The Apartment by the S.L. Grey (which I think is actually a pen name for two people, IIRC) was disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, the premise sounds good. From Amazon:

Mark and Steph have a relatively happy family with their young daughter in sunny Cape Town until one day when armed men in balaclavas break in to their home. Left traumatized but physically unharmed, Mark and Steph are unable to return to normal and live in constant fear. When a friend suggests a restorative vacation abroad via a popular house swapping website, it sounds like the perfect plan. They find a genial, artistic couple with a charming apartment in Paris who would love to come to Cape Town. Mark and Steph can’t resist the idyllic, light-strewn pictures, and the promise of a romantic getaway. But once they arrive in Paris, they quickly realize that nothing is as advertised. When their perfect holiday takes a violent turn, the cracks in their marriage grow ever wider and dark secrets from Mark’s past begin to emerge.

Not as good as it sounds.

First, my entertainment curse continued: I figured out where the book was going pretty early on. I didn’t know exactly how it would get there, but it did. I won’t offer many spoilers here, in case you want to read the story. I didn’t find the ending great either. A haunting that travels? Please.

Second, I found the horror aspect of this story underdeveloped. There was not a lot of horror here. In fact, the book seemed a little bit confused about whether it wanted to be a ghost story or a psychological thriller. The mix made it fail a bit at both. It had some suspenseful moments, but overall…meh.

Third, I found Mark and Steph annoying, Mark infinitely more so. Steph was neurotic and paranoid and scared for her daughter, which is plenty annoying, but Mark just…ugh just brooding and whining and self-indulgent.

I will say there are literary references to Daphne du Maurier here. I don’t remember what they were at this point, but I remember thinking that I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

I won’t say that The Apartment is a complete waste of time, but I wouldn’t recommend it, either.

Tagged: authors: s.l. grey, books: the apartment, genre: horror/terror, genre: suspense/thriller