A Frightened Ivy & A Great Book I Read
The fourth of July is over and hopefully so are the fireworks. Charlie had no problem with them, aside from an occasional bark when they were particularly loud. But Ivy was terrified.
Poor Ivy. She’s such a brave kitty and kills bugs for Charlie. But she met her match with the firecracker show going on not far away.
I watched her slink from room to room, body down close to the floor. Scared cat mode.
She’s fine today. Perky and back to her curious self.
I read a book the entire evening. It was a good one. Lock Every Door. It was hard to figure out what was going on till the very end. And I just love a great puzzle.
A young woman loses her job and comes home to find her boyfriend in bed with one of his co-workers. She leaves but has nowhere to go and little money.
Jules is temporarily sleeping on her best friend’s couch, but needs to find her own place. She has no family really. Her parents died in a fire and her older sister has been missing for years.
Then she sees a rather discreet ad looking for an apartment sitter. When she gets to the correct address for the interview, she finds that it’s in a tony district in NYC. Possibly the fanciest and most well-known tower of apartments where only the affluent can afford to reside.
The job is fairly straightforward. Live in the apartment for three months while relatives overseas straighten out the will concerning the recently deceased owner. All Jules has to do is keep the place clean, have no visitors over and never be gone overnight.
The pay: An eye-popping $1000 a week.
As soon as she moves in, peculiar things begin to happen. Strange sounds she can’t account for.
Jules meets one of the other four apartment sitters right away and they decide to meet in the park for lunch every day.
Except the next day Ingrid doesn’t show. And the whole thing had been her idea.
Jules is worried about her and starts asking around. Ingrid isn’t answering her phone or responding to texts. The manager who hired them both said that Ingrid just left in the middle of the night without notice.
What Jules eventually figures out is that everyone who is hired for these apartment sitter jobs, usually 3-4 at any given time, have virtually no family. In other words, no one will miss them.
I won’t tell you the rest in case you want to read the book. It kept me spellbound all evening till I finished it. It was that good.
Now I want to read the author’s other two books.
“Lock Every Door” was published on July 2 to great acclaim. Here is the link:
Parade, “The Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2019 ” and “The Best Beach Reads of Summer 2019”
Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer.
Our cat, Baby, went to hide in my sons closet. She did not appreciate the fireworks, and neither did I. Hope Charlie is doing a little better.
The Fourth of July is my least favorite holiday. I like big firework displays but here in SC it is legal to buy them so many shoot them off. This goes on for several days and without fail you see all kind of notices about lost animals. The emergency rooms get full of eye and hand injuries and so the festivities go. Not much of a holiday if you ask me. My cats fared pretty well through it but my past dog was terrified by them and I used to have to hold her even while she wore her thunder shirt. It was a great help but if I was home she was in my lap… all 59 pounds of Boxer/ Labrador. I miss her terribly now two years later. She was a lost dog who found me and what a great gift she was. We’ve been having torrential fierce rain storms that have stopped some of the fireworks but that just means though that they will linger on throughout the weekend. I just finished reading “ The Taster” which was about a German girl who had to taste the food before Hitler ate to ward off his being poisoned. An interesting read. It’s muggy here now in SC and feels like a jungle. I’m already looking forward to autumn and just trying to stay cool. This rain though will green up the lawns and bring relief to my hostas. Hope your week is restful and your potted plants improve now that you’ve tried to give them shade and relief from the sun.
There were so many fireworks in our neighborhood that the air was hazy from them. In fact, on the news they showed a picture of all of the firework smoke from neighborhood people, community displays, and the big show down at the Arch. There was a big layer of smoke laying over the city and suburbs. Smoke bothers my asthma, so I have to stay out of it now days. I think the fireworks become an annoyance when they go on night after night until 2 or 3 in the morning, They are extremely loud, and they are being shot off late when others have to work the following day. The fireworks now are nothing like we used to shoot off as kids. The ones now are huge, and very loud, and very bright. I don’t think some of them are safe for amateurs. I don’t know how people get them. Fuzzy was never bothered by them, but was always aware of them. Now since he is deaf he only notices them if they are bright and he sees the flash outside the window.
Poor Ivy I totally understand . About 11 years ago someone shot my cat . He used to be an outside cat super friendly to everyone . Everyone wanted to know how I made him so friendly , it was just his personality. Now he’s a house cat afraid of every loud noise . He hides when anyone comes . Shooting him once in the hock wasn’t enough , they also grazed his tail . I think the hock is the equivalent of our ankle.
Oh, poor Ivy. And brave Charlie! I used to like watching _ireworks, but haven’t been recently. (Trying to use only words without that sixth letter in the alphabet! Annoying!) I read how expensive they are to acquire and I tho’t it was so extravagant when townships/cities could put the money toward more needed things. I guess that’s a rather curmudgionly way to think, as it is such a tradition to have them. Still, I can’t help thinking the money could be spent more wisely. There weren’t any close to me last night but I heard the ones several miles away _or quite a while last night.
The book sounds riveting–and a little nerve-wracking! I might have to get it, though, because I am curious about how it turns out just because o_ your post!
Oh, poor Ivy. And brave Charlie! I used to like watching _ireworks, but haven’t been recently. (Trying to use only words without e__! Annoying!) I read how expensive they are to acquire and I tho’t it was so extravagant when townships/cities could put the money toward more needed things. I guess that’s a rather curmudgionly way to think, as it is such a tradition to have them. Still, I can’t help thinking the money could be spent more wisely. There weren’t any close to me last night but I heard the ones several miles away _or quite a while last night.
The book sounds riveting–and a little nerve-wracking! I might have to get it, though, because I am curious about how it turns out just because o_ your post!
We really had a noisy day here. Our cat doesn’t mind it, but we have had her many years and she knows it goes away. We have booms way after midnight June through July and the cat just lays in between us and snoozes. I think she will sleep very late today. Ivy will learn about the noise and settle down. Cats are smarter than humans.
My cats were terrified last night with the fireworks, too. I kept the fans in the house on high to try and block some of the noise. Monkey is the worst with being so afraid with loud noises. He hates thunderstorms, too. Poor little fur babies.
Have a good weekend, Brenda!
Bless Ivy’s heart. We live in an unincorporated area and there are no limits on fireworks. Our cats were frightened but are back to business as usual.
Hi Brenda. That book sounds intriguing! That reminds me, my sister recently gave me the names of some books she’s read, and now I have to find the scrap of paper with the book titles! I’ll have to check the pockets of my shorts.
I used to like a nice fireworks display, but now people shoot off fireworks in their yards and driveways and we hate it. One year we took a drive to a state park and missed all the noise by coming home quite late. We went for a drive yesterday but came home in the early evening because my husband had to go to work today and needed to get to bed at the usual time. Well, so much for getting to sleep! The noise curfew is 11 pm, but we were awakened at 11:40 pm by a gigantic boom. Urgh, not good! There will still be some fireworks for the rest of the weekend, but it won’t be as bad as yesterday. I’m sorry that Ivy was afraid. Our cats just seemed pretty normal.
Poor Ivy!! My sweetie’s cat hides under his bed during thunderstorms or fireworks. Poor babies!! That book sounds great, and my library has it, so that’s a bonus!