Apartment 303 by Kelli Hawkins

Publication Date: 8/3/2023

‘The apartment building is much fancier than I expected.’

Twenty-six-year-old Rory rarely leaves the safety of her third-floor apartment. She is hypervigilant and relies on her routines and rituals to keep her safe. During the day, Rory works for her aunt’s private investigation business. Rory is a wizard with technology. At night, she walks on the roof of her apartment block with her little dog, Buster. She feels safe, mostly, but wonders about the world she is missing. Across the road, Rory can see the homeless men who doss down there. She imagines histories for them.

Then one night, Rory’s carefully curated world crashes around her. One of the homeless men is murdered. Because of the murder, Rory comes to know first one and then two of her neighbours. But there are dangers as well: some from completely unexpected sources.

Once I picked this novel up, I found it difficult to put down. While I could empathise with Rory’s fears, twists in the story kept altering my thoughts about who Rory could trust. Some dangers (and people) were more obvious than others.

I enjoyed the suspense (mostly) and kept cheering for Rory. And yes, I did see the final twist before it hit me.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith