major trust issues that she is trying to deal with. When her husband leaves her for one of her friends, Freya and her daughter, Skye, must sell their house and move to a more affordable place.

While looking for apartments on an ad board in her local coffee shop, she starts talking with a man, Dr. Marsden, who has an apartment that sounds perfect for her and Skye. Maybe too perfect. She cannot afford it, but Dr. Marsden tells her that she shouldn’t worry about the price, as they are looking for a tenant who is “just right”, not the money.

After Freya and Skye look at the apartment, they decided that this would be their new home. But after they move in strange things start to Freya. She hears cries coming from her daughter’s room when her daughter is at school; she hears sounds coming from the apartment next to her’s, but no one lives there. The other tenants seem a little off, as do Dr. Marsden and Audrey Marsden – the managers of the apartment complex. Is Freya going crazy or is something evil happening?

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. The POV changed for different parts of the story. This usually doesn’t bother me, but in this novel, it did. The prologue was in the third person; the main story was in first person, and then some parts were written like a Choose Your Own Adventure book (for no better way to explain).

The story of Freya is of a person who grew up in the foster care system. Her husband cheated on her; he moved out of their house with the women he cheated with, did not get a divorce, and then he died. All of this, for anyone, would have built significant trust issues, but not for Freya. She meets a stranger in the coffee shop who tells her of an apartment he has and that she shouldn’t worry about the price as they are looking for someone who is “just right”.

The other part of the trust issue Freya has is that she seems to trust the new people in her apartment complex more than she trusts the friends she has known for years and who her daughter calls Auntie. When strange things start to happen, Freya wants to tell her best friend, Brenna, but then pushes it down and goes on with her life. Not to mention anything that may concern her.

There also seems to be a disconnect concerning the time Freya lives in Adder House. From what I can tell, she has lived at Adder House for less than two months (maybe even less than one). They didn’t have most of their boxes unpacked. During this time, maybe four or five unusual things have happened, but nothing to drive someone crazy in such a short time. But for Freya, she is about to lose it.

As I was reading, I could feel Freya get more involved with the people around her, but it was too quick. The connections she made around Adder House (although she questioned them a lot), seemed rushed. The friends she knew, I felt she tossed aside too quickly. A true best friend would be there for you in thick and thin.

Then the ending seems rushed. Freya cannot find Skye. She starts to freak out. In doing so, she knocks the villain down three flights of stairs where the villain dies. Their lifeless body setting there and Freya still has not found Skye. But now Dr. Marsden starts to tell Freya about all that happened and why. This takes almost a whole chapter, but Freya is listening and not trying to find her daughter or make sure the villain is genuinely dead. She just listens to Dr. Marsden’s explanation of what happened. Then she wants to find Skye.

With all that said, I thought the book was okay, but parts of the story felt rushed.

DISCLAIMER: I received an advance copy of The Apartment from the publisher through NetGalley for the purposes of writing a review.

#The Apartment #NetGalley