I am all for an unreliable narrator. Thank you so much for the review copy. This is a very solid debut novel.

I lost interest and don’t have the patience to force myself anymore. DNF at 15% lol Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy though.

The book begins when Sara Slade and her husband Joe Cosgrove buy a house where a murder and suicide occurred 40 yrs ago and the house has sat vacant ever since. Sarah hopes to restore the house and flip if for a nice profit while promoting herself on social media.
Sara is a therapist by day, and he is a bartender into the evening, However, their marriage is also in need of repair and Sarah also hopes that the project will help bring them back together. Sarah is having some issues at work and taking antidepressants (and mixing them with alcohol), while Joe sleeps on the couch. She sleeps in the bedroom where the murder and suicide occurred (which I found creepy), and at night, strange things begin to occur - she hears footsteps in the attic (above her bedroom), plus she finds a dead rat in the mailbox, she receives threatening notes, and the neighbors seem to resent her buying the house. As she tries to investigate the background of the house and the people who lived there, she uncovers more information than she expected, but she doesn't do anything about it.
The second part of the book seemed to try to present the elements of surprise and shock but I felt that it just emphasized how unstable the main character was. In this section, I learned of the issues that she has, her ugly past and how deceitful she was.
I rated this book at 3* because I felt that the characters were not well developed, the story was too dark and twisted and I felt that the plot was poorly executed. I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and the opinions expressed are my own.

I enjoyed the overall premise of this book, but it was way too drawn out. There were too many unnecessary plot points going on. The twists were numerous and hard to keep track of, and make sense of half the time, but I guess that is the point of major reveal. I did not like all the characters and I found the main character superficial at best.

I want to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group—Ballantine for an ARC of this book.

Sarah Slade and her husband Joe move into a run down, stinky scary “murder house” that they plan to flip for a great profit. All the other houses in the area go for a lot of money and they bought this house for a song. Sarah works as a therapist and has a best selling book. Profits from that are running dry and they need to make some money. Sarah thinks that using her fame from her book, she can document the house renovations and her followers will ultimately bring her success. However, things don’t go as planned, and before long it seems like this “murder house” has plans of its own.

I enjoy a good thriller and even a bit of horror now and again. This book seemed like it would be a good one and it started out pretty well. It’s certainly an easy read. However, Sarah, is not a very likable or believable protagonist. She makes one poor decision, after another, and I found myself wanting to shake her, as I read her story. Even the idea of taking this infamous house, renovating it and making a profit seemed silly from the start. People are leery of buying a house where someone died, let alone where people were murdered. The other characters in the story are generally people I didn’t like. Joe, the husband who very quickly disappears from the story, and when he is on the page is not particularly nice and doesn’t have much of a backbone. Sarah’s colleague, Emily, who seems nice enough but it’s hard to suss out her motives, and thus she is a bit hard to embrace, as are all the townspeople, who seem to dislike Sarah, just for existing.

I think the general idea for the book was a good one but it wasn’t quite carried out in a way that I could embrace or love it. That being said, it did keep my interest, as I wanted to see how the author tied it together in the end.

You might love this book, but it was not a slam dunk for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read the e-galley of this novel, in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC!
Wow, what a debut novel. It was so captivating and thrilling. What could possibly go wrong with buying a house where people were murdered in?? Well...read to find out.
The storyline is chilling and taking twists and turns. The protagonist while unlikable and with many dark secrets of her own is making the story interesting and she is portrayed in a perfect way to fit the house!
While the house is the main character, the people in the story play important roles too. The house's falling apart appears to be equal to Sarah's marriage crumbling down. The cat Reaper is very likeable opposite whar the shelter wrote about him but perfectly fitting Sarah's personality 😀
While the story seemed to stretch a little in the beginning, it all of a sudden became a whirlwind and so much happening at once. While I had a hunch of the ending, it still took me somewhat of a surprise. The ending almost leaves room for a sequel.
Thank you to the author sharing about her own struggles with mental illness at the end. I hope it will be helpful to others to seek and find the help they needed. It was very gut wrenching to hear about her struggles and very brave to talk about it so openly to everyone!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was alright. It was an entertaining read and kept me interested.

I read this book a few months ago and I’m taking the time to review it now, but I just found it forgettable. The spooky vibes were enough for me to continue reading it and I’d read this author again.

I feel like I’m being a bit generous with a 3 star and I know I’m definitely the odd ball here but oof. Sarah Slade with her secret past and moving into a murder house called Black Wood House that has its own secrets. It all starts so intriguing and I’m swallowing the chapters as fast as possible and then we get towards a little over half of the book and double tee eff. The intrigue is over and I run into crazy land where the crazy isn’t even the fun kind. The loops and twirls and turns the author took was not only seen coming but I was hoping I was wrong because it was over the top wrong. It was all so much but yet not enough. Nope just nope.

Unfortunately, this was just wasn’t for me. I just couldn’t like the main character- nor her friends, paramour/husband. Maybe it’s because there have been an influx of therapist books out at this time or maybe I didn’t feel the explanations plausible but just not for me.

Wow, wow, wow! What a great debut! I cannot wait to see what else Matlin is capable of! This was sooooooooo twisted and I just couldn't put it down! Every character was f*ucked up and I loved every moment of reading this book!!!! Please please please write more Lisa!!!

I expected a creepy, haunted house kind of story. This is not that kind of story.

What we have is an unlikable female main character. No, not even unlikable. Let’s go with despicable. She’s a horrible mess of sociopathic craziness.

And that’s what this book is about.

In fact, absolutely everyone in this story, with the exception of one minor character, is horrible. The likable one is unreasonably naive.

Once I got over my expectations, I was intrigued by all the secrets. For a while.

We experience so much ridiculous nonsense. I don’t do well when there’s not a single likable thing about anyone, and all we have are tons of stupid decisions or flat-out complacency. Ugh.

Then the ending made me mad.

So, not for me.

Hmmm. First, I think this book is marketed wrong when it shows HORROR as the first category - if you go in like I did expecting a creepy, haunted house book, you may be disappointed.

Second - can we take a second though to talk about how awesome this cover is? This cover alone made me want to pick the book up!

The Stranger Upstairs was more of a domestic thriller - and unfortunately kind of a forgettable one. We have an unreliable narrator, social media, a community who may or may not be causing trouble, a lot of plot lines (some that really never get explained or brought up again) and then and now and later time jumps (which did help keep me intrigued enough to keep reading since I wanted to know the details of what actually happened with what I learned in the later time jumps), and a "twist" that left me a tad disappointed.

This was not a bad book, it was entertaining and kept my interest enough that I wanted to see how it all wrapped up. But it just didn't stand out enough in a year where I read a lot of memorable thrillers. It's a quick read and I would recommend the print versus the audio - I ended up listening to some of it on audio and the audio narrators "creeks" started to make me laugh after awhile and took away from the atmosphere that I believe the author was trying to create.

Overall - entertaining, but forgettable and not the book I was hoping for.

2 stars!

This book was an absolute dumpster fire. To its credit, I did read it very fast and in one sitting, but the plot made no sense and I hated every single character. I don't mind occasionally suspending my belief with a book, but this was doing too much. Finally, the horror aspect did not even work for me and I found the final twist/reveal/ending underwhelming.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🔨🔨🔨🔨 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was a great debut! I was hooked from the beginning due to the unique writing style as well as the unique spin on a typical haunted house story. I enjoyed the horror and gothic elements and appreciated the spotlight on mental health. Be sure to stick around to read the author’s note—she explains how this book came to be and why it’s so important to her. Though I felt like there were some loose ends, this might just be a preference thing. I’d absolutely recommend this book!

I had a hard time following this story and the characters. While at some points the writing was compelling, at times it felt like there was too much going on for me to be invested in a character or plot line.

I was not expecting this one to be as spooky as it was and I have to admit it had me quite scared at times! I was definitely engaged in the story because I needed to know what was going to happen next, which is always the mark of a good thriller. Unfortunately, the concept of buying a house that ends up being this creepy is a little too much for me!

I really love the cover of this book it is so pretty. The colors are beautiful it's one of the reasons I wanted to read it but also I have been trying to read more thrillers lately and this looked good.
I liked that is was set in Australia as I don't read many books set there. This book did start out a little slow for me. I was a little confused about what was going on. Damn the last 25% was really good and I was definitely not expecting the twist.
If you like thrillers I think you will definitely like this one.

Reading Between the Wines book review #139/115(met goal in Sept!) for 2023:
Rating: 2 🍷 🍷
Book: The Stranger Upstairs
Author: Lisa M. Matlin
Available Now!!

Sipping thoughts: I really thought I was gonna love this book but the ending just fell really short for me. I loved the book’s storyline and was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happened. But the moment it was revealed, I felt like all the air was let out of my sails. I also did not like one of the tragedies in the book. I wish it could have panned out differently.

Cheers and thank you to @RandomHousePublishingGroup, and @Netgalley for an advanced copy of @TheStrangerUpstairs.

#TheStrangerUpstairs #LisaMMatlin #RandomHousePublishingGroup #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

A social media influencer purchases a house known for a murder-suicide to renovate to reach a new online audience. What could possibly go wrong? Lots of things! Fast paced with so many twists!

The Stranger Upstairs is the debut novel from Lisa M. Matlin.

"Sarah Slade buys an old Victorian house in an upscale neighborhood. One problem - it was the site of an infamous murder years ago. Sarah wants to fix it up and flip it - all while using the renovations to drive likes and comments to her social media. But none of the neighbors want to see the house improved. They would rather see it bulldozed to the ground. Sarah is determined to get it done. But there are noises at night and someone has been leaving threatening notes..."

This is a perfect example of an unreliable narrator. One with a past full of secrets and slowly unravelling from the stress of the house. There are no likable characters here except for one and she doesn't make it to the end.
Matlin keeps you invested with the news articles that hint at something bad happening at the house and with the slow reveal of Sarah's secrets. Not sure I have ever seen a house explained the way it is here. Not sure if I would have picked that story resolution.
Matlin talks about her own mental health challenges in the author notes.
Interesting debut from Matlin.