4.5 ⭐️ “A brutal murder can slash the price by as much as 50%. But would YOU do it?” Black Wood house is a Victorian gothic located in a tight-knit community where a murder-suicide took place 40 years ago. Sarah, an aspiring social media influencer, believes renovating Black Wood will solve all her problems- her marriage, her blog, and her finances. After starting the renovations, strange things start to happen and Sarah begins to question everything.

Don’t let the pretty cover fool you- this book is creepy and dark. This book gives some similar vibes to the TV series The Watcher and Riley Sager’s Home Before Dark, but is still a unique story. It is so well written and suspenseful. It captivated me from start to finish. When strange things start to happen, Sarah begins to question everything. At night, she can hear footsteps upstairs and she receives notes with details that no one else can know. She begins to spiral out of control, and the ending will surprise you. You would never know this is a debut novel. I look forward to seeing what the author writes next. This is the perfect chilling thriller to add to your spooky season TBR.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an ok read for me. It was relatively fast paced and an interesting take on the haunted house trope, though I think the big, dark secret following Sarah was over dramatic. The author could have just laid it all out there instead of dragging it along as a mystery, then focused more on current events. Sarah was also a super annoying mc, and I understand that she wasn’t necessarily supposed to be an upstanding person, but it’s hard to get invested when you don’t really enjoy being in the mc’s head!

The Stranger Upstairs
Lisa M. Matlin
Comes out 9/12/23
Random House Publishing Group
☆☆☆☆☆

Sarah Slade is a therapist and self-help writer. She decides to buy and renovate a house, but not just any house. One where someone was murdered. Sarah figures she can make a profit while having some interesting blog content. Bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic confirm there is something very wrong in that house. Can Sarah figure out what is going on, or will the house add another victim to its list?

What a killer story! I had so many suspicions, and while I was right up to a point, I certainly didn't nail it. Twists like that are the BEST! The details and elements that helped this book come together were fantastic. Seeing how Sarah's experiences influenced and altered her was so interesting. The writing style was wonderful, I was intrigued from beginning to end! I will absolutely buy a physical copy for my shelf, and I highly recommend this stunning thriller!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read and review this book before it comes out on September 12th! Definitely give this book a shot if you enjoy thrillers.

#Thestrangerupstairs #netgalleyarc #randomhousepublishinggroup #thriller #arcbookreview #readeveryday #readandreview #readersofinstagram

Book Review!
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M Matlin
I received this book from @randomhouse and @netgalley for review.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It creeped me out in the best way possible! I had to stop reading it at night in bed home alone. It was a daytime read for me for sure!! Lol
Ask yourself….would you buy a murder house? Would you sleep in the bedroom where the murder happened and still contains the bloody evidence? Answer??? NOPE!
There is so much going on it’s hard to put in words without spoiling something. Just don’t trust anyone!
Read this one!

#readthis #readthisbook #netgalleyreview #netgalley #thestrangerupstairs #randomhouse #kindle

I really enjoyed this one. First of all, the cover, bright colors for a thriller, who would have thought? Usually I dislike unreliable narrators, but I kept reading, I kept wanting to believe her, I was still on her side. And turns out for a good reason. The ending was real, it could have happened, it wasn't just some stupid excuse! And best off, I didn't see it coming at all because most thrillers are just dumb made up ghosts or crazy people. The only thing was the pacing was a bit off, I got a little bored in the middle it got a little slow and redundant, but I stuck with it and am glad I did.

Sarah Slade is on the path of re-discovery and takes this opportunity to buy an old house which was also the crime scene from a brutal murder. Sarah's goal is to blog the renovations and hopefully make money and expand her reach as an influencer. However, as soon as she and her husband move into the house weird things start happening. They start receiving weird notes and unexplainable events in the house. Is this a sign Sarah should not have moved int- and will she actually survive?

It's rare that I read a book and get scared. However, this book truly gave me haunted house or scary movie vibes. While I found the characters all somewhat unlikable I did enjoy this book.

MY REVIEW: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
👉 A spooky lil haunted house??? Sign me up!!
👉 This was definitely leaning more thriller than horror, but there were some pretty horrifying details throughout 👀
👉 Suuuuuper fast paced, finished this bad boy in, like, a little over a day?!
👉 I was stressed, I was paranoid, I was constantly tryna figure it out…
👉 I WAS a *little* upset by the twist--And then there was another twist!!! Which was satisfying 😌

Super duper creepy and fun! I really enjoyed the build of the spooky, haunting story with this fast pace read. The cover is pretty and the inside is scary! ENJOY!

Would you willingly buy a murder house that you know the history of, and then remodel it all in the name of social media?

Sarah and Joe buy the Murder House in the small town of Black Wood with intentions to flip it and make a killing (no pun intended). What they didn’t budget for were strange noises in the attic, contractors that won’t come within an inch of the place and things mysteriously breaking after being fixed. Is Sarah losing it, or does the house have a mind of its own?

This was an enjoyable read full of creepy, page-turning goodness and unhinged characters. While more thriller than horror (which was fine with me), it would make for a perfect spine-tingling read for Fall.

Thank you to Lisa M. Matlin, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of the book. I enjoyed it so much, I snagged it as my Book of the Month pick to share with friends!

This was a great first novel to be honest. The writing was good, the setting was creepy. More thriller than horror. Unfortunately for me the plot twist was obvious from the beginning, but that didn’t ruin the story at all really. I still had a great spooky time reading it. The ending was handled really well and leaves the reader satisfied.

4.5 stars

The stranger upstairs by Lisa M Matlin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This whole book is centered around a premise with a very good question: Would you buy a murder house?
Knowing its history and willingly moving yourself into it to remodel.

Don't kill me. Don't kill me. Don't kill me.

I loved this book. As I read it, I found my pulse literally pounding and I was thrilled to actually get that feeling. This one had me paranoid. What the heck 😳 why and who !? It's so hard to do some of these reviews without spoiling anything- so I'm just going to say one thing: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?

And also, the stranger upstairs unlocked a whole new fear 😨 LMAO.

Thanks @randomhouse and @netgalley for this early copy ( which I've already ordered on @bookofthemonth lol )

The story of The Stranger Upstairs feels a little overdone; another social media influencer, another house where a gruesome murder took place and neighbors who want nothing to do with the house. However, there is more to Sarah Slade and her husband Joe than you expect and you learn how far they're willing to go to keep their secrets. While I was reading Matlin's debut, it made me think of One Night by Georgina Cross and The Only One Left by Riley Sager. Fans of (possible) haunted houses, unreliable narrators, deep, dark secrets as well as authors like Georgina Cross, Riley Sagar, Alices Feeney, should add The Stranger Upstairs to their TBR.

Wow! This was a wild, twisted ride! I thought I knew where this was going, and to some extent I was a little bit right, but only because it was one of the several running suspicions I had. I could never fully rest on the solution. And even that was so far from the ultimate conclusion. I was left feeling as if I had been run through with a wrecking ball.

While I was never a fan of the protagonist, and this bothered me for much of the story, once things started to unravel it no longer mattered. I loved how the truth of what was happening was slowly revealed allowing my imagination to run wild and my expectations to ramp up. By the time I reached the end I was flush with amazement at the intricate web this author laid out for me.

This is well worth the read and made even more so by the author’s note at the end. I applaud her for her journey and look forward to anything else she chooses to release into the world in the future.

Holy smokes - what a trip! I could not put this book down!!! I stayed up super late reading to finish and then couldn’t go to sleep because I was seriously creeped out! 🤣
This book had everything I could ever want in a thriller. An unstable MC, a creepy haunted house, murder mysteries, and mind blowing plot twists. I found myself guessing until the very end having multiple theories throughout…and then as if the ending wasn’t crazy enough, the mic drop in the epilogue got me 😮‍💨
Highly recommend this one, especially for a spooky fall read!

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing-Ballantine, and Lisa M. Matlin for a #gifted ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book! Wow! What a debut! I read so many thrillers that rarely do I come across one that thoroughly creeps me out like this one successfully managed to do! Read it with the lights on!

I love a book that makes you question reality, especially if it involves a spooky house with a sordid past. This book was so atmospheric and just worked perfectly as a “I bought a Murder house” trope. I loved how unlikeable the main character was. She was fascinating and made so many questionable decisions that you’ll never be able to relate to, but as a reader, you couldn’t take your eyes off the pages as you follow her into utter madness!

I will say, there are quite a few storylines that start to blur once you get about half way in, and I was nervous about how they would all come together. However, the ending just nailed it for me! There is one storyline I’m still wondering a bit about, but I’ve never hated a little ambiguity in a thriller, so it doesn’t bother me too much! This will make for the best spooky season read and if you are a fan of the classic, Haunting of Hill House, then look no further!

Thank you so much to Bantam Books and PRH for this #gifted ARC!

THE STRANGER UPSTAIRS by Lisa M Matlin. I’m not going to lie, it was the cover of this book that stopped me in my tracks, but it was the premise of the book that had me click request. I am a sucker for a haunted house story. Sarah and Joe decide to buy the Murder House in Black Wood. They want to flip it and figure it would be easy and that’s where the fun or shall I say fear begins. This book has all things creepy, scary and chilling. Sarah starts to hear strange noises coming from the attic. What does she find there? Why do the contractors not even want to go in? Why do things that get fixed break again? Is Sarah losing it? So many questions. This was such a fun ride for me. I did love the cover so much that I picked this book as my BOTM read just to have it in my library. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for saying yes to my request!

This is a debut novel that held my interest for the most part but lost me in others. The pacing is good, but the characters are not totally believable. That is not to say that they are not developed, just hard to believe everything going on in their lives. There is a haunted house that Sarah decides to renovate, a failing marriage with her husband, a murder mystery and weird neighbors. All in all, there is a lot packed into this novel which made it a little hard for me to keep up with all of the events. The narrator herself is not reliable which adds to the storyline but also added to my ability to always follow the story. I did not particularly like or relate to any of the characters but I did sympathize with the plight of the social media influencer who is trying to make a go of renovating a haunted house. There are secrets that are not revealed until the story unwinds some, and that adds to the mysterious tone of the whole book. This is a gothic mystery, haunted house thriller and domestic drama all packed into one volume, so it is a very busy book. I would give it 3.5 stars but I am rounding up because the author did a great job of pulling everything together at the end.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Thank you Netgalley & publisher for this e-arc of The Stranger Upstairs: A Novel by Lisa M. Matlin.

This is a suspense thriller novel. 4-4.5*; one unique aspect the gothic vibes and a sense of not knowing what is happening until close to the end which builds the suspense.

Synopsis: "Most people wouldn’t buy an infamous murder house to renovate for fun . . . but Sarah Slade is not most people... But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. ... a series of bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic only confirms for Sarah what the rest of the town already knew: Something is very wrong in that house. With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. But as she peels back the curling wallpaper and discovers the house’s secrets, she realizes that the deadly legacy of Black Wood House has only just begun."

Things I liked:
1. Genre (thriller/suspense) is one of my favorite genres
2. Atmospheric- gothic woodsy vibes
3. Great fall read
4. The dedication and notes after

Things I disliked (if you can call it that):
1. The unknown is what I liked and hated most about this book... I usually guess, but did not with this one
2. I would have liked more of the ending to be expanded
3. I prefer 3rd person to first person generally, but it did work with this read and did not hinder my enjoyment

There were many plot points that were satisfying to my inner reader, among them being that there almost always is a reasonable explanation behind certain occurrences. Seeing the main character’s progression and descent into madness, especially when that hint of suspicion lurks in the foreground, resulted in an ending that knocked me off my feet.

I was initially drawn in by the cover of the book, and the synopsis sounded so intriguing, so I dove in. Oh my goodness, what a fun ride! I devoured this book. It's a fun, fast-paced, and oh so creepy story. I enjoyed it. I can't wait to read more books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the E-ARC

Book Releases September 12, 2023

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.