"Lock Every Door" Takes Inspiration from Horror Classic "Rosemary's Baby"

Riley Sager’s first book, Final Girls, established his unique brand of horror-inspired psychological thrillers. As mentioned by thriller writer Ruth Ware in her book jacket endorsement, and Sager’s dedication to Ira Levin, Lock Every Door takes inspiration from Levin’s horror masterpiece, Rosemary’s Baby. As one of my favorite horror novels of all time, Sager sets a high bar for himself, channeling the quiet dread from Levin’s novel while delivering his own compelling premise.

Similar to his previous two novels, Lock Every Door follows the story of another millennial heroine in a precarious situation. Jules Larsen is broke and desperate, having lost her job and boyfriend on the same day. She’s a relatable character for anyone who’s struggled with financial instability, life direction, and feeling adrift in an uncertain world. Jules answers an ad to become an apartment sitter at the infamous Bartholomew, home to New York City’s celebrities and elite. The payment of $1000 a week just to watch an apartment seems too good to be true, and compared to staying on a friend’s couch, Jules eagerly accepts the offer.

“Because here’s the thing about being poor — most people don’t understand it unless they’ve been there themselves. They don’t know what a fragile balancing act it is to stay afloat and that if, God forbid, you momentarily slip underwater, how hard it is to resurface.”

But what’s the catch? All apartment sitters must follow a few simple rules: no visitors, she’s forbidden to talk to the residents, and she must stay in the apartment every night.

Early into her stay, Jules meets Ingrid, another apartment sitter. Grateful to connect with another kindred spirit, Ingrid shares what she’s learned about the Bartholomew’s dark past filled with generations of death and disappearances. The stories pique Jules’s interest and fuels her paranoia the longer she stays in the building. Soon after, Ingrid disappears without any notice.

While Jules tries to investigate Ingrid’s disappearance, she uncovers the Bartholomew’s secrets, only to find Ingrid wasn’t the first apartment sitter to vanish. And coincidentally, she also meets a friendly doctor who lives next door who might have some answers. Eventually, Jules comes closer to unmasking a sinister presence lurking amongst the longtime residents.

As with his previous work, Sager’s writing and storytelling will keep you glued to the pages. He opens the book with the aftermath, and backtracks six days earlier to the events leading up to the present. While not explicitly horrific, the suspense and foreboding atmosphere of the Bartholomew will fill the reader with slow burning dread. In line with the Gothic tradition, the Bartholomew and its macabre history comes alive as its own character. The architecture and decor— outfitted with gargoyles watching the entrance to spiral staircases, old-fashioned elevators, and dumbwaiters — contrasts with Jules’s low socioeconomic status. Her being an outsider in this closed, unwelcoming community serves as a critique to the potential emptiness, loneliness, and even darkness that comes with money, status and being born into economic privilege.

“The elevator resembles a birdcage. The tall, ornate kind — all thin bars and gilded exterior. I even think of birds as I step inside. Exotic and bright and lush. Everything I’m not.”

As with any great mystery or thriller, the story will keep you guessing. Like his other books, Sager will invite you to form your own interpretations and question your own perception as the Bartholomew’s stories hint the possibility of the supernatural. If you’ve read Rosemary’s Baby you might guess the ending, but Sager throws in his own twist while retaining Levin’s spirit. In the mystery and thriller genres, the author trying to be overly clever can make or break a book. Sager’s ending works if you’re able to suspend your disbelief, but it might come off as flaky for some readers. Despite that, the reveal works well enough and doesn’t detract from the rest of the story.

Overall, Sager delivers another riveting horror-inspired thriller that will keep you turning pages and make you eager to read all his work.

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