Review: APARTMENT 303, Kelli Hawkins

• 
  this edition made available on Libby as an e-book by my library system
  
• ISBN: 9781460763322
• ISBN-10: 1460763327
• Published: 8th March 2023
• Format: Paperback
• Number of Pages: 320
• Audience: General Adult
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Synopis (publisher)

Even a locked door can't keep you safe

Twenty-six-year-old Rory rarely leaves her apartment, though her little dog Buster keeps her company. Days are spent working for her aunt's PI business, and watching and imagining histories for the homeless men, the Dossers, across the road. At night she walks Buster on the roof, gazes at the stars and wonders.

The night before New Year's Eve, one of the Dossers is murdered, an incident which brings the world - police, new neighbours, her dark past and new possibilities - crashing through Rory's front door.

She thought she was keeping her fears at bay. But has her sanctuary turned into her prison? Or is it safer for everyone if Rory stays locked away? 

My Take

This is one of those books that takes you into a world that most of us are not familiar with. Rory rarely leaves her apartment unless it is in the company of her aunt or the driver that her aunt employs. She has OCD and constantly battles her compulsive disorders. Those on the downstairs desk in the foyer of Rory's apartment building are careful to look after her, and her food and household supplies are delivered by a trusted family.

She has a good life, well taken care of, work she enjoys, and she even makes friends with a young girl in the building.

But then things change. One of the dossers who sleeps in the park opposite the apartment building is murdered, and one of the doormen decides to retire.  Rory watches the dossers through binoculars and she sees the shape of a man that she thinks she recognises. It is of course someone from her past that she doesn't want to see. That puts her world into a spin.

This is a book that just keeps you reading. We find out that Rory is being manipulated in ways that she doesn't realise. 

Well worth reading.  Perhaps worth looking for other books by this author.

My rating: 4.5

About the author:
Kelli Hawkins writes reports for a private investigator, as well as working on novels for adults and children. She lives in Newcastle with her two teenagers. Over the years she’s travelled whenever possible and worked all kinds of jobs. Kelli’s been a political journalist, a graphic designer, a mystery shopper – even a staple remover. When she’s not writing she’s planning a holiday – or dreaming of one. Or reading, of course.

Kelli Hawkins writes across genres and has five books published by HarperCollins Australia. Three are psychological adult thrillers. Other People’s Houses was published in 2021, followed by All She Wants in 2022. Her latest, Apartment 303, was released in March 2023.