What happens when a murder house and a social media star have a meet cute?

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that we have no clue what horror is coming for us.”

The Stranger Upstairs is a chilling and fast-paced atmospheric debut with moments full of tension, anxiety, and fear. Leave all the lights on and put a bell on every household member. Lisa Matlin is deft in constructing suspense and twists that subvert the readers' expectations until the last page.

Special Thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review

Wow! What a fabulous debut novel! Lisa Matlin is one to watch for sure. This was deliciously dark and twisted and I loved it. Amazing characters that just were alive throughout the book. this one hooked me right away and didn’t let go until the last page. Fantastic psychological thriller.
Thank you to Lisa M Matlin, NetGalley and Kathleen at Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book

The Stranger Upstairs is the debut thriller novel by Lisa M. Matlin that follows Sarah, an influencer and therapist who has recently bought a house that has been empty for forty years after a grisly murder took place inside it. With the intent of documenting fixing the house up and slipping it, Sarah soon learns that the house itself may be a danger to her.

The basic premise of the thriller sounds pretty standard and I have been burned by picking up debut thrillers in the past so I went into this book with sort of “meh” expectations and this book really surprised me! The characterization of Sarah was kind of a twist of what I’m used to seeing from a woman in a thriller and it made her all the more interesting to follow. The house feels like a presence as well because you don’t truly know what is going on. Is it cursed? Is it haunted? Is it just a house with a creepy history?

The last quarter or so of this book kind of felt like a little too much to me. It started to reach a point where it passed creepy and went into the silly territory as it piled more and more stuff up without really explaining why.

I can’t give this a full five star because of my issues with the ending but this was a strong four star thriller for me which doesn’t happen a lot. I will definitely be following this author to see what she comes out with next because I think her subtle character work is a talent that I don’t see often in thriller books. I can see this being a book a lot of people love!

This thriller was decent, but not a standout. I thought the premise was intriguing – influencer buys a house where a murder occurred, in order to document renovations etc. online – but the execution fell a little flat in places.

The best parts were the sections told in "found documents" (newspaper articles, blog posts, etc), but the characters were mostly unsympathetic, and the twists were relatively easy to see coming. (I actually think if this had been completely comprised of found documents, it would have made for a more engaging and interesting story!) I wanted to be a little more surprised, and a little more creeped out ... but not a bad read overall, and I certainly didn't want to put it down while I was reading! If you like the horror of "house that hates you" and don't mind unsympathetic characters, I'd say it's worth a read.

Thanks so much to Bantam and Netgalley for the ARC!

This is a twisty, toxic thriller. The main character isn't likeable, but she is compelling. And her interactions with social media are very realistic. The other character (the murder house) is definitely not likeable, but I was SO curious to see what was happening.

Lisa Matlin did a great job in her debut novel, and I'll be looking for more.

Confession: I am a big scaredy-cat. I love mysteries and thrillers but things that go bump in the night terrify me. I like the whodunnits, but also love the tension of the suspense. So The Stranger Upstairs is something I wouldn’t normally pick up as I think it went slightly more toward horror than the mystery/suspense I was used to. It was so haunting and eerie that I seriously could not read with the lights off. But once I started it, I needed to know what happened next, even at the risk of my own sanity!

Sarah and her husband buy the infamous Black Wood House where a murder-suicide happened 40 years ago. Mysterious things begin to happen around the house and her less than friendly neighbors are no help at shedding light on anything. Sarah is the perfect unreliable narrator, with a secret past and hidden issues that slowly come out. I felt myself lose the grip on reality in time with Sarah’s spiral. I never knew what was real and what I could trust. There are so many twists and a whole lot of psychological manipulation in this book; I was guessing until the end what would happen!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. It isn't often that a house becomes one of the major characters in a tale. The pages keep turning, but the twist was not for me. But that's on me, not the author.

Date is for the review, not the reading.

Sarah Slade is a therapist/social media influencer who buys a house with a violent history. She plans to renovate the house and document the whole thing via social media, but it seems like everyone in town is against her. She finds strange notes around her house, hears footsteps in the attic, and her cat gets poisoned. Is it the neighbors trying to scare her away, or is it the house?

I’m not usually into every books, since I read before bed and scare myself 😂 I couldn’t put this one down, such a page turner. I loved our unreliable hot mess of a main character and her grumpy old cat. I really liked how the news articles started but didn’t give anything away, and we were catching up to them. Excellent debut novel and I look forward to more from this author!

What.. who... why,,, huh??? This is a twisty, unwell, haunting psychological thriller. I couldn't put it down to be honest. I do have questions though. Several Many Questions. In fact, I have so many, that I am having a hard time rating the book. I am not sure I can love it, as there were several plot points that I simply did not understand the rational behind.

I think Ms. Matlin has a very promising future in writing novels!

gripping thriller that i couldn't put down.

thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the copy for review.

Title: The Stranger Upstairs
Author: Lisa M. Matlin
Publisher: Bantam Books-Random House
Publication Date: September 12, 2023
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sarah Slade is a self-help guru and therapist turned social media influencer. Sarah has just purchased an old Victorian home with plans to boost her social media standing with a renovation blog. The only problem is that the renovations are quickly becoming a nightmare at this murder house. Bizzare accidents, cryptic notes, unexplained noises begin to haunt Sarah... not to mention her marriage is in shambles and her barely-there husband is far from supportive. Slowly, Sarah begins to lose control. From her home life, work life, and online life, things are spiraling out of control. Sarah will soon discover the secrets of Black Wood House... and Sarah's secrets will also be revealed.

This is an amazing gothic thriller, perfect for those who love a slow burn. My absolute favorite thing about this debut novel was the snarky and hilarious internal dialog. I could not get enough of it. The mc was so relatable and love-to-hate-able, which made for a fun combination. Throughput the entire book, secrets are revealed one after another, but the last quarter of the book had my head spinning! My only complaint was that a portion of the book where the mc was seeking out info on the former owner became a little repetitive in a way, but it did not take away from the story. Overall, a fantastic four star debut novel that provides thrills and chills! Thank you to Bantam-Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC for an honest review.

#booktok #thrillertok #LisaMMatlin #summerreads #summerreading #gothicthriller #haunting #psychologicalthriller #bookrecs #bookreviewer #fyp #fypシ゚ #thebookishbitch

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an e-ARC of <i>The Stranger Upstairs</i>, scheduled for release September 2023.

Despite her social media posts, Sarah Slade is not having a good time. Since her husband is sleeping on the couch, she has nothing to come home to. Since she has nothing to come home to, she stays late at the office, downing several bottles of wine. Her career remains stagnant while she drinks into the morning hours, avoiding writing a draft for her second book. She's persona non grata in her new community after purchasing the infamous Black Wood house, the site of a double-murder suicide. Because her neighbors want to see the property razed, not renovated, she's unable to line up any paid sponsorships to offset the costs of the renovations. Everyone is warning her to leave but expecting a sizable profit after renovating and selling it, she's determined to stick it out. The longer she stays, though, the clearer it becomes that the house has its own plans for her.

Because Sarah and her husband, Joe, are deeply unhappy and miserable people only bound together by their past, it was natural that they were drawn in by the house. Their unpleasantness was what first drew me in, I anxiously turned the pages to learn more about their background. Her search to unpack what transpired in the house was interesting as well. The reason I rated the novel two stars is because of the second half of the book. It started to suffer from the same old tropes, i.e., Sarah's worsening problem with alcohol as a coping mechanism and making her an unreliable narrator., and others. Second, the multiple twists and turns started to work against the story because of how crammed everything began to feel. As a result, the ending felt like a real letdown.

Sarah is a therapist and a social media influencer, which I thought was an interesting combination. She and her husband Joe have bought a home where a tragedy happened four decades ago. Two people died, and what makes it creepy is that they are buried on the property.

We learn pretty quickly that Sarah and Joe's relationship isn't quite how it is portrayed on social media, and their house venture isn't going well either.

I really enjoyed the mixed media pieces of social media entries and newspaper articles that were interspersed throughout the novel. A few scenes were really creepy. I liked that it was a propulsive thriller without anything too out of left field.

We are told early on that it is a four bedroom house, but the tragedy in the 1980s occurred partly in the downstairs bedroom. Then we are told there are four bedrooms on the second floor. Also, I'm unsure how a house could be vacant for 40 years (wouldn't the bank want to offload it?). And if it does remain vacant that long, wouldn't it be in serious disrepair??? Wouldn't it be vermin-infested? Wouldn't they get inspectors? Just some piddly things that were questions from me as I read.

The cover is exquisite. I loved the author's note.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good atmospheric, gothic story, and this definitely fit the bill for that. It had some lovely twists and turns throughout and addressed mental health issues, which should be addressed more. I feel that the MC could have been developed a bit more and there were some unanswered questions at the end that could have been tied up a bit neater, but overall a lovely debut.

This is a dark and twisty debut, that keeps the pages turning and makes you question every noise that your house makes in the night. The main star of the book is a gothic horror nightmare of a home named Black Wood House. The house is in an affluent and exclusive neighborhood, but with its history of a murder-suicide it has been vacant for 40 years. Self-Help author and psychiatrist Sarah Slade, and her husband, purchased the murder house with plans to document its remodel online and to turn a profit on its sale. It doesn’t take long for the house’s dark secrets to stir up trouble in their lives and in the neighborhood. Accidents, strange sounds, and unexplained events begin to chip away at Sarah's sanity and shiny façade of a life. Can she maintain her lifetime’s worth of secrets and make it out of this town with her marriage intact? Can the mysterious events be explained by meddling neighbors or is there something more nefarious going on behind the houses’ closed doors? The twist at the end takes an unexpected form and overall, this is a chilling debut.

Dark, twisty, and super compelling! I found myself staying up late just to read one more chapter. I'd say this is a 4.5 from me - the main reason being that there were a few details/reveals at the end that didn't quite make sense to me and I feel like it lessened the overall impact. But overall it was a great read that I would recommend to anyone who likes creepy suspense.

First, thank you soo much for the arc copy of this book. It was soo intriguing and always kept me on my toes. I love the mentions of mental health bc that's not talked about enough. Even the characters you wanted to dislike you somehow were on their side. It was a very captivating story. Thank you.

The Stranger Upstairs is one of those stories in which you find yourself rooting, at times, for a character who doesn’t quite deserve it. Sarah Slade is cynical, secretive and kind of self-destructive. Her private thoughts and behavior when no one is watching make you wonder how she managed to become a social media darling. She is determined to flip creepy, decrepit Blackwood House, despite its violent history, without the support of her increasingly distant husband, and without the perks of now-withering influencer stardom. As last ditch efforts go, Blackwood House is impressive, even with its eerie vibes and propensity to slam doors. What better way to regain what she once had than revitalizing a murder house and turning a handsome profit? Sarah soon reveals what really lies beneath her Instagram-ready veneer and gets in her own way, but she is so earnest in her desire to make something good from the bad things in her past. She is complex and tortured, and it turns out, the definition of an unreliable narrator, but you believe her. After all, she’s not the crazy one.

I couldn’t read this one at night! Author Lisa Matlin’s descriptions of Blackwood House as a sinister, heaving presence that feeds off Sarah’s growing madness called for reading in the bright light of day, but those details are also what made the house feel like a character in it’s own right. The story felt part murder mystery/part supernatural thriller but with an ending so rooted in logic, I definitely did not see it coming. There are a few threads I’d have loved to learn more about, but overall this was a fun read and fabulous debut from Lisa Matlin.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bantam/Random House Publishing Group for access to this advanced reader copy!

When social media wellness influencer Sarah Slade decides to renovate a murder house in an upscale neighborhood, things go wrong in a big way. Lisa M. Matlin's The Stranger Upstairs takes a gothic turn, exposing how the past haunts us no matter how far we run.

Sarah and her husband, Joe, move into the house after fleeing their hometown. Years prior, it was the scene of a murder/suicide and the couple's daughter also vanished. The town is hostile to new owners and they make their displeasure known. The novel is full of twists and turns that definitely keep you on the edge of your seat.

I do think Matlin tried to take on too much and didn't allow enough breathing room to really dive into some of the themes she teases. The effects of social media, influencer culture, childhood trauma, socio-economic hostility, [haunting?, sociopathy?, multiple personalities?, identity theft? (hide spoiler)]. It's a lot for one fairly short novel to tackle. There are many things that don't really make sense in the end [ Why won't the townspeople talk about Amanda? (hide spoiler)]. There are lots of little pieces that all come together, but it's a bit too messy to get the complete picture.

I'm a sucker for the gothic, so Matlin's use of the generic conventions really got me: the personified house, the ominous villagers, the revelations. She deploys them in compelling and fun ways.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Sarah, the best-selling author of a self-help book and therapist has a past that she's desperate to keep hidden. Changing her name, her appearance and her personality is like trying on different "skins" to her. Always the unpopular, quiet sister, she grew up believing that no one loved her or saw her until she stole her sister's boyfriend resulting in her sister's "suicide." Fleeing the town, the two change their identities, get married and purchase an old house in a snobby town believing that they can restore the house and sell it to make a huge profit. The fact that murders happened in Black Wood House doesn't faze Sarah until strange things begin to happen and Sarah begins to question her own sanity. Hostile neighbors, a straying husband, an unfulfilling job, and drinking have Sarah on the brink of a total breakdown. Chapters that give readers insight into the "then" and "now" of Sarah's life draw you in and leave you wondering if indeed Sarah is really who she says she is and if indeed she is being stalked by a neighbor or is being directly threatened by the house itself. The end will come as a surprise as the tale of Black Wood House continues. A creepy enough tale to keep reader's interested to the very end.