Jess needs to get out of Dodge (Dodge being London) and so she reaches out to her older half-brother Ben to see if she can come stay with him in Paris. But when she arrives in Paris, he’s not responding to her buzzing up to his flat, nor is he answering her calls. Jess is desperate because she’s broke, doesn’t speak the language, and doesn’t know anyone in Paris.

Lucy Foley’s novel The Paris Apartment has a similar structure to the only other Foley novel I’ve read The Guest List. In both novels, multiple characters have an opportunity to share their insight or, as is often the case, misdirect the reader. In The Paris Apartment, Jess encounters Sophie and her husband Jacques, the owners of the building who live in the penthouse. Then, there’s Nick, Ben’s university friend and the reason Ben was able to land such swanky digs. Mimi, an artist, lives with her roommate Camille; Antoine lives with his wife, Dominique, on the first floor. And then there’s the Concierge, an older woman who lives in a tiny cabin in the corner of the courtyard, tasked with keeping an eye on the building, and its inhabitants.

It becomes clear to Jess that these people are hiding something and her determination to find out what happened to Ben outweighs any fear she has for her safety. Ben is the only family she has and although a part of her resents his success (they share a mother, who died when they were quite young and both children were fostered out; Ben fared a little bit better than Jess and has had a more successful life), she also loves him.

There’s lots of misdirection and red herrings in Foley’s book and your level of enjoyment will depend on how much you care for Jess and finding out what exactly happened in the Paris apartment. The story is okay, albeit a little slow, particularly at the beginning. If you haven’t read a lot of this type of story before, this would be an okay place to start. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.