The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
I have read most of this authors books and this ranks up at the top with the rest. This book weaves a tale told from various viewpoints of the characters both past and present which made for a very interesting story! Once I started and really got involved with what was going on in the beautiful mansion with the families, it was very hard to put down! Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers for allowing me to read this ARC and give my honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this advanced reading copy for Kindle. This is the first book that I have read by Lisa Jewell. It was really compelling! It was disturbing enough that I read the second half of the book in one night - I couldn't sleep because I was so disturbed - so I figured I might as well finish the book. There were some interesting twists and turns along the way. Definitely a page turner!

Lisa Jewell has never disappointed me so I had high hopes going in, The Family Upstairs is a psychological family thriller and it is my favorite of Jewell’s yet.

This creepy, atmospheric thriller has multiple viewpoints with three main characters and a few different timelines. Having multiple characters in this story is exciting because we aren’t quite sure how they all link together and if they are all reliable narrators. Jewell does a brilliant job of giving our main characters richly developed and distinct voices, backgrounds and stories, I never got them mixed up or confused with who I was reading, which is something that can easily happen with multiple POVs.

The Family Upstairs had me on the edge of my seat, I stayed up late reading it until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It is eerie and creepy and full of twists I didn’t see coming and moments that make you want to triple check that you’ve locked your doors.

A tad more gothic than Jewell's usual fare, but will still be appealing to her fans. Just shy of supernatural, I also got a strong "Haunting of Hill House" vibe as well. It'll be interesting to see if she continues along those lines with future books. One quibble left me from completely loving the book: the budding psychopath/young gay man cliche. Completely unnecessary.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell is one of the most riveting thrillers I’ve read so far this year. What I love about Jewell’s novels is that she does such a tremendous job of creating tension, building suspense, and weaving in enough twists and turns to keep me guessing all the way to the big reveal. What especially drew me to The Family Upstairs was the promise of a domestic drama filled with dark family secrets and Jewell does not disappoint.

I was immediately immersed in the seemingly unrelated lives of her three main characters and couldn’t wait to see how Jewell ultimately brought them all together and had their lives intertwine. Twenty-five year old Libby Jones is one of the three main characters. When the novel opens, Libby has just unexpectedly inherited a mansion worth millions from her birth parents, who died when she was an infant. When Libby learns some of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths and what had been going on in the house prior to their deaths, including whisperings about a cult and about some missing children, she becomes determined to learn the truth about her parents and thus begins to investigate. Libby is a sweet, likable character and I completely understood why she wanted to know the truth about what happened to her parents. It has been a huge hole in her family history for 25 years now that needs to be filled.

In addition to Libby, the story also unfolds from the perspective of two other characters, Lucy and Henry, who on the surface, appear to have no connection whatsoever to Libby. When we meet Lucy, she is living on the streets with her two children. As we follow her, we start to learn more about her past and about how she has ended up in the desperate spot she finds herself in. When we meet Henry, he seems a little off, like he might be struggling with some sort of mental health issue. He spends much of his time dwelling on his own past and the fact that his parents fell victim to scammers and lost their (and by extension, his) fortune. As with Libby, I found myself completely invested in these character’s lives and desperately wanting to know how Libby, Lucy, and Henry would fit together by the end of the book.

I loved how Jewell kept me guessing throughout the story. Every time I thought I had established a connection or figured out an identity, she would throw a monkey wrench into my hypothesis and I’d have to rethink things. I also loved having the creepy house where people died and all of its surrounding mystery in the background as well. There was plenty of suspense and atmosphere and, at times, the story read as part psychological thriller, part domestic drama, with a side of horror thrown in.

If creepy houses, mysterious deaths and disappearances, and dark family secrets pique your curiosity, Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs is a must-read for you.

Jewell certainly knows how to amp up the creep factor. Told in three alternating voices (are they all reliable?) and in different timeframes, this book was unsettling and chilling. With a complex plot and a myriad of characters, this book was an edgy, fast moving story, that once started was quite difficult to put down.

The Family Upstairs is the latest thriller novel by Lisa Jewell, which means it's going to do an excellent job of creeping you out. This thriller will make you question the people you know, and think twice before trusting anybody too closely ever again.
It all started with one house. First, it was one family, being kind enough to invite a guest in until she was back on her feet. Then more came. Twenty-five years later, the mystery of what happened to all of the family members or children still hasn't been answered.

“She compromised on everything in the end to find a place that was close to her job and not too far from the train station. There was no gut instinct as she stepped across the threshold; her heart said nothing to her as the estate agent showed her around.”

The Family Upstairs was described as a 'bone-chilling thriller' and boy, did it live up to that description. I was on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out the mystery of this infamous house. There are so many disturbing elements that Lisa Jewell managed to weave into this single novel, it's almost too much to handle.
This novel is split into two timelines. One is set in the past, and slowly reveals what happened in the house in question – and right away began giving us an idea as to what happened to the teenagers within. And then there's the present, twenty-five years later, following the baby girl who was born inside the house – and left with dozens of questions.
The pacing seemed to wax and wane, with intense moments followed by a bit more of a lulling sense of security. It was an interesting combination and applied in such a way as to feel like there was always something set to happen shortly.
This is one of those thrillers where you'll find yourself trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle before the dramatic reveals and thus will prove your emotional connection to it. It was fun trying to figure it all out beforehand, and I actually think I did a pretty good job of anticipating the reveals; that can be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint.
The complex set of characters made for an electrifying story, with each and every one of them having a complicated history and reason for caring about the house – and everything that it represented. There are plenty of questions raised about the characters, though naturally some more than others.
I'll confess that this wasn't my favorite thriller out there, though I did enjoy it on the whole. It was fascinating and full of curiosities, not to mention dozens of questions about what happened. And thus it kept my interest throughout the novel.

"Socialite and husband dead in suicide pact,
Teenage children missing;
baby found alive."


› Orphaned at six months old, Libby is now twenty-five-years old when she learns about her inheritance, Chelsea House, an abandoned house in a rich neighbourhood of London. Libby learns that her parents were found dead, she had been left in her crib, her siblings gone. A journalist named Miller had spent years of his life researching Chelsea House and discovered there were other adults and children living there with Libby's family. After finding an article Miller wrote, Libby decides to track him down and he offers to help her uncover her family's deepest, darkest secrets.

"And all the time the truth jangled at her nerves, squeezed at her stomach muscles, played drums on her heart, taunted her in her dreams, sickened her when she awoke, and stopped her from sleeping when she closed her eyes at night."


› Likes
• Chelsea House is an atmospheric setting. Once filled with swords, beautiful chairs, a banquet table, tapestries, oil portraits, and books, it's been sitting abandoned for twenty-five-years. The Chelsea House of the 90s was a well-kept mansion with secrets stairs and bedrooms named after colours. Now the house is empty, covered in cobwebs, with strange messages left in weird places.
• With multiple points of view and a dual timeline, the reader is kept confused and guessing to the very end. The BIG SHOCK about 90% of the way in blew my mind.
• And the characters! Oh, how I love the characters who feel like they can step right off the page. Jewell has developed an amazing ability to write fantastic characters.
• I did feel a little confused for the first quarter as there is a larger cast, however, the little reveals and character development sucked me in. I could not put it down.
• Be warned - this is a dark tale with parental neglect, abuse, rape, and other violence.

› Final Thoughts
• The Family Upstairs is a somber, shocking, sharp must-read about a dysfunctional family's secret past. HIGHLY RECOMMEND! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lisa Jewell knows how to write a book that can be calling "unputdownable". The Family Upstairs is her latest and it's sure to hit every bestseller list.

A large home in a ritzy neighborhood. A family. A strange woman who comes to visit and never leaves. Another family moves in and slowly, very slowly takes over. Then...one day, three bodies are found and a baby is found in a playpen. Then baby is well fed, clean and happy, but no one knows how or why.

25ish years later, Libby opens a letter and starts unraveling the mystery of her life. She's known she was adopted, but her exact story is unknown, until now.

This is psychological suspense storytelling at its best.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

On her twenty fifth birthday, Libby Jones inherits what had been her family’s home. Except, she hasn’t lived in it since she was a baby when her parents and someone else living there died of apparent suicides and her two siblings went missing. With the help of an investigative journalist, Libby tries to unravel the mystery of her parents death as well as the unusual people who lived with the family those many years ago. As is a popular device in fiction today, the story is told from three points of view; two in the present and the third reflecting on past history.

Well written, I did not find the three separate narrators confusing at all. But, I didn’t love the book. It just seemed to “miss” and dragged somewhat. I found it a bit unbelievable, especially the coming together at the end.

This is the first book I have read by Lisa Jewell. While I wasn’t over the top about it, I would like to go back and read some of her prior works as well as definitely will try future novels.

Description: Libby, who was adopted when she was a baby, receives a letter on her 25th birthday informing her she has inherited a house from her birth parents. She is excited to finally know who she is and where she comes from, but she is not prepared for what she discovers.

What I Liked: .The Family Upstairs is the ultimate chilling, suspenseful read for the spooky season! The book is written from three different perspectives, which is not usually my favorite thing, but Jewell does this so well. I feel like the multiple perspectives are a big reason why I was able to finish this book so quickly. Two of the characters are in present day and another character is giving their account of what happened in the past. I loved the character development as we discovered more about Libby's family and what happened in her house.

What I Didn't Like: There was not a huge plot twist that left me shocked. There were a couple of reveals that had me gasping, but since the reveals were a 50/50 chance each time, I never felt overwhelmed by a twist. But to be honest, very few books ever leave me with this feeling. The only two that come to mind are Lock Every Door and Behind Her Eyes because I never saw the ending of those books coming!

Final Thoughts: I gave this book five chilling stars because the story kept me guessing and I could not put this book down! This story could easily happen in real life, and that made it even creepier to me. I would definitely go in to this story blind though. I feel like the full plot synopsis (I tried to keep my synopsis above as vague as possible) gives too much away and makes certain reveals very obvious.

Libby Jones has just turned 25 years old. She has been waiting her whole life for this moment. The letter has finally arrived that will reveal her true identity, her birth family. But this long awaited letter offers little more than inheritance instructions. It is shockingly more than she has ever imagined. A valuable mansion in the very posh neighborhood of Chelsea. When Libby was just an infant the police discovered her alone in this house. A seemingly cared for crying baby abandoned alongside three dead bodies. A note regarding the baby’s care and the seemingly peaceful bodies lying side by side suggests a suicide pact. The sparse food, little furnishings and handmade uniform clothing gives the impression of cult behavior. The police accept the scenario and close the case, reports written and quickly forgotten. The baby is adopted. The burning question is what happened to the other four children who lived in this house? Libby is convinced the answers are hidden within these walls and the mystery surrounding their disappearance. Lock the doors and leave on the light while you immerse yourself in this unputdownable chilling thriller.

This is a fascinating psychological family drama like no other I have ever read ! I was captivated and read this cover to cover . I loved the charcter development, the sublime twist and turns to the plot and the ever present captivating sequence of events that the author slowly revels. Very well done to the author I cannot wait to see what she write's of next ! Thank you to Net Galley and to the publisher for this opportunity to review. My review opinions are my own. Cross posted review across review platforms.

Libby Jones is a poor working girl struggling to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck in London. She dreams of a different life. I like her right away as she is quirky and refuses to fit in to society being her own person. When she finds out on the 25th Birthday she has inherited a huge house in a wealthy part of Chelsea she is shocked. She takes a friend with her to investigate and cannot believe her good fortune. She was adopted and does not know her relatives so this is a shock to her. She does not know at the time that the house is sinister and has a past that will expose itself to her over a well established series of events by people she has yet to meet that will be a great part of her life.

The author has constructed story told through three different points of view, It is a fascinating way to build this story and very well crafted by the author. The stories are told in the past and present reveling a shocking family secret by Libby's family long dead. She has a Brother Henry who tells his story as a child in the home when a stranger comes to stay and destroys their family. The devastating loss of his parents leaves Henry twisted and psychological damaged. He did not want to be a victim of the stranger so he escaped as a young child and his story grows from that point for the reader until a fascinating conclusion. Then we meet Lucy who is a Mother in France homeless and desperate to save her children by going to London after she kills her abusive ex husband. She has a close connection to Libby and the house which will be reveled.

This is quite a complex mysterious story that had me hooked from page one. I loved Libby as a charcter and her growth through the book make her very likable to the reader. When the author finally revels the family history of what truly happened in the Chelsea mansion it brings the charcters to fruition together to a new future. I loved it and highly recommend this fascinating read.

4.5 stars

This arc was provided to me for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Libby Jones has just turned twenty-five and inherited an old mansion from her birth family. While visiting the big old house, Libby decided to look more into its history so she can learn more about her birth family. With the help of an old friend and a new one, Libby begins to unravel the horrible history of the house and where she really came from.

One of the coolest aspects of this book is that it is told from three different perspectives, Libby, Lucy, and Henry. All points of view being from the present to the past, so we ultimately get the story from how it starts. And is bloody brilliant. I always enjoy a book when I get the see it come full circle like this.

While I enjoyed Henry’s past point of view the most, I did enjoy Libby’s as well. The only one that I wasn’t sold on at first was Lucy’s. Mainly because I had no idea what was happening and why we were following her story. But you know, plot twist... It eventually made sense. I don’t want to go into too much detail as I don’t want to spoil it. This is one of those books that you can’t really give anything away otherwise it ruins the entire story. So just take my word for it, read it.

If you like a good page-turner, then pick this one up. I am excited to read more from Lisa Jewell as this has to be one of my favorite thrillers to date!

Cults have been very popular lately. With the rise of true crime, I've learned more about cults from Jonestown to the Manson Family. Then there's Scientology (which is definitely a cult) and the NXIVM sex cult that imploded last year; cults have been weaved into a few of my favorite TV shows like Riverdale and General Hospital, so you could say they are very hot in the streets.

That being said... at its core, "The Family Upstairs" is about a cult. The family who originally lived at 16 Cheyne Walk allows themselves to get roped into a weird cult, run by a man, who takes over the home and basically holds everyone hostage. It's a really twisted, disgusting story and you're constantly rooting for something to break the cult apart.

Before we understand what's happening in the past with the 16 Cheyne Walk family, we meet Libby who inherits this gorgeous, huge home. It's the home where she was found as a baby, in her crib, with adults dead downstairs and no one else around.

That in itself was enough to grab my attention and I was soon down the rabbit hole, addicted to the story and trying to figure out what exactly happened.

It seems to be a must-have in writing these days to go back and forth between past and present. It's very hard to remember a time where this wasn't the norm. "The Family Upstairs" also used that writing device; it went back and forth between Libby's present POV and the past's Henry... later on, Lucy.

We see how their stories came to meet in the middle, how Henry handled his parents forcing him to join a cult and letting these strange people intertwine themselves into their lives. Henry's family lost everything and we see the slow, horrific process of it. Eventually, you begin to understand everything that happened, why it happened, and who exactly it happened to.

"The Family Upstairs" wasn't scary... it was just plain creepy. It gave me similar vibes to "The Roanoke Girls"... super weird, super creepy and very interesting.

The book was a bit slow to start and a little hard to follow, especially from Henry's point of view but once you understand what's happening, you become highly invested. It was a wild ride and one that you will love to be on.

If you love creepy, you will love "The Family Upstairs".

The Family Upstairs is told from three different points of view; Libby, Lucy, and Henry and in two different time periods. It may be a little confusing at first but it all starts to make sense and becomes easier to follow along with. ⁣
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Libby has turned 25 and just found out the identity of her birth parents and that she has inherited an old mansion worth millions. She gets curious and starts to investigate to try and find out more information on them and the circumstances of her adoption. What she finds out is unlike anything she could have ever imagined! What she doesn't know is that there are others who have been waiting for this day to arrive as well. So what really happened in that mansion 25 years ago and what do these people want with Libby? I suggest you pick up this dark, twisted, yet amazing book on November 5th to find out!⁣
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Thank you @atriabooks and @netgalley for the gifted e-arc.⁣

Crazy cult family, missing children, unknown legacies all make for a nice solid thriller! I loved Ms. Jewell's multiple points of view. Frequently it gets confusing and overwhelming, but she did it in a very clean and easily followable manner. Though, I would have preferred if two of the main characters didn't have such similar names. I do not understand this trend! 26 letters in the alphabet. Please use them all! The one struggle with the story was how drawn out the whole thing felt. I think this is partially due to trying to tell the story of the past as well as the current story of the main characters. I am not sure how better this could have been accomplished, but several times I felt myself wishing it would get on already. So, be a bit more patient than me and enjoy a really well thought out story!

Wow....this story is completely disturbing, creepy and wonderfully suspenseful! On her 25th birthday, Libby Jones inherits a house in very posh part of London. The mansion is run down and has a sinister reputation. Libby, adopted as a baby, just wants to know her past.....but she discovers that dredging up the past isn't always a good thing. Sometimes you discover....darkness.

This book jumps from past to present, juggles POV and involves several different story lines all interwoven together. Usually all that jumping around pulls me out of a story....but this tale is so dark and strange, that it all just pulled me further in. At first I was a bit confused, but as more and more of the details unfolded, the full picture of events came into focus. Yikes! Double Yikes! I can't imagine what it would be like to be adopted and wonder about your birth parents your entire life.....only to discover really terrible things. How devastating! It made for a great psychological thriller!

Great story! Very psychological. Lots of suspense and dark weirdness. This is the first book by Lisa Jewell that I've read. I'm definitely going to read more!!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Atria Books via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Lisa Jewell is back with another fun, fast-paced thriller! Jewell does a great job mixing in the past and present storylines, with plenty of mysteries and questions to discover! Jewell makes you think you know what is happening, but then pulls the rug out from under you and proves your assumptions were wrong. The ending left me wanting more....

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a great thriller!! I feel like it is definitely a slow burn. From the beginning you want to know who these characters are and how they relate to each other. Libby learns she inherits a mansion from her real birth parents and you begin to find out the mystery surrounding their death. I love Jewell and this one did not disappoint. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.