The Stranger Upstairs gives off immediate horror-read vibes. The quick synopsis is Sarah Slade, a therapist, and Instagram influencer, buys a murder house to renovate and use as the substance for her upcoming book. Sarah’s life holds many secrets, including her past and crumbling marriage. As she begins to redesign the home, the home seems to fight back. The storyline details her decaying life’s plans inside her newly bought decaying home. In general, this was a good mystery/thriller read, perfect for the approaching Halloween season. I’d suggest this one to people who like creepy paranormal or atmospheric thrillers. 3.5 ⭐️
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an arc copy for an honest review.

Wow what a great book! This book was truly filled with so much suspense and kept me on my toes until the very last page! I was so invested in trying to figure out how everything was going to be connected and I couldn’t put the book down. Sarah Slade is not who she says she is and I was invested. As a reader, watching her take on different skins was intriguing. You never knew who she really was and what she would do next. 100% recommend this book to everyone. I also suggest really reading the authors note at the end of the book!

This book surprised me. I cannot go to much into it because I don't want to give anything away. All I have to say is WHAT A TWIST! Actually a few. But I did not see it coming. For this debut book by Lisa Matlin I hope to see more from her in the future!

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

If you want a fast paced read with lots of twists and turns this is for you.
Im a long time reader of thrillers and I’ve read all the tropes. This wasn’t different than a lot of what I’ve read in the past. That being said, I wasn’t disappointed. I was tricked a few times and other times if it had been a bear it would have bit me.
All in all a propulsive read. I look forward to another book by this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an early copy in exchange for a honest opinion. 3.5⭐️

I love a haunted house story and will happily try any and all of them that come my way. When I first heard about The Stranger Upstairs, I was immediately drawn to it for the haunted house element, but also the sketchy main character running from their past reeled me in. Always a sucker for secrets!

Matlin does a great job of bringing Sarah to life for the reader as we slowly get to know her, receive hints about her past, and watch her struggle to deal with whatever is happening in her new home. The fact that she was supposed to be a self-help influencer added a fun plot device, but I wish it would have been fleshed out a bit more. The book talks about how Sarah bought the house to flip and gain fame, but that got lost in the book once it started getting deeper into the story.

All of the mysterious events happening in the house felt very realistic and paranoia inducing. This isn’t a gory story, so if you’re worried about that with your creepy house, you’ll be safe here. This is more of a spiraling out of control story built on a mountain of suspicion. Without giving away too much of the plot, I will say that Matlin did a great job of keeping me guessing and giving shifty eyes to everyone in this small town.

The cover for this book may be fun and bright, but it’s a solid spooky season contender for your TBR!

The Stranger Upstairs starts off as atmospheric and daunting. Is it a haunted house? Is it a group of neighbors who will stop at nothing to have the murder house removed from their lives? What it turns into is something much more confusing - is it an unreliable narrator? Or multiple unresolved storylines? I was hooked from the beginning but overall felt a bit unsatisfied by the ending.

This book was so wild. I absolutely was sucked in and loved it. Unhinged, unraveling female main characters? Is it so 2010's? Yes. Is it still absolutely one of my favorite types of characters? Also yes. I read this book basically in one sitting. I say basically because I read this while sick in bed, only stopping when I would randomly fall asleep. I don't know what it is about reading a creepy book while sick and feverish, but it heightens the whole experience and I ate this one up.

I actually guessed one of the conclusions super early into the book, but then I second guessed everything with every flip of the page. It certainly didn't take away from the experience. The final conclusion was a little confusing, but I refuse to think too deeply about it because my reading experience was quite the perfect ride.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wow, talk about dysfunctional relationships! I feel pretty normal after reading this story of a couple who are not who or what they appear to be. Many hints are dropped that these are not their real names and that there is a past no one is willing to talk about.

There is a house in a most desired town that they (actually Sarah) decides to buy, in spite of the fact that it is called the murder house. A prior family lived there until the father killed the mother and attempted to kill the daughter before killing himself. Since then, no one has wanted to buy the house until now. Sarah sees the chance to renovate and flip the house for a lot of money, but hubby Joe admits that the house scares him.

Joe is in and out of the house and the marriage and not at all a happy hubby. Sarah is also a therapist under false pretenses who is counseling people in their marriages while she has no control over her marriage, the renovations or the house itself, which doesn't want to be renovated. Who is behind all this? Who leaves her notes knowing things about her that no one else knows? Who is/was Amanda?

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy. Opinions expressly freely here are my own honest impressions.

This book intrigued me from the very beginning. Would you buy a house where a murder was committed? Well in this thrilling book a social media influencer does just that to renovate and flip it but she doesn't plan on horror that ensues. great debut from this Author, can't wait to read more from her.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Ballantine Bantam and the Author, Lisa Matlin for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Haunted house book that is much more of a psychological thriller, this book had some creepy elements but the storyline was all over the place. Sarah Slade is a therapist that recently bought the Black Wood House, a house which was sitting empty for many years due to a murder happening in the home. A man killed his wife and then chased his daughter down the street as she yelled "please don't kill me" forty years earlier and the house has sat empty since. Sarah moved into the house with her husband Joe, a bartender, and she wants to share her renovation on her social media account. From the beginning, Sarah hints to secrets from her past and the that she and Joe had to leave town under mysterious circumstances.

Joe and Sarah have a strange relationship; they are rarely together and don't communicate at all. In fact, Joe is missing for the majority of the book leaving Sarah to spend evenings alone in the dark, creaky house. She quickly realizes that something strange is going on with the house and her beloved cat Reaper howls and cries at night standing under the attic stairs. I liked the creepy house aspect but Sarah was a very unlikable character. She drinks wine constantly, doesn't eat and pays no attention to her patients at the clinic where she works. Her boss and co-workers are worried about her as she appears ill and often misses work. As the story continues, Sarah reveals more about her past and becomes more and more convinced either the house or someone else is trying to kill her. Sarah also discovers another woman had disappeared a short time before, after buying the house and that the whole community wants the house torn down and hates her for buying it.

The story ends with a surprising twists (more than one actually) but I didn't find them all that interesting and found it hard to root for Sarah. The author explains some of her motivations in writing the story at the end and I appreciate her viewpoint but wanted more of a straight forward haunted house story rather that a story about what was actually happening here. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. I really enjoyed this story. It was very atmospheric and just the right amount of creepy. It wasn't like any other books I've read so it definitely stuck with me. Definitely recommend for a good fall read.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for the eArc in return for an honest review.



Margaret and Hal thought they found their forever dream home. They were so enamored by it that they brushed off the fact that the realtor told them that terrible things had happened there. Things seemed normal until September rolls around. This is a month of absolute terror for the couple. Each September, they learn more and more about what to do and not to do during this horrific month. Then, one September, their daughter Katherine comes for a visit.

The author marries psychological suspense, comedy, thriller, and horror and has created a solid book. I will read their next one.

The Stranger Upstairs is a thriller about an Australian couple who purchase a house that was the scene of a brutal murder/suicide.

Sarah and her husband Joe bought the Black Wood House hoping to make money when they feature the renovations on Sarah’s blog and then sell the house at a profit. But the house has (supposedly) been empty since a murder took place there 40 years ago and the wealthy neighbors would prefer it stay that way. While her marriage starts to crumble and the home renovations keep hitting snags Sarah’s physical and mental health start to unravel leaving the reader to wonder if the danger is coming from an angry neighbor, a paranormal entity or Sarah’s own sanity.

This was a fast paced and entertaining read that kept my interest throughout. What I struggled with was the popular thriller trope of “the unhappy unreliable narrator that drinks too much” that Sarah quickly became. I never empathized or connected with her as a character and I found all of her decisions frustrating. Her backstory of being a therapist that wrote a successful self-help novel and was now using her platform to create a blog about home renovations didn’t really pan out on the page. I feel like it would have been a better read if her success as an author and influencer would have been better established.

Overall, this was just an okay read for me. I like to have a character I can root for, will make me laugh or I can at least empathize with a little. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that with Sarah and it made the book less enjoyable overall.

Let's start with saying I absolutely love the cover! But, as they say, don't judge a book by its cover.

Sarah, an influencer, bought a bargain house that she plans to renovate and sell for a profit. But this is not going to be as easy as she thinks, This house has a history and not a good one. Nobody from the neighborhood will set foot near it.

Right from the beginning I was not a big fan of Sarah and her husband but I was more curious why this house was so creepy and "alive" so I continued to read it. As you follow along you get to learn more about Sarah and her past. She really is an interesting and twisted individual.

This is a dark, creepy and full of twists story that I really enjoyed. Perfect Halloween read.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing and the author for a copy of ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was very interesting and thrilling. The end was filled with lots of twists (some I liked more than others), but it was definitely very engaging and entertaining. Definitely had some questions at the end, but was very invested in the outcome.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin

Thank you to @netgalley, @randomhouse, and the author, @lisa_m_matlin for the opportunity to read this #advancedreadercopy in exchange for my #honestbookreview! This is available now for purchase wherever books are sold.

Sarah Slade is in need if a fresh start when she and her husband, Joe, embark on an ambitious project renovating the Black Wood House. Forty years ago a man snapped and hammered his wife to death before turning to his daughter, who escaped, and finally taking his own life. The house has a bad reputation and an even worse energy. But Sarah has no room for failure. Her career, marriage, and social life are all in varying states of failure. So she’s putting her all into this flip and hoping for a big return. Will Sarah be able to fix the house before it finishes her off?

This was a wild ride! This has a similar energy to How to Sell a Haunted House with the haunted house and gothic nature. A super freaky spooky season read that I recommend for lovers of psychological thrillers. Packed with twists and turns, this one will have you on the edge of your seat until the end.

TW: g@slighting, su!cide, ment@l illness, alcohol @buse, st@lking, infidelity, and more.

4/5

This book reminded me of gone girl meets the shining. It was good and definitely kept me in thralled, wanting to know what was really going on. I enjoyed it. It was right in my wheelhouse. The characters were a little morally grey, what it was fun. The plot twists were creepy and dark thoroughly. Enjoyed it.

This was a wild read! I was genuinely scared during parts of this book. I really enjoyed this psychological thriller and our unreliable narrator.
I am a big fan of an unreliable narrator and I think this book knocked that out of the park. I truly didn’t see the ending coming and I was in the same boat as our narrator, I didn’t know what to believe! This was a fun ride and I look forward to reading more by this author!

This book just didn't come together for me. A promising premise about an influencer buying and renovating a murder house. But there were too many holes in it that were never filled. The best character was the grumpy cat, Reaper. At least his backstory was explained and made sense. I kept reading hoping the story would start becoming clearer, but it did not.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Counting this as my first spooky read of the season!

Lisa M. Matlin’s debut book The Stranger Upstairs was an explosive thriller that had me questioning everyone including myself as to what the heck was going on.

This book had Amityville Horror/Haunting on Hill House kinda vibes and I completely devoured it!

Not only was this book hair raisingly good but that ending? You will SO not see it coming. At all. 🤯🫣😂