I am happy people enjoyed this one but maybe it just didnt have a good impact on me. The pace was too confusing and I know sometimes it is intentional to make it that way so the mystery is there but… this just fell flat.
Maybe I will give it another shot and reread? maybe the second time around it is better.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. This was a super quick page turner that I finished in 24 hours. The story was fast paced, unique, and kept me guessing.

I always enjoy a good thriller about a creepy house and this didn’t disappoint. It also didn’t rely on the cliches and had an unexpected ending. Really enjoyed this as a fun easy summer read!

While I definitely love to love a main character is was hard this time…. But I truly admit I loved to hate her. What a well written character all around and while she develops holding one secret to another, you know she really only cares about what’s good for her and how she is perceived in life. All while routing for her to get what she deserves and trying to figure out one mystery of who she is to what she’s done to is the house haunted, is she crazy or those horrible neighbors.
Loved the concept of this book and it kept me engaged from page one all the way to the end!

The Stranger Upstairs follows Sarah Slade and her husband’s need for something new in their life. Sarah is a bestselling author and therapist. Joe is a bartender. Together they move to the Black Wood House with the idea of renovating and selling it for a huge profit. Nothing goes as planned. The neighbors do not want anyone in the house even though it has been 40 years since their neighbor murdered his wife and then killed himself.
Sarah appears to have it all together with a bestselling novel, a new job as a therapist, a new house and a successful blog. She thinks no one knows her secrets until notes start appearing around the house. She hears footsteps in the attic and her cat appears to be poisoned. She is soon convinced that the house is alive and knows everything. Everything is out of control.
I almost did not finish this book. After reading Lisa Matlin’s detailed and very dark description of the wallpaper I had decided this is too creepy for me but I continued. I am so glad I did. Her descriptions of the scenery allows the reader to feel like they are walking along beside Sarah. Then came the uncovering of the secrets which opened up so many twist and turns. I was so sure I had it figured out. I was wrong.
Thank you NetGalley, Random House Ballantine and Lisa M. Matlin for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This one seriously scared me in the first third of the book. So much so, that I had to put it down and do something happy. Then I settled back in and I was no longer scared, but it was creepy and intriguing. There are quite a few good twists, turns and surprises. And it's hard to believe this is a debut novel. This will be one author to watch!!

Just finished reading this book and it was soo good!! What a thrilling ride and with an ending I never guessed. I love that it dealt with mental health and how Lisa talks about her struggles with mental health at the end. I can best describe this book as psychological thriller/horror that is creepy!! “Who wants to buy a murder house?”
Sarah Slade was an influencer who became an author and counselor. She is unhappily married to Joe do. They have a secret past they are running from and start over in a town called Beacon. They buy Black Wood House, a murder house with the intentions of renovating it and blogging about it. This is a house where 40 years ago Bill Campbell killed his wife Susan, attempted to kill his daughter Janet, and ended up taking his own life. After Sarah and Joe move into the house everything changes. Sarah starts to lose it in this house thinking the house is alive.
What a thrilling crazy ride I genuinely couldn’t put down this book. Thank you Net Galley and Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

4.5 rounded up
Great debut novel!
Murder house and social media, how can you not love it? Great atory and interesting characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Wow! What a debut!

This combines a haunted house trope with a VERY unreliable narrator to perfection, and reminded me of my early favorites of the suspense genre in Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins.

Super unsettling/ eerie vibes from start to finish, the pace never lets up! I will definitely be on the lookout for Matlin’s future releases after devouring this one.

The Stranger Upstairs is a fast and frantic read that keeps you wondering, is this paranormal or psychological? Sarah makes for an interesting, complex, and sometimes unreliable, narrator, with a hidden past that's slowly revealed. There are quite a few elements that are underdeveloped or never explained, which was disappointing, and I wish the spooky aspects had been explored further. In the end, I gave this psychological thriller 3.5 stars.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin, a creepy, jumbled, fantastically enjoyable read! This story follows Sarah Slade, a therapist who has purchased a "murder house" with her husband Joe. This is the unraveling of an unreliable narrator. I thought I knew exactly what was about to happen, until I didn't! A must read! I would like to thank the author, Lisa M. Matlin, and NetGalley for the complimentary e-galley.

I’m not going to lie, this one was a little hard to keep up with… but I guess that was kind of the point, right? Sarah/Lizzy is going crazy and the reader kind of feels like they are too! The ghosty qualities of this book were unresolved which was frustrating but it’s interesting what happened at the end. I think it was a good debut novel and look forward to what else Lisa comes out with. Sarah/Lizzy was one crazy bitch… but was it her fault… yes and no?

I really enjoyed this book! Just when I thought I had it all figured out, another twist would hit. This book is a quick, but great read - perfect for a flight, day at the beach, or a rainy day inside.

DNF at 50%. Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me. An interesting premise, but an incredibly unlikable main character and a storyline that never quite picked up. By 50% it still didn’t hold my attention and I decided to move on. Would try something else by this author, this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley! This was a wild ride. I love anything spooky, and this one was just unpredictable and kept me guessing the entire way through. I read it in 2 sittings.

First off thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I did find the the setting and premise of the book interesting and kept me engaged. Overall though I couldn’t get past the main character. I do not like her and she was way too similar to many other mains in other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine-Bantam for this Advanced Reader Copy, in exchange for my honest review.

When Sarah Slade and her husband, Joe, buy Black Wood house, the site of an infamous murder, they know that it is not accepted by the town. But things begin to really take turn when Sarah feels her sanity slipping away. But what is the cause, is it the neighbors that are so unhappy about the house being purchased, is it her husband as their marriages is slowly ending, is it the former owner who mysteriously disappeared or is it the house itself?

Overall, this was a good book. It is a quick read. I enjoyed the gothic aspects of the story. I appreciated the author’s notes at the end about her own mental health. Thank you Lisa Matlin for your bravery and vulnerability in sharing your journey.

Great debut novel.

“Most people wouldn’t buy an infamous murder house to renovate for fun. But Sarah Slade is not most people.”


Personal review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Woah, this book was twisty and dark. I love a good haunted house story as well as the next person, but this house seemed to be eating away at the main character, Sarah Slade, the more the story and renovations went on. What started as a social networking way to make easy money in an affluent neighborhood, turned into a dark and suspenseful ride that kept me gripping the book and wanting more! I loved the complexity of the main character, as each layer was revealed!! I received an early copy of this novel from Bantam Books in exchange for my honest opinion! Look for the book on shelves September 26, 2023.

Synopsis: A therapist and self-help writer with all the answers, Sarah has just bought a gorgeous Victorian in the community of her dreams. Turns out, you can get a killer deal on a house where someone was murdered. Plus, renovating Black Wood House makes for great blog content and a decent distraction from her failing marriage. Good thing nobody knows that her past is just as filthy as the bloodstain on her bedroom floor.
But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Sarah imagined custom avocado wallpaper, massive profits, and an appreciative husband who wants to share her bed again. Instead, the neighbors hate her guts and her husband still sleeps on the couch. And though the builders attempt to cover up Black Wood’s horrifying past, 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.

I had no idea where this story was going or what was going to happen to the main character! She was a great, well developed unreliable main character. The story had several big plot twists and turning points that kept me guessing and kept the story fast paced.

Fantastic debut! This was such a great read that I got sucked in immediately. It's well paced, entertaining and beautifully written. Main character Sarah Slade is awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed her cynical perspective and even though she was a bit unreliable, her narration was refreshing.

The setting of a murder house and a neighborhood where outsiders aren't welcome was great and there was an increasingly creepy atmosphere throughout. I was somewhat surprised by the ending. I had an idea of where it was going but wasn't quite sure. I've read a lot of thrillers so not much surprises me anymore, but the writing here is so good I questioned my own thoughts.

It's been a while since I enjoyed a thriller this much. I look forward to reading more from Lisa Matlin in the future.

A huge thank you to Lisa M. Matlin, Bantam and NetGalley for providing this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Stranger Upstairs Review!

Thank you so much Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for this gifted e-read in exchange for an honest review! The Stranger Upstairs is out September 26, 2023!

When a house is considered a “Murder House”, you can almost always guarantee I’ll pick it up! Also, this cover was stunning. 😍The Stranger Upstairs was a 3.5/5 ⭐️ for me! Unreliable narrators are always fun and I didn’t really have a clue where this was going due to that. I wasn’t much of a fan of the characters and the whole towns people was a little cheesy. I also thought the ending was super abrupt and unexpected. That was the main reason for the rating!

Synopsis: Sarah Slade is a hot mess who is dealing with a rocky marriage while being an unqualified marriage therapist herself. On top of all that, she decides to buy a a murder house and fix it up. That should solve all her problems! 👍🏼