The Apartment and Other K. L. Slater Books || Mini Reviews

I hadn’t heard of K. L. Slater before coming across a few of her books on Audible, and they were available for immediate use so I thought I’d take a chance and see what the books would be like.

While some of these books use very similar sub-plots, just with different characters and backstories, others stood out in their uniqueness and their twisty plot lines.

I listened to all of these books on Audible, thanks to their Plus Catalogue with multiples of free titles included with my membership. For this post though, I’d added information regarding the digital versions and their total of pages for each one.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book review: The Apartment and Other Books by K. L. Slater #bookreview #klslater #crimebooks #mysterybooks #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter
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The Apartment

Originally published: 2020

Format: E-book
Pages: 266

Plot from GoodReads:

It’s an opportunity she can’t refuse. The woman before her tried…

Freya Miller needs a miracle. In the fallout of her husband’s betrayal, she’s about to lose her family home, and with it the security she craves for her five-year-old daughter, Skye. Adrift and alone, she’s on the verge of despair until a chance meeting with the charismatic Dr Marsden changes everything. He’s seeking a new tenant for a shockingly affordable flat in a fashionable area of London.

Adder House sounds too good to be true… But Freya really can’t afford to be cynical, and Dr Marsden is adamant she and Skye will be a perfect fit with the other residents.

But Adder House has secrets. Even behind a locked front door, Freya feels as if she’s being watched: objects moving, unfamiliar smells, the blinking light of a concealed camera… and it’s not long before she begins to suspect that her dream home is hiding a nightmarish reality. Was it really chance that led her here—or something unthinkably dark?

As the truth about Adder House starts to unravel, can Freya and Skye get out—or will they be locked in forever?

Thoughts:

Pretty much from the very beginning, there were some red flags raised concerning some characters that I’m not exactly sure how Freya didn’t pick up on. Also, most times, when something seems too good to be true, and quite persistent about it – RUN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!

With everything going on, and with all the creepiness and weirdness experienced, I’m not entirely sure why Freya made the decisions she made other than the author then not having much of a book going if the character had a couple of extra brain cells to rely on. It could be the desperation of not having other options but surely safety would be your first priority in this specific situation.

The ending was a little bland and ended on a boring note. The writing wasn’t as gripping as I’d expect for a book tagged under the thriller genre, however I was hoping for the situation to make a bigger turn around than it did, and that was my main motivation to finish the book.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 3.73 on GoodReads. I gave it a 3.

The Mistake

Originally published: 2017

Format: E-book
Pages: 318

Plot from GoodReads:

You think you know the truth about the people you love.

But one discovery can change everything…

Eight-year-old Billy goes missing one day, out flying his kite with his sister Rose. Two days later, he is found dead.

Sixteen years on, Rose still blames herself for Billy’s death. How could she have failed to protect her little brother?

Rose has never fully recovered from the trauma, and one of the few people she trusts is her neighbour Ronnie, who she has known all her life. But one day Ronnie falls ill, and Rose goes next door to help him… and what she finds in his attic room turns her world upside down.

Rose thought she knew the truth about what happened to Billy. She thought she knew her neighbour. Now the only thing she knows is that she is in danger…

Thoughts:

The title of the book is purposely misleading yet perfect to help the two timelines roll out while the story is being told, with the past and present situations

The job opportunity set-up took me back to reading Me Before You, expect that book made my heart warm up while this one had a complete psycho running the show.

I don’t get why Rose continued to stay with Gareth, a dangerous and manipulative pig. I get it, people freeze up and stay victims to situations and people, but when it reaches your family and their safety, there’s got to be some sort of motivation to push through. Again, the multiple red flags were completely ignored (maybe a trope the author just invented and goes with?). Then the ignored warnings from others who suffer in the process of trying to help others. I just can’t deal.

It seems that the premise again depends on oblivious characters who start seeing certain signs but choose to ignore them to save them from further complications, which cause – you guessed it – further complications. *Face palming really hard right now*.

At some point, a couple actually, I was inwardly screaming at Rose the wake the hell up and get the hell out of there. The frustration in me was real but without all the ups and downs in the book, there would be no drama and not much of an interesting plot to follow.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 3.87 on GoodReads. I gave it a 4.

The Visitor

Originally published: 2018

Format: E-book
Pages: 332

Plot from GoodReads:

Everyone has a secret in their past.

Everyone pretends to be something they’re not.

But someone is always watching… and that someone is closer than you think.

Holly returns to her home town after some time away – she has been through something terrible and now she needs a safe haven in which to recover, and to plan the rest of her life. She finds a room in a quiet and leafy suburban street, in the home of Cora Barrett.

David lives next door to Cora Barrett and he sees everything that happens on Baker Crescent. David stays at home, and he watches: he likes to feel safe and he doesn’t like to leave the house. He wants to keep his friends and neighbours safe too. So he observes them, and he records every tiny detail of their lives, just in case the information is ever needed.

Both lonely and vulnerable, Holly and David gradually begin to strike up a friendship. But Holly can’t shake the feeling that someone from her past might have tracked her down. And David is always watching… But uncovering the secret that could save his new friend and neighbour could be the one thing that destroys him.

Thoughts:

This was to a slight extent a thriller but it didn’t turn out to be as creepy as I was hoping it would be. It did well with keeping you guessing what everyone’s secrets are but it all came down to an ending that was bland and not really plausible. David was creepy AF, I’ll give him that, but Holly was no angel either. The book is very character driven with a slow plot, but the characters could’ve used a little more work to have added to the suspense of the story. The only real thing that stood out to me in this book was the author’s ability to reveal secrets at just the right moments to keep the story going. Some of the directions the story was going seemed predictable and then it would just suddenly change direction, without the twisted surprise of a reveal. A few changes in the point of views helped get a better glimpse into the characters and what they were thinking and why they were doing the stuff they were doing. The glimpses into the past helped to create understanding in the present times of the story. The first half ‘read‘ differently to the second half of the book, and if it wasn’t for the audiobook I was using, I don’t think I would’ve finished this book.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 3.77 on GoodReads. I gave it a 3.

The Marriage

Originally published: 2021

Format: E-book
Pages: 256

Plot from GoodReads:

Ten years ago he killed my son. Today I married him.

Ten years ago my darling son Jesse was murdered and our perfect family was destroyed. My strong, handsome boy, so full of life, became a memory, a photo I carried with me everywhere.

But today I’m finally close to finding happiness again. My ash-blonde hair has been curled into ringlets. Carefully placed white flowers frame my delicate features. The small, drab chapel has been prettied up with white satin, and there are tiny red hearts scattered on the small table where I will soon sign the register with my new husband.

The man who killed my son.

My friends and family can’t understand it. My neighbours whisper in the street whenever I walk past. How can I love a man like Tom?

They don’t really know me at all…

Thoughts:

I so enjoyed this book! You can pick up from the blurb that is a pretty twisted book with some questionable things going on, but once you start getting into it, you realise that that is just the tip of the iceberg – there are so many more twisted things going on. All the characters seem to be dodgy in some way and it’s a guessing game to figure out who is hiding what secrets and what are the reasons behind their motives. There was a point in the book that I had a good idea what the big reveal would be but I was only a little bit wrong. My guess was good but the reveal was so much better because of how twisted things really got.

The characters were all well written and interesting in their own unique ways and while I give them that praise, I didn’t trust a single one of them until I knew what was going on in the plot.

This is one of my favourite books from the author, and it’s my book of the month for December 2022 because I couldn’t get over how complicated this story got and it all unravelled in the end to make perfect sense.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 3.93 on GoodReads. I gave it a 5.

The Widow

Originally published: 2021

Format: E-book
Pages: 382

Plot from GoodReads:

My husband was not a monster. No matter what they say…

The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. He was devoted to me and our six-year-old daughter. But they’d connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village.

Now I stand at Michael’s funeral, clutching my little girl’s hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to all our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth.

But none of them can read the secrets in my heart, or know about the phone I found hidden in his toolbox…

I’m determined that my daughter will not remember her father as a monster. I will erase any hint of wrongdoing in this house whatever the cost.

Because to keep my daughter safe, the last thing I need is for people to start looking at me…

Thoughts:

Another book that I really enjoyed from the author with twists and turns to keep you guessing.

While it had a medium pace, the characters were interesting and the story just kept going deeper into the past and digging up secrets that left you doubting a few things about certain characters. While the plot was pushing towards the most obvious conclusion, I decided to overlook that detail because that would just be too convenient and wouldn’t make for much on a story.

The ending was just brilliantly written and gave you a good high from the rollercoaster the author put you on and said, “hold on tight”.