The Stranger Upstairs is one of those super hyped Booksta books that everyone raved was so shocking and twisty, so it was no surprise this one left me...not shocked. With an unlikeable FMC that showed me some of my own bad traits amplified, reading it made me uncomfortable, but probably not for the intended reasons.

Sarah Slade is a quasi-celebrity therapist, fresh off the high of a best selling self help books, and Instagram wellness influencer. Always one to look for a way to make a buck and get an endorsement, she buys the infamous murder house, Black Wood House, along with her husband, with the intention to flip it for a profit and post her progress along the way. But some houses don't want to be fixed, and soon Sarah is plagued with headaches, strange noises and notes being left for her in the night, and her past catching up with her. She tries to discover the fate of the previous owner of the house, a young woman who looked mysteriously like herself who disappeared without a trace, but is thwarted at every turn by neighbors who have made it very clear that she isn't welcome. Sarah devolves into a haze of alcohol and delusions as the house continues to take its revenge on her, but as we come to find, sometimes there is a logical explanation for things that go bump in the night.

If you like to be paranoid, grab this book 🫣

Sarah is a main character that not only is unreliable, but that you just love to hate. I really enjoy stories where you can’t trust ANYONE.

The ending was so unexpected and not even on my radar! And I always love when there’s an epilogue that smacks you in the face!

I loved this one and even had to pick it as my #botm for September!

For a debut novel, I thought this was a decent thriller. There were a few parts that moved a little slow but there were also parts that were pretty fast paced. The story was definitely engaging and had an interesting premise. However, the twists were not as exciting as I was expecting and felt a little anticlimactic. Overall, it was still a good story.

* 3.5 stars *
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M Matlin is about Sarah Slade, Author, Blogger and Therapist. She has it all... right? In hopes to save her failing marriage and get blog content Sarah buys an old murder house that no one wants for good reason and plans to renovate it. After 40 years with no occupant the house was a steal and nothing could go wrong.
I enjoyed this thriller novel and all of the twists and turns it lead me down. However I did not like the main character. I don't know if we weren't supposed to like her or if it was just me but day one I did not like her. She was mean and uncaring about anything but herself. It was hard to be worried about what could happen to this character when I felt like she wasn't a good person herself.
The house storyline was creepy, especially with the town's involvement. The twists and turns were crazy and I felt like I was going mad with the main character. The story felt all over the place which makes sense with a character driven mad if that was the intention.
Overall I enjoyed this book and will be looking out for future releases by this author.

Sarah is a self-described therapist and blogger with a dark past. She leaves her past to buy and renovate a "murder house" (a house in which a murder occurred). She is psychologically troubled, ends up fulfilling the advice Emily, her therapist colleague, warns of: "you repeat what you don't repair." Interesting twists, and transparent author note at the conclusion set this book apart.

This is such a thrill and twisty story. Sarah and her husband Joe decide to buy a house that has been sitting in the market for years. It has a deep past with two murders. Sarah is a social media influencer and knew the house needed work. She plans to remodel the house and document the journey online. the story grabbed your attention early on and I was hooked into what would happen next after moving into the house. It’s a quick easy read. Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A solid debut novel! The Stranger Upstairs tells a twisted story about lies, betrayal and the secrets we all keep! When social media influencer Sarah buys a house with a famous past she gets more than she bargains for! This kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end and I could not get enough!

Social media influencer and successful author Sarah Slade buys Black Wood House, the site of a murder-suicide forty years before. The house has been closed up ever since. Sarah is hoping to use the renovations as new subject matter for her blog and to possibly heal the rift between her and husband Joe. But as strange things start to happen at the house it only drives a bigger wedge between them. The more time she spends in the house alone, the more she falls into the fear that something in this house doesn't want her here.
This is such a creepy haunted house thriller by a debut author. With the main character as an unreliable narrator, hints of her secret past, and news articles of what happened after, you're never totally sure what exactly is going on until the end. What a way to start spooky season!! I highly recommend this psychological horror thriller.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #TheStrangerUpstairs #LisaMMatlin

Author: Lisa M. Matlin
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine
Publication Date: September 12, 2023

This is a creepy horror/thriller debut from Lisa M. Matlin. It tells the story of Sarah, who is an influencer and therapist. She and her husband, Joe, have just bought the infamous Blackwood House and she’s excited about renovating and flipping it. Immediately, however, she begins to suspect that all is not as it seems within the house and around the neighborhood. Every neighbor is either hostile or shuns her. The house makes odd noises and Sarah’s cat is acting very odd. Maybe the house doesn’t want to be renovated. We’ll see!
This was a fun book. It’s a twisty thriller with a pretty cover. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Sarah and her neighbors. The author gave out little tidbits along the way in order to keep the reader clambering for more. Each time, the protagonist lost her temper or had a door slammed in her face made me want the twists more and more. Sarah’s multiple plights will have the reader second guessing every turn, especially if one goes into the story knowing as little as possible.
White there’s no denying that this twisty character study is fun and a pleasure to read, there is a little bit of the feeling that I’ve read this same type of plot in a lot of other twisty thrillers. The twist trend right now makes it a bit difficult to be truly surprised. We may not know the specifics of the twist but we can mostly guess what direction it will go in. We’re always looking for the character that has been dead the whole time, so to speak.
This book had a lot of positive things about it. It had great character development, some twists, and a cute cat character. It may have been a tad cookie cutter, but if you enjoyed “Gone Girl” and you’re looking for a fun way to pass an afternoon and you enjoy feeling a bit creeped out and unsettled, then this one's for you.

This was an enjoyable ride. I partially guessed the twist but I had such a good time with the author's writing style that I still had fun figuring out where I was right and wrong.

Thank you NetGalley and Bantam for the advance copy.

3.5 stars

A spooky and tense read. I don't think a book has ever made me feel so uncomfortable.

I liked the mystery element, but I do think the mentally ill mc trope is a little overdone in thrillers. I also feel like this book tied up the ending pretty quickly, leaving a lot of plot holes.

This book just wasn't for me.

I really enjoyed this book. The book was a good mix of horror, psychological thriller, and creepy. I kept wanting to pick this book up to read, life gets in the way sometimes of that. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next and that ending, wow.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy of The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin. A social media influencer buys a murder house to renovate then flip and all doesn't well . This was super creepy. I literally wouldn’t read this at night.

I really gave this one a shot but had to DNF at 50%. The main character, Sarah, was so beyond insufferable that I just couldn't keep reading. The storyline was mediocre and not strong enough to make up for how awful the MC was.

Sarah Slade, a therapist and blogger has the opportunity of a lifetime. She and her husband are able to buy Black Wood, a huge house in a great town. It needs a lot of work and someone was murdered there, so the price is right. Sarah has big plans. Her and her husband will live there and renovate it, while she blogs about the daily events which she hopes will earn her sponsors and money to continue the renovations and offset costs. However, strange things begin to happen right away. It's like the house doesn't want her there. The townspeople certainly don't. And, is Sarah really who we think she is?
This was just an okay book for me.

Marked as DNF @ 10% on 9/25/23 | Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital review copy! This did not affect my reading experience or review in any way.

Sadly, this was a fairly quick DNF for me and I was so excited to read this. WOW, the main character was so annoying! We get it, she's a bad person. Maybe it would have been less annoying if the book was in third person, so we got some other input besides being inside her head? It would have maybe made it a little more mysterious and a little less blunt/in-your-face. She kept talking about what a bad person she was, being obnoxious, etc. It was just way overkill and I couldn't listen to this whole book from her POV.

Thankfully, my sister read this one first and gave me all the details 😆 I'm happy I skipped most of this, sad I missed one juicy part. I would have been upset about the way that it ended so I'm glad this one was a DNF. I would have been livid by the end if I kept reading... Mostly, the writing style wasn't for me. If I hadn't been so turned off by the writing and the MC, I would have kept reading and it likely wouldn't have been so bad, but starting off that poorly is a sure way for me to hate the whole thing.

Time of death: 44% - I had to DNF this one, unfortunately. Sometimes it be like that. 💀

The characters in this story are SO MESSY. If you like unlikable MCs then this is the book to read. I was appalled and fascinated with Sarah, who is a a complete narcissist. She works as a marriage therapist, whose own marriage is on the rocks, and who has some dark ways of making herself feel better about it all.

She and her husband purchase a home together in an effort to start fresh and repair their broken marriage. They buy a "murder house" where a husband killed his wife because why not? It's cheaper this way, they think, and after they fix it up and sell it they will have made a profit.

It's clear the couple have secrets, but the book doesn't reveal them all at once. The mystery element of this was fun at first but eventually became redundant. I think it was written purely for entertainment purposes as it lacks the finesse of writing that I enjoy in deeper literary works. But if you're looking for a quick easy read that doesn't go in hard on the prose, then this may be a good thriller for you.

The Stranger Upstairs, set in Australia, is one of those thrillers with an unreliable narrator. At the beginning of the book, Sarah seems totally together, and her picture perfect life unravels as you learn more. She and her husband Joe have bought a "murder house" as a fixer-upper, and living in it while they fix up the house and their marriage. But it seems the house does not want to be fixed - or is it the neighbors causing trouble for Sarah? This was a fast read, not anything new, but entertaining.

This was such a good horror/thriller. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and descriptions of Blackwood House. I really did picture this as a movie the whole time.
Sarah is a Psychologist and social media influencer. In order to boost her following she decides to buy " The Murder House". 40 years ago a husband murdered his wife, tried to murder his daughter, and killed himself. Sarah believes if she renovates the house, and blogs it, that this will boost her numbers. Things are never this easy. Now her husband is never home, spooky noises and occurrences are happening, and she is alone.
This is a read on one sitting, glued to the page read. I cannot wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

2 1/2 stars rounded up for this debut novel. I actually did enjoy the first part of the book but for some reason the last part/ending left me confused and I don't think I understood the ending. There are a lot of great reviews so somehow I think maybe I overlooked something in the book that caused my confusion. This book has a gorgeous cover - the design is just perfect. I do think this author does have great potential.