3.25 stars

Sarah Slade is a therapist and a self-help influencer who with her husband, Joe, just bought an old Victorian house in Melbourne where a man went crazy and murdered his entire family. Cozy! Her goal is to flip the house for a profit and document the journey on social media. 

Sarah and Joe's marriage is already falling apart when they move in, and living in the inhospitable house doesn't help. The neighbors want the place bulldozed, and Sarah starts getting mysterious notes and threatening gifts, and when she hears strange sounds in the attic at night she starts questioning if it's just the neighbors of if the house itself doesn't want them there. 
This would freak anyone out, but the notes specifically refer to a dark past that Sarah and Joe moved to escape. Someone knows Sarah isn't who she says she is, and she's worried that her job and status will all come crashing down around her.
If you don't like unlikable main characters and unreliable narrators, steer clear of this book. That being said, what a wild ride. Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on in this story something else would happen that made that impossible. I find that with thrillers there's a fine line between the good kind of "I didn't see this coming" and "I didn't see this coming because it makes no sense/what is happening". This one stayed on the right side for me but toed the line a bit, I think just because there were SO many different threads to the story.
I liked some elements of the plot twist in this a lot, but wish they'd been fleshed out more and given time to breathe. It can be fun when thrillers hit their climax and everything unravels at once, but I felt like if that part had been expanded some the ending would have been more satisfying for me personally. Overall I liked this story's concept and the author's writing, and will keep an eye out for her future work! I also really appreciated her author's note at the end on mental health and writing.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Stranger Upstairs
Lisa M. Matlin
September 212, 2023

Living in a house in Australia was getting difficult for Sara Slade and her husband, Joe. She needed to begin a new book and revamp her counseling therapy sessions. In reading about an old gothic house that has been vacant for forty years in Beacon, southeast of Melbourne where murder took place in the estate. Not a soul has wanted to live in or own such a piece of real estate. The price had dropped considerably and Sara felt that she and Joe could buy it, renovate it, then sell it making a fortune. Joe didn’t want to consider it but Sara was sold on her idea. She felt they could spend their time and money with the remodel then sell it for much more than they paid. She made the deal and scheduled the move. Once there she moved her beautiful bedroom suite into the master. Unfortunately the room still had blood stains on the hardwood floor from the murder.
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin will be published on September 12, 2023 by Random House Books. I was selected to read the ARC of her novel by NetGalley. Initially I found it a bit humorous that she would do such a thing. As the novel continued and incidents happened I found the plot to be rather creepy. I did rather like the protagonist’s cat, Reaper.
Many readers may be enthralled by the suspense and chilling nature of such a read. I surmise that such a dark story is too much suspense for me. Do take a chance on this one if the dark and stormy action is your type of a gem to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

This book is what happens when you mix Haunting of Hill House with The Yellow Wallpaper and then make it into a digital age thriller on Lifetime. Reading that back makes is sound kind of good, but it wasn't really. At least not for me. There are going to be a TON of readers who are going to love this book, and I love that for a debut author, but as a Stephen King lover professionally trained in psychology I did not.

It's a very quick and twisty read, and all the loose ends do get tied up at the end, which is always nice. I hope the author continues to write and doesn't lean on the current formulaic thriller trend as much next time. Definitely see some potential here.

I'm not entirely sure how to review this one. It was a quick read, but wasn't my favorite. It definitely leans more towards horror than thriller, but not too much (because I can't handle true horror!). I had a hard time getting into it at first, but it kept my attention. Unfortunately, I feel like there were a lot of loose ends that weren't wrapped up and I had more questions than answers after finishing.

I read "The Stranger Upstairs" by Lisa M. Matlin on NetGalley. I couldn't put this book down and ended up staying up way to late to finish it. This book is about a woman and her husband who buy a house where a murder happened years before. They plan on fixing it up and selling it for a good profit but things do not go as planned. They have a mysterious past and things seem to be falling apart quickly. Is it the house or is it them?

This book was a little confusing and hard for me to engage with. I wanted to like Sarah, the main character, but her actions were so random and she was so hard to get a feel for that I had a hard time relating to her. I had a hard time following the plot of the book but I think that was almost the point.

I LOVED this book. The last 1/2 had me up way too late with my heart racing, wondering what was going to happen next. It did start out a little irritating because it feels like the main character is sabotaging her life and was almost two people but it all came together leaving me satisfied. It’s rare for me not to see what happens next but this book did it, I had an idea but it went way past what I expected.

This has been posted on Goodreads.

This was overall a fast paced and interesting thriller. The writing was well done and kept my interest the whole time.

While I do enjoy unlikable characters, sometimes reading this from the main character's POV was a little much for me. I think there was some interesting ideas in this that were unique to other thrillers I've read. By the end though, I did lose some interest in the plot and twists.

This was a fun debut and I'd like to see where this author goes in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I’m so bored with the mentally ill, drinks too much main character trope. This book is getting great reviews so far, so maybe it just wasn’t for me…

Thanks NetGalley for the arc.

Wow! Very pleasantly surprised with this authors first novel! I went into this thinking I was getting a haunted house story. I did get a haunted house story, but with so much more. The main character is extremely unreliable and unlikable. This was one of those stories that I found myself trying to speed read through because I wanted to know what happened next so bad! Wonderful debut!

The cover for THE STRANGER UPSTAIRS is what initially grabbed my attention and while it wasn’t great it wasn’t terrible either 🤷🏼‍♀️

My thoughts:
-good for spooky season
-gave me season 1 of AHS: Murder House vibes
-unreliable MC and no characters that I liked
-don’t read this is you are easily scared or don’t do well alone at home 🤣

This was a decent suspense novel with a lot of mystery, but the ending is where it really lost and disappointed me. It’s a quick read though so if you’re looking for something this spooky season, you might want to give it a try!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for the arc.

I LEAPT for joy when I gained digital and audio access to The Stranger Upstairs from Random House Publishing Group/Bantam, Netgalley, Lisa M. Matlin, and PRH Audio before this twisty, psychological zinger hits shelves on September 12, 2023.

Sarah Slade is self-published fame and guides her patients through their psychological traumas, but she’s bit off a little more than she can chew, especially after purchasing a murder house after leaving her old life behind. As renovations take hold, she begins to realize that she’s way in over her head, and starts to hear creaks in the night that don’t sound like the house “settling.” Something a bit more sinister is at hand here, and Sarah is overwhelmed. Overwhelmed so much, that she starts to feel eyes watching her, and that someone is out to take her life and torture her entire existence.

Everything and everyone is not what they seem and the twist will keep you in state of confusion.

Very well done.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin
Genre: thriller, horror
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: ebook

Sarah and her husband Joe move into an abandoned house with the hopes of flipping it and making a profit. The only problem? It has a chilling history that includes a murder that the whole town is still talking about. What could go wrong? As you may have guessed, a lot.

I liked this because to me it was a mix of horror and thriller. I’ve had mixed experiences with horror, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed this one!!

Quick notes:
🏚️Fast faced
🏚️Eerie feel throughout
🏚️Creepy murder house setting
🏚️Unreliable narrator
🏚️Twisty
🏚️Great read for spooky season

I liked the present day news articles interspersed throughout the book. They really kept me hungry for more - I had to find out what happened!!

The epilogue was good, but I also felt like it was a little unnecessary. However, I do enjoy a good little creepy, “not everything is as it seems” moment. But for this book since everything was wrapped up I think the epilogue undid some of that.

A random note - there were some inconsistent details in chapter 38, I believe. Emily’s sandal becomes a boot and then is a sandal again. It distracted me a little from all of the suspense in the chapter.

Overall, I really enjoyed this spooky ride and would pick up another book by this author!!

Thank you to Bantam Books for my eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts! I’ll be sharing a mini review of this book to my bookstagram account soon.

Loved this gothic psychological thriller!! The main character is a social media influencer, a trend that seems to be more common in books these days and I am loving it. Would recommend for true crime/ thriller lovers!

A woman with a social media following and her husband purchase a dilapidated "murder house" in a very rich neighborhood with the hopes of flipping it for profit and sponsorships. Sarah Slade convinces her husband to buy this house to renovate with the hopes of working on their failing marriage and making some money, however, the house has a haunted past as well as neighbors who don't want the house to be updated, and it starts to affect their lives in every way.

This book was a quick read, fast-paced, with interesting characters. I read it in one sitting. The overall character development was good as we learned more about them and their past and the FMC became unhinged. A little bit of an unreliable narrator, which I love. The setting was also perfect for upcoming spooky season with a haunted house and neighbors who could be working to get them out.

I would recommend for anyone who likes a quick thriller with a spooky element and untrustworthy characters. Thank you to Net Galley and Bantam Publishing for allowing me an ARC of this book for my honest opinion.

I really couldn't get into this book. I could not stand the central point-of-view character, and her attempts at humor and self-deprecation were just too cringe for me. I can appreciate what the author is attempting to do, and I can already see this is working for so many, so I'm glad it's out there, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Sarah's life is getting a bit chaotic. Her marriage is having trouble, and she has a lot on her plate with her career as a social influencer and therapist. So she and her husband embark on a project -- to renovate a house. But not just any house -- a murder house. A house infamous as the site of a murder/suicide. Even after 40 years, the house still has a sinister vibe. And, then strange things start to happen. Construction workers acting strangely. Weird accidents. Foosteps in the attic.....

I'm not sure I could buy an infamous house and renovate or live in it. I think I would constantly be thinking a person died in this room or that room, or imagine how scared they were, etc etc. My feelings about how I would react in a similar situation really made this story ultra-creepy for me. I ended up not being able to put the book down once I got into the story. I spent an entire Saturday binge reading this story!

I'm not going to say anything else about the plot. I recommend avoiding any spoilers. Go into this book like I did with very little information and just let the story unfold.

Great, creepy and twisted story! I loved it! It would make a great movie! This was a perfect book to read as I begin my annual Spooky Season Reading. :)

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Random House/Ballantine. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**

3.5 stars, rounded up to four.

This is Lisa Matlin's debut novel and it had some really good parts, and some good parts. It dragged a tad for me here and there. Overall though a good read.

I very much appreciated the author's note at the end of the book. I won't be forgetting it any time soon.

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and Netgalley for an ARC of The Stranger Upstairs in exchange for an honest review.

This book honestly scared the hell out of me, to the point where my own house made a noise and I about jumped out of my seat on the couch, but I couldn’t put it down. It’s certainly a slow, simmering burn of a mystery, but every chapter made me need to know what was going to happen next and what the final story would be. Sarah was one of the most complex and unreliable narrators I’ve read in a while. There was A LOT to unpack with her. I loved that the house was its own character as well. That really added another layer of terror to the story. I legitimately did not know where the story was going so I was absolutely surprised with the ending. Overall, I really enjoyed this one, but I did have one or two things I wish would have had more of an impact. The community of neighbors in Beacon had a lot of things to hide and I would have liked to have seen some resolution with that. And Sarah’s husband, Joe. I liked what she did with him, but I think maybe a chapter or two in his POV would have added to the mystery and suspense. But still, a solid debut that I think is a perfect addition to your spooky season TBR.
Mini spoiler: the cat does survive, but it’s a good thing he has nine lives!
TW: mentions of murder, death, animal injury, mental illness, emotional abuse, violence

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Would you buy a murder house?

Sarah Slade is ready to start over. A social media influencer with a best selling book, Sarah decides to buy Black Wood House, the site of a grizzly murder 40 years prior. Sarah wants to renovate it and flip it for profit. It soon becomes clear though that she’s in for more than she bargained for. Paired with her own secret past, a collapsing marriage and the risk of losing her job, Sarah begins to believe someone, or something might be trying to kill her.

I was really into this book at first. The premise is great. The execution, not so much. I felt like it started and ended strong, but it felt a bit muddled in the middle. It could be due to Sarah’s unreliable narrator, which I’ve read many times before. There are some nice twists and had a really spooky tone, so that’ll hook readers during spooky season. Overall, I just didn’t jive with this one as well as I thought I would.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bantam for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.