The Paris Apartment: Twists and Reveals, Ending Explained (Spoilers)
Let’s talk spoilers for The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley.
Welcome to the spoiler discussion for The Paris Apartment! If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review, check out mine here. For book clubs looking for discussion questions, you can find that here.
As I mentioned in my above content, I thought The Paris Apartment as ok overall. I enjoyed her previous novels (The Hunting Party and The Guest List) so I was a bit let down by this one, to be honest. I felt it was missing the strong character development of her past novels.
First, a quick synopsis: Jess leaves behind London and arrives in Paris in hopes of a new start. She plans to stay with her half-brother, Ben, but he’s nowhere to be found. The other tenants of his posh apartment aren’t revealing anything. But soon all secrets will be revealed.
The Big Reveal
OK, spoilers, here on out! Reminder, if you haven’t read the novel yet, come back here after you finish it.
Unlike most mysteries, where we wait for the big reveal until the climax or even the very end—we learn fairly early on that the other people living in Ben’s apartment (Sophie, Mimi, Nick and Antoine) aren’t just random tenets but they’re actually a family and this is their house. Sophie, married to Jacques, is stepmother to Nick and Antoine, and Mimi is her daughter.
I was floored! I did not see that coming at all. Did you see that reveal? I thought it was interesting and surprising.
But it also left me with plenty of questions too. If Ben knew just exactly what type of business Jacques ran and how toxic he was—why did he want to stay at the apartment?
Characters
You also would think that Nick would have his suspicions about Ben knowing he’s a journalist, right? Or maybe he thought Ben did have feelings for him? Ben did seem to take advantage of Nick’s crush and use him for sure. It appears we were supposed to not trust Nick but also feel a bit sorry for him. While Jacques is an absolute horrible person and father, Nick just didn’t warrant much sympathy for me. Same with Mimi.
I honestly just didn’t care about any of the family members’ perspectives and was more engaged with Jess for sure (even though some of her actions were murky too).
Ben’s Story
We do get several hints that there is more to Jacques’ wine business. And it turns out it’s a front for a club that provides sex services from women of human trafficking. This is the subject of Ben’s article. As a result, he used all the family members, including having an affair with Sophie to learn more information. Also, I don’t think he cared about helping the women at the club, he just wanted a big story.
I actually would have liked more of Ben’s perspective from the past as he was working on the article. He’s so secretive and some his choices were bizarre. But maybe there wasn’t much to it—he was using everyone and anyone he could to finally have his big break in journalism.
The Ending
Mimi is also in love with Ben (everyone loves Ben!) and when she’s snooping his apartment, find out the the truth about her family—including the fact that her real mother was a sex worker there as well and died in child birth.
She’s horrified and upset and turns to Nick and reveals what Ben has been doing. Nick tells this to Jacques in hopes of finally getting some kind of father approval but Jacques seeks out to murder Ben instead. However, Mimi stops and kills Jacques instead. Honestly, I had a feeling something like this would happen regarding Jacques but I thought it would be Sophie no Mimi.
Anyway, Sophie sees what happened and covers up for Mimi. We had learned that Sophie had worked at the club and eventually married Jacques and tried to change her entire image. But he was a cruel and evil man and so she hated him and wasn’t too sad to see him gone. However, she did somewhat care for Ben, and decided to keep him alive but hidden.
Both Nick and Antoine thought they were burying Ben when in reality it was Jacques. Also, Antoine really sucked. Ugh.
Instead of some huge climax where everyone is fighting, Jess finds Ben alive but very injured. Eventually, Sophie lets them go so that Mimi can stay safe.
The story ends with Ben writing his big story but not including Sophie, Nick and Mimi in it.
Tell Me Your Thoughts
Honestly, I thought the most interesting reveal was that they were one big family! After that, I thought it was fairly predictable. I just did not care for the other characters and not that I loved Jess or Ben but I thought they were at least somewhat compelling.
I will say, I did appreciate it wasn’t some huge chase/fight at the end and that they actually kind of talked it over—Jess and Sophie. Sometimes these stories really go out there with the climax and it’s way too much. But in the end, not a lot really happened in this book and I do think it wasn’t a surprise Ben was still alive after all.
BTW, it’s so strange how several of the family members fell in love with Ben though but also absolutely hated him. Why did Sophie act like she hated him if she kept him alive? Same with Mimi’s reaction about Ben. And what were they planning to do with him? I don’t know if I missed that or it was never explained. Strange.
What do you think about the novel? Were you surprised by any of the scenes? Do you have any questions about the book you would like to see discussed? Let me know below!
About the Author
I agree With you entirely. The characters were not very well developed. I was curious about what happened to Dan but I really had no attachment to him and he actually seemed like a kind of lousy guy just out for himself. Also I don’t like the fact that Jess and Theo seem to start building a relationship and then Theo just sort of disappears from the story. What kept me going was the big reveal in the middle that the people are all family and so I thought maybe there was more to the story. I Also feel like the concierge was superfluous. All in all I guess it was a good light read but I was hoping for great from Foley.
@Diane goldenberg, Yes, the twist about the family was so interesting! But then, I just didn’t feel it really went anywhere. And completely agree regarding Dan, plus the relationship between Jess and Theo. The story felt rushed.
@Diane goldenberg,
At one point, I thought that Mimi was going to be the concierges’ daughter. I listened to this on tape so I figured I must’ve missed a pivotal moment but guess not.
@Heather,
Who is Dan? I don’t remember a character by that name…
@Melissa scheuermann, I’m thinking the exact same thing. I think she is the concierges daughter because she said that she followed her daughter to paris and is still here because her granddaughter is here. On the last page of the book, when jess is at the train station, she sees somebody familiar with a scarf or something on boarding a train to the south of france. This is where mimi ended up going after the ordeal so i’m just assuming she’s going to follow her.
@Aimee, same! I don’t remember a Dan
@Melissa scheuermann, the concierge was Mimi’s grandmother!
Who does Jess see on the train platform at the end of the book?
@Bernice Morris,
It was Sophie. It mentions her dog and her small stature and gait.
@Melissa scheuermann, It could have been the concierge though because didn’t it say (a few chapters before the end) that when Sophie went looking for the concierge, she had gone missing, along with some things from the apartment AND Benoit the dog? I assume the concierge grabbed some things to get money off of them and she went to go follow her grand daughter to the South of France ♥️ Because all she wanted was to be near her grand daughter.
@Alyssa,
Yes I also thought it was the concierge she saw.
Hello! I picked this as my book club choice because it was on the NY Times bestseller list! Now I am disappointed because I thought the book was a huge letdown regarding the lack of development among the characters and the ending that left everything a bit flat and unfulfilled. This may be due, in part, to the format the book took of having individual chapters devoted to a single character and the perception of the character’s narrative on the pieces of the plot development. It was never explained why the concierge was lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, nor what kind of fate she met. Did she live? I actually thought Sophie was going to turn out to be her daughter, rather than Mimi her granddaughter. By the way, didn’t anyone in his circle of business acquaintances even miss Jacques when he disappeared? I just thought the entire book and its characters were one depraved group! Not a redeeming quality amongst the lot of them!
Hello — I think the reason why Ben contacted his old friend and picked to live in that place, is because he WANTED to be near the story he was investigating. He knew about the gross underbelly of Nick’s family business, from when Nick told him about it in Amsterdam, and Nick wanted to expose that from the very beginning, to get his big writing break. This is why he chose to live there.
@Alyssa, Thanks for that explanation. I couldn’t figure out if Ben knew something was amiss before he came to Paris but it makes sense that he found out about the family business in Amsterdam. Jacques was the creepiest character, but Ben, in my opinion, comes in second based on the way he charmed everyone to get the inside scoop on the family’s secrets.
Alyssa, Bernice, Melissa…I thought it was the Concierge at the station! She wanted to stay near her grand daughter which had to be Mimi since her daughter died in childbirth at that club! So she follows her to the south of France What does not make sense, however, is why she would take Benoit …
Thanks for your review. I actually really liked the book and didn’t mind the lack of character development, but I would have also appreciated hearing more of Ben’s perspective on the article.
My question is, right before Ben was attacked he saw a figure running through the courtyard but I don’t believe it was ever revealed who it was. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Who is the woman with the scarf leaving Paris for Nice at the end of the novel.
Was it the concierge… who has realized that Mimi was her grand daughter??
Or Sophie just going to visit her daughter?
Confused on this
The Paris Apartment
Can you clear up my confusion? I thought Jess met Jacques, the father, in person when she came to the house. But he was killed at the same time that Ben was injured by him. So neither of them was around when Jess came to the house? One was buried and the other was hidden. Can you please email me the explanation?
A good mystery for young adult readers. Simple sentences and dialogue. Brings back memories of creative writing class in college.
Thanks for your spoiler review. I was half way through This book and just didn’t feel connected to it but wanted to know what happened. You saved this busy mama a few more hours of time! I wish this book had only been written from Jess’s perspective and unfolded in a different way. I think it would have been more engaging for me to follow that way.
@Cassie, thank you, same here!
I found this book to be a bit of a bore and painful to read. The characters were confusing and the ending seemed like the author got tired of the story, too, and just threw it up in the air and picked a killer. What a waste of time 🤦♀️