Therapist / social media influencer buys infamous Murder House to flip and gain profit and attention. What could go wrong?

This book was...wild. It was a really fast read and kept me on my toes until the end. What is wrong with this house and who is out to get Sarah?! Who is Lizzy? What is Joe's deal? WHAT IS GOING ON?!?! So many books I've read recently have been a slog, so this was a breath of fresh air. Loved it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I sat and read this in one entire day, speed reading through the chapters to see what would happen.
Is Sarah a female version of Jack Torrance, haunted by the ghosts of the murder house? Is this just a horror novel about a house with an evil soul? Or is something else going on? It doesn't take long before we discover we have a very unreliable narrator in Sarah, and this allows for many (MANY!) twists and turns to be uncovered through the story. The ending was serious and real-life scary and satisfying with just a hint of a horror film ending in the last lines.

There were hints along the way which helped me guess there was a different scenario going on here and made me wonder why no one was stepping in to intervene. But small towns are small towns (I live in one!) and I could see how the house situation in the book could cause other things to be overlooked. In the end, a very twisty-turny story with no plot holes that weren't logically and believably explained away.

The best part though may be the ending. No the OTHER ending - the Author's Note and <i>also</i> the Acknowledgements - yes, I read them and you should too! Lisa Matlin tells her inspiring journey in writing this story, and I was grateful that she was able to finish it. Her Acknowledgements were funny and relatable and made me wish we could be friends.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC which hooked me immediately and kept me enthralled for an entire day. Definitely 5 stars, I would even read this book again.

Debut author, Lisa M. Matlin writes a psychological thriller that'll keep you glued to the pages.
The "Death House" it's called, the lovely Victorian mansion she buys to renovate and resell, flipping houses is all the rage now. She knows she can make a nice buck doing it. Never mind a murder took place here forty years ago and the neighbors know not to go anywhere near it.
That's them and not her though, she's a social influencer and A therapist and self-help writer, her blog posts about the renovations will boost her followers' numbers immensely.
Never mind the house has putridly stale air from being closed up for forty years, very few windows and they don't even open for a good airing.
I could visualize everything I was reading. The book is dark with a gothic feel to it. From sleeping in a bloodstained room to sounds in the attic, creepy notes found around the house and feeling sicker and sicker all the time. She's lost her mind; the evilness of the house consumes her. She's gone into such a dark place, is it possible for an escape without hurting herself or others? You can't read this without feeling creeped out. It will have you wondering when you're alone, what's that noise, is there someone here. I wouldn't advise reading this alone at night. Something is very wrong in Black Wood House, everyone knows it. Will she become its next victim? Looking forward to the author's next book.

Pub Date 12 Sep 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of the book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Absolutely not, I was 2 chapters in and I cannot stand the main character, she just checks off all the annoying boxes for me. Her describing her life partner of 5 years as someone who needs an xbox set up and will either starve or make instanoodles if she doesn't make him food was the final, yep. nope. I can't hear any more about these people
obligatory 3 stars for a DNF

The Stranger Upstairs
By: Lisa M. Matlin

Sarah Slade is a social media influencer. She has purchased a murder house to renovate and shares her experiences.

Black Wood House was the scene of a horrific murder suicide. Throughout the renovation things start happening and she becomes convinced someone is out to kill her and her behavior changes.

A debut novel by Matlin and I look forward to more.
Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy. I purchased the book with Book of the Month. ❓Would you purchase a house where someone was murdered??
#bantam, #thestrangerupstairs, #lisammarlin, #netgalley,#bookofthemonth, #bookstagram, #bookreview, #stamperlady50

This book brought me out of a major reading slump! If you enjoy dabbling in Riley Sager or Simone St. James novels then I feel you might enjoy this one.

Marlin’s writing was fluid and kept a good pace. I had hoped for a more developed background with her husband, same could be said for many of the other characters introduced in the story. I do appreciate all the misdirection as, for the most part, much of the story was unpredictable.

Overall, this was a solid debut. This had that entertainment factor for me and I would definitely pick up Matlin’s next book to see where she goes next.

Sarah Slade, a self help writer and therapist, purchases a "murder house" called Black Wood. She plans on renovating in and selling it. She sees lots of dollar signs in her future. She moves in with her husband, with whom she is having issues. Right away, things start going south. Everyone seems to dislike Sarah and the fact that she bought Black Wood. She inadvertently finds out that a single woman bought the house before her, but no one seems to know what happened to her.

Many other strange events begin happening. She start receiving threatening notes, and she swears she hears someone walking around in the attic.

Sarah decides to find out what happened to the previous owner, and what she finds out is shocking.

This is a great read, but I was left with several questions that I never really got answered by the ending.
However, I still really enjoyed the book, and it kept my interest throughout.

The premise of The Stranger Upstairs sounded really interesting but this one just didn’t work for me. There were parts of the start that were really interesting but much of the book dragged for me. The main problem for me was that I just did not like the main character or the supporting characters. There was only one character I liked and I hated the way things ended for her. There were also several parts of the plot that I felt needed to be tied in better. I didn’t hate this book but it there were too many things that didn’t work to say I liked it.

A great psychological thriller! The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin is a twisted and full of surprises murder mystery. Was hard to figure out who was the “good” or “bad” guys, very engrossing and unexpected. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a fantastically creepy read that is absolutely PERFECT for spooky season. It’s always a good sign when the neighbors come warning to beware, to leave, saying no one wants you here, and this proved to be the case here. Sarah Slade is starting over and bought Black Wood House at a steal, I mean, it was the scene of a murder-suicide, and she is looking forward to renovating and attracting followers on her lifestyle blog. Pretty soon though, things take a turn on all fronts and she realizes maybe the others were right about the house after all.

The audiobook only enhanced the experience for this one, I was hooked from the start and read it in a day as I had to know how it would end. I definitely recommend this one, it was overall such an entertaining read.

Thank you to Random House and PRH Audio for the copies to review.

What a fun and twisty debut thriller! I’m so glad Lisa quit playing drums and started writing. Her novel, “The Stranger Upstairs”, is told in first person from Sarah, who denies that she may have a drinking problem. She and her husband have gone deep in debt to buy the Black Wood House, the scene of a horrible murder/suicide. Her husband isn’t as positive about the project and there’s strife in the marriage that has moved to the new home with them. They also brought Sarah’s grumpy cat, Reaper.
Reaper is the first to alert Sarah that something’s not right with the house. He sits at the base of the attic access and stares. And the attic stinks horribly. The workers are not cooperative and workplace accidents are a common occurrence. The neighbors are rude and extremely odd in their treatment of the new neighbors. And Sarah knows she’s crazy thinking it, but she swears the house hates her.
Each day, things get worse, yet Sarah continues to go to the same bedroom where the murder/suicide took place, close her eyes and sleep. This is where you, the reader, start screaming at her to get out. But there’s another side of Sarah that is slowly eking through. A side we don’t especially like.
Each morning is a new day for bad news, and each night Sarah stays, going against logic, common sense, and our (the readers) nonstop warnings. The author has definitely set a stage for a page-turning, fast-paced thriller. This debut simply must be put on your “to read” list. Even the house says so…
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Delacorte Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was September 12, 2023.

Thank you Bantam Books, Lisa M. Matlin, and Netgalley for a copy of this ARC.

I loved the storyline of this book - Social Media Influencer, Sarah Slade, buys a murder house to renovate it, but before she can finish, all these bizarre incidents keep happening. Builders are getting hurt in strange accidents. Noises are coming from the attic. Creepy notes start appearing. It has the potential to be a great horror story.

After finishing the book, all the weird stuff that happened made sense. However, while reading the book, I wanted more creepiness and horror. I wanted a haunted house with ghosts kind of vibe, but it never really gave off a haunted house vibe. I wanted more emotion from Sarah when she realized her marriage was worse off than she originally thought. I guess I just wanted more. More backstory, more haunted house creepiness, more emotion.

I did enjoy the story, it just didn’t go where I thought it was going. I definitely did not expect the ending that it had, although it summed up everything that happened throughout the book. I liked how the newspaper articles were written in the story to tell us what happened before we read the details in the story. All in all, I did enjoy the book. 3.5 stars out of 5.

I may have been the wrong audience for this book. I like a touch of dark in my mystery and suspense, but the central character and events of The Stranger Upstairs were relentlessly dark and downright unpleasant to read about.

I am not the biggest fan of unlikable protagonists; I feel I can handle a difficult protagonist pretty well, if their character is well-developed and their flaws are understandable. Sarah, the first-person protagonist of this story, was a villain, but not a fun, charismatic one. She was off-putting and unlikable (to put it mildly). She was both a mess and in the end, pretty evil. I did think the resolution to the "haunted house" aspect was unexpected and interesting, but the ending...I feel like it was going for a "Gone Girl" type of "evil triumphs but evil is kind of fun and the victims deserve it anyway" ending. But Sarah wasn't fun, sympathetic or remotely relatable and her victims did not deserve it.

I gave this a C/C-. The writing was competent and again, I did find the resolution of the mystery to be fresh, though some readers might find it anti-climatic.

Having recently finished “The Stranger Upstairs” by Lisa M. Matlin, I am happy to have had the chance for the Advanced Reader’s Edition e-copy; thank you NetGalley and Bantam Books!

THIS was a twisted and atmospheric story! I kept turning the pages all the way through to the heartfelt author's note, even though I was more than ready to slam the door on these characters, and all the disturbing discoveries inside this sick house, and the mind and soul of Sarah Slade.

This was such a fun, quick, and easy read! It definitely had a lot of creepy and scary parts that kept me totally engrossed.

This was a wild ride!! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel!! Our main character was a head trip, she was a total train wreck and I couldn’t stop watching her. This book was spooky and creepy. I flew right through it, it was so fast pace. Each chapter and part, seemed to leave you on a cliffhanger! This was an incredible debut album and I can’t wait to see more!

Like I’ve said, I’m a sucker for gothic thriller. This one was great! It was one that kept me up at night wanting to read more. Check out this book. Thank you to netgalley and random house for the copy to read.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin is most-definitely a creepy book, but unfortunately I did not connect with Sarah Slade, the main character, her husband, or pretty much any of the other characters in the book, including her cat. The story did keep me guessing throughout and being close to Halloween, this is the perfect time time to get lost in a thriller like this.

This book has it all! Murder, adultery, mental health issues, and…a haunted house!? It seems that way as Black Wood House has a dark history of death and violence. Sarah and Joe buy the house with the intent of flipping it for a hefty profit. But how many folks are lining up to buy a murder house? This is an exciting, fast paced mystery that’s interesting from start to finish!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC.

This book kept my interest the entire time. I was desperate to know what was going on. The narrator was unlikeable and untrustworthy, but yet I felt so bad for her.

I will admit the end twist kind of let me down. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. Nonetheless the book was dark and super enjoyable.