There are times I can appreciate a book with an unlikeable protagonist - this was not one of them. Sarah Slade represents a lot of millennial-era influencer stereotypes mashed into a person, and while it becomes entertaining to watch this type of person navigate a horror scenario it made it difficult to connect with or sympathize with her failing marriage or various other personal plights. The writing, while a believable voice for this character, came across as juvenile and a bit cringey, pushing for funny but not always hitting the right notes. If you are interested in a classic thriller with a social media twist and don't mind the resultant obnoxious protagonist, then The Stranger Upstairs might fit better on your shelf than mine.

Sarah Slade is a therapist and social media influencer who buys a house where a brutal occurred many years ago. Sarah and her husband's goal is to renovate and flip the house while documenting it on social media. Sounds like a great plan but both the house and Sarah hold too many secrets to pull this plan off.

Lisa Martin's newest book kept me on my toes the whole way through. If you don't like horror, this is not the book for you. However, if thrillers are your genre, then you should enjoy this one. It will keep you guessing!

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of The Stranger Upstairs.

In keeping with horror/ psychological thriller expectations, this book truly gave me the heebie jeebies! On one hand, the unreliability of the narrator had me struggling to figure out what was real and what was just in Sarah's head. On the other, the paranormal nature of the house had me curious about what made it so toxic yet terrified to read too late into the night. Lisa Matlin really knocked it out of the park in this amazing debut novel!

Book Title: The Stranger Upstairs
Author: Lisa Matlin (Debut Author)
Publisher: Random House Publishers ~ Ballantine, Bantam Books
Genre: Dark Thriller
Pub Date: September 26, 2023
My Rating: 3 Stars
Pages: 272

The blurb states:
A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut.

I am totally shocked that I selected another story that features a social media influence.
I told myself ~”No More – I must stay away from this ‘Influence epidemic” as I have met my quota for this century”!
Hmmm when Sarah Slade is listed as “Keep it Weird with Whitney” and voted Top 5 Melbourne
Blogger coving everything creepy and weird in Melbourne ~ that plus love her rescue cat named ‘Reaper’ definitely got my attention. Yep! I am good with Dark and Creepy! Plus I do like to support debut authors.

Story starts when Sarah and her husband Joe buy the infamous Black Wood Gothic Victoria 3-story Mansion—that has been vacant for 40 years as it is the house where a grisly murder-suicide took place. Sarah states it “has good bones’. Her plan is to remodel but her thoughts are this fixer-upper will help her blog become even more poplar, hopefully some sponsors and most of all to sell the house for a large profit.

Once the renovating starts someone or something perhaps the house itself wants to get rid of Sarah. The more the remodeling the angrier ‘It’ becomes.

Awww I wanted to love this but yikes! Sarah with her nasty language was sooo unlikeable; I found her impossible to like.
However, the more I read, it started to make sense that Sarah was not a wise therapist but someone disturbed who is in need of Mental Health Therapy.

In the “Author’s Note’ author, Lisa Matlin tells us about her mental health breakdown and issues. This totally made the story even clearer to me.
I loved reading the “Acknowledgements’ I only wish a page of resources would have been included. When author’s tackles tough subjects, I like when they offer some help.
Perhaps I am the only one who reads the information at the end of book but I believe it might help one person.
Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishers –Ballantine, Bantam Books for granting my ‘Wish’ for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 26, 2023

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Sarah Slade is a life coach/internet personality who buys an old murder house with her husband, Joe, to fix up and document the renovations for her Instagram. Her shiny exterior is not all it’s cracked up to be, and neither is the house’s. We soon learn that Sarah and Joe are running from their pasts, with dark secrets. The house has a personality of its own and seems to want them out. As notes start appearing in the house, the neighbors want them out, their marriage falling apart, Sarah begins to lose the facade of her perfect life.
💭Thoughts💭
The unreliable/drunk woman narrative is so overdone to me, but I absolutely loved the way this author did it. It was a fresh take on it for me. There were a few times at the end that I felt like twists were added for the sake of adding twists, but they ultimately all came together. The look into Sarah’s mind with the journal entries was also a really cool way to go deeper with her, even though we had a first person narrative already.
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⌛️Favorite Moment⌛️
I am obsessed with the way that the author kept you guessing even until the end about whether or not the house itself was actually haunted. The spookiness factor here was NEXT level!!
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🎉 Theme Ideas 🎉
Go on a haunted house tour near you! Sarah also spent a lot of time on Instagram, so scroll to your heart’s content! Have a cup of lavender tea for Emily too!

I wanted to love this book, I really did. It just fell flat for me in some aspects. I'll start with the negatives for me. First, how mental illness was portrayed. I always feel icky when those who have a mental illness are described as being "crazy" or deemed dangerous. While this is not the main point of the book, I still wasn't impressed by that. Secondly, sometimes the writing seemed juvenile for such a heavy book. Lastly, I thought there were a few plot points that just kind of ended. Like the whole thing with the sister and husband, I don't want to say anymore than that but it was so easily glossed over in the end.

But the positives! I loved the twist, it was unique in I have never read a book with that outcome. I did like Emily and thought she was the only good friend and character in this book. Lastly, I did like the parallel of the main character and the house.

Overall, I would recommend this but with a few hesitations. If you like thrillers that edge on horror, then definitely for you! I gave this one a 3/5 star rating.

Thank you to the author, publishing company, and NetGalley for a copy of this work in exchange of my honest feedback!

Such an incredible debut novel! Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me access to this book in exchange for my review.

Definitely a creepy psychological/horror thriller that kept me engaged from start to finish! When I read the synopsis and saw the beautiful cover, I knew I need to read this book! Do not let the cover fool you though because this book is everything….. haunting, thrilling, shocking, dark, and twisted all in one! Just as you think you are figuring things out there is another twist or turn, that will have you questioning everything you thought you knew.

Sarah Slade is a powerful influencer and therapist who, along with her husband, buy a MURDER HOUSE to renovate and sell. Soon though, the renovations seem to angering the house and people involved are suffering freak accidents or becoming very ill.

If your a horror or thriller fan I highly recommend you check this book out when it releases in September.

3.5/5 stars

This book is split into 2 parts.
Part 1 mainly focuses on introducing the characters and the plot, but not much happens action wise. Main character “Sarah” has a toxic personality and is quite a mess. Her childhood and back story are later detailed, but even then I had a hard time empathizing with her.

Part 2 is much more action packed. The mystery progresses and a lot of new questions arise. I felt a bit unsatisfied with the ending, because a lot of those questions remain unanswered. The epilogue further confused me, and I felt like the story would’ve felt more complete just ending on the last chapter. I get the idea of wanting to keep the mystery going till the very end, but as a reader I prefer to have all the questions answered and don’t like when things remain unsolved.

Overall not a bad read though! Part 2 kept me on my toes for sure.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review :)

This book surprised me so much! I was hooked from the moment I started it. I love a story with an unreliable narrator and I really enjoyed the parts where it jumped from the main character’s POV to the newspaper articles. I audibly gasped like 2 times while reading this (no spoilers though lol). Also, I LOVED the ending.

I only wish the book would have been a bit longer since I was so into it. I think there were even more creepy situations the author could have added. I also would’ve liked a little more background/interactions with Joe.

I look forward to reading more from Lisa Matlin!

I love the premise of this...the haunted house, the shifty neighbors and a town with secrets. The mysterious cold case and motives into why people either disappear or are murdered in the house. All the stuff with the house was excellent. It coulda been a awesome haunted house horror. Totally had the makings of a killer book, pun intended.

There is a few things that bothered me about the book and I sorta get why the author did it but at the same time I was left wanting....more. they hint about what happened with the mc in the past but they never really give details or explain at the end. There's a lot of bouncing between far past, sorta past, present.....and then you sorta know what's already going on or know what will happen but not really bc your confused until it goes back to the day and starts talking about stuff again. In some parts it's repetitive and other times it seems like it's leaving stuff out and there were a lot of questions I had about stuff.

And the mc I didn't like at all at any point of the book.

This is fast paced & I found that it avoided a lot of cliches. There are some things that the reader never really learns, but I wish we did. I appreciate the note from the author at the end. I would love to read what they do next

Sarah Slade, recent Instagram darling and bestselling author, decides to makes some money and renovate a notorious murder house. Soon, strange things begin to happen and it seems like the house and the neighbors are all against her…

This read is not my usual genre and out of my comfort zone with its gothic horror elements - I enjoyed it and found it to be a surprising and chilling page-turner.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

A woman in a failing marriage, buys a house no one wants and soon gets immersed in the horrors of the house and her mind. Both she and her husband have secrets and both are not who they say they are. Parts of the book I like and parts were a bit more horror than I like. I would try another book by this author, this one was mixed for me though 3.5 rounded up

It is a book that takes you on a wild ride all the way to the end. We have Sarah who has a dark past and it makes the reader wonder who or what is Sarah running away from. This makes you question is a house truly evil? Can a house do things to make you leave? Is it all in Sarah’s head? Who really is Sarah? Are the people in the town to blame or Sarah or the house? This is why I read the book in a few short days because answers are needed to all the craziness going on. I recommend you pick this book up.

A creepy/psychological thriller that kept me turning the pages! Sarah - a social media influencer -moved to the "murder house" for a fresh start and chance to renovate. Sarah starts to see and hear things that drive her crazy. Things might not be what the seem and she can't trust.

This was a fantastic book! Matlin really captivated me from the beginning and even though this is a fiction book, most of us can really relate to the main character with our lives looking so bright and shiny online but behind closed doors it is a different story. Murder, betrayal, mystery- the things I NEED in a book. This had it all!

The Stranger Upstairs is a dark, creepy, twisty thriller. There are so many suspects and so much back and forth on who is reliable, that I didn't know who to trust, and the subtle hints at something paranormal threw me off further. The big "whodunit" reveal was completely unexpected, and to be honest, I'm still not sure if it was brilliant or if I feel cheated. I was almost starting to feel sorry for Sarah at the end, but then the final chapter totally reversed that. There were maybe two good people in the whole novel, and everyone else was a terrible person, the kind you love to hate. I enjoyed the author's writing style and the way she layered in backstory. I'll definitely read her next novel when it comes out.

First off thank you for the chance to read and review this ARC. This book was beyond creepy at times in the best way. I love an unreliable narrator, so it really delivered in that way for me. I also really enjoyed the interspersed instagram/blog posts and news articles. I would 100% read another book from this author and recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. My only complaint is I still am dying to know what ultimately happened to Amanda! Also, I can’t leave out that the dedication section had me laughing before I even started the book which was a nice touch!

The Stranger Upstairs
Lisa M Matlin
Pub Date Sept, 26, 2023
Bantam
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
* horror * gothic
For a debut author this is a good start, I was offended by the language, however, and did not see the purpose in using profanity so much.
The book was intense, and kept my attention.
3 stars