Ever since I read Turn The Other Way by Stuart James I’ve been eagerly anticipating his latest crime thriller Apartment Six and it’s finally here! Was it worth the wait? It’s a ‘hell yes’ with bells on! Fans of the author will be thrilled to know Apartment Six has his trademark stamped through it, horror! From the off the reader experiences a strong feeling of fear and dread that only intensifies as the story progresses. Part domestic thriller, part crime thriller Apartment Six is a tale of manipulation, and coercion, and the darker side of human behaviour.
Poor Meagan hasn’t had the best of life’s, at five-years-old her mother was murdered by her abusive father, fast forward to the present and life is far from perfect as Meagan appears to be repeating history, she’s married into an abusive relationship, her life is a living hell as she faces a barrage of verbal and physical abuse on a daily basis. Then like a ray of sunshine Oliver enters her life, he’s the complete opposite of her husband, and they strike up a relationship, that begins innocently, but ends in murder. I found most of the characters beyond ‘unlikable’ now normally that can spoil the read for me, but thankfully this wasn’t the case here.
The story is told in the present with flashbacks to Meagan’s past, this is done carefully enough to compel rather than confuse the reader. It’s these chapters that explain the events that have shaped Meagan’s character, these chapters make for an uncomfortable read, but at the same time it’s these chapters that add weight to the simmering tension that’s bubbling away. Stuart James doesn’t do things by half, as we are privy to Meagan’s life we are only to aware of the domestic abuse she suffers, it was disconcerting to watch these scenes unfold, but it also goes along way to explaining some of her choices.
Apartment Six starts out as one of those ‘ok’ reads, but then the authors twisted and devious imagination comes into play, which completely threw me, the plot took a seriously twisted turn that I definitely didn’t see coming! I had so many niggling questions about Meagan’s story, but once I reached the ending everything became clear and I finished this book with a hugely satisfying sigh. Brilliantly written and so cleverly plotted, I ended up loving Apartment Six, its sinister, dark and seriously twisted, just how I like my books! Highly recommended.
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