This book starts off with a kid 17 years old, getting called out of class to identify a body, supposedly his grandmother. It turns out the body was his grandmother’s, and she was estranged from the family due to a restraining order.
Turns out she owned the island that she lived on and gave it and money to maintain it to her grandson, but there are a lot of rules that need to be followed.
I’m trying to get into this book and enjoy the mystery of what this grandmother did what her story is but there’s a lot of fluff side stories in the middle that had nothing to the book. It’s more paranormal and paranormal mystery, it’s not bad I kept waiting for more to happen that never did. But it was still enjoyable to listen to, and I highly recommend other books by this author.
P.S. The layout is weird with each starting with chapter 1.

Something I Keep Upstairs by J.D. Barker
🌟🌟🌟🌟
What a Great read!!
This is a creepy, thrilling, and mysterious supernatural book. This story is a haunting one that had me glued to my seat!
David Spivey, a 17 year old, inherits his grandmother’s old house on a remote island. This house has been in his family for generations and has a lot of history. David’s friends are excited to have a place to party over the summer. However, they quickly discover that this is no ordinary house and they have woke up the evil that lives inside. This is not a “typical” haunted house!!
I enjoyed the character development, as I learned about the different friends and their relationships with eachother.
A lot happens in this book and I was a little confused with certain parts in the middle. But, the storyline got back on track for me and it all made sense again.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc audio version of this awesome and intense thriller! The narrator did a fantastic job!

*This book comes out May 13th! Definitely grab your copy!!*

*ARC Review*

“Something I keep upstairs” is a spine-tingling mystery soaked in atmosphere. An old house full of secrets, eerie whispers, and a past that refuses to stay buried—this slow-burn thriller keeps you guessing until the chilling end. Creepy, captivating, and well written.

Something I Keep Upstairs by JD Barker earns a solid five stars from me — and that’s saying something, since it’s not a book I would have typically picked up on my own.

Barker masterfully blends elements of a thriller with a chilling ghost story, crafting a narrative that kept me on edge and guessing right up until the final page. The writing is rich in detail and clearly well thought out, drawing you deep into the unsettling atmosphere he creates.

What really stood out to me was Barker’s skill in character development. I found myself fully invested in the characters and genuinely cared about how their story would unfold.

I’ve already started recommending this book to friends ahead of its release — it’s one that lingers with you long after you finish it.

Thank you NetGalley for the free audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first J.D. Barker book and I’m officially a fan. Something I Keep Upstairs is a slow burn that slowly unravels into pure chaos. The narration was spot-on and made the eerie vibe hit even harder. I loved the blend of mystery and horror, and the characters were just the right amount of unhinged. Creepy, atmospheric, and totally worth the listen.

Many thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia Recorded Books for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Michael Crouch does a fantastic job narrating this story and fully immersing the reader!!

Holy smokes! I think this is by far, JD Barker's best novel yet!!! I am a fan of his and have read everything he has written so I was very excited to receive this audiobook ARC. While some of his stories can be quite violent (the 4MK Series), this one is less violent and more creepy, erie ghost story/psychological thriller!

David Spivey inherits Wood Island when his grandmother mysteriously and suddenly dies in the small town cafe. Wood Island is an old house isolated on an offshore island that is only reachable by boat. It has been home to David's mother and grandmother for generations and has always been shrouded in mystery. So when David and his bff David motor out to Wood Island to check it out and party, like most high schoolers, odd things begin to happen.

Like all good psychological thrillers, there are unreliable narrators and not everything is as it seems.
Go into this one as blind as possible and make sure you have a day to dive in...you will not be able to put this one down!!! HIGHLY recommend!!

This book is perfect for a spooky weekend in October. Set in New Hampshire at a real-live haunted house (AH!), we follow the story of Billy and his friends as they fall under the house's spell and soon begin to uncover the secrets hidden in the walls.

If you like Stephen King--especially IT or STAND BY ME--you're going to love SOMETHING I KEEP UPSTAIRS.

Wowowowow.
This was such a slowwww burn with an incredible payoff. This atmospheric read had me questioning everyone and everything the entire way through and I was loving it. I truly had no idea where this was going, and that made me SO HAPPY. I love when a mystery truly befuddles me. I listened to this in two days and honestly had such a hard time taking any breaks. If you can listen to this, I highly recommend it. The narration is fantastic.
I highly recommend going into this completely blind and just riding the wave. I loved this book so much! Thank you Simon & Schuster, Netgalley, & RB Media for my gifted ALC and ARC!

3.5 star read for me as a huge fan of J.D. Barker. I love a good thriller and love J.D.’s writing so was exicited to read this one. The beginning of the book had me hooked but then it fizzled with the ghosts and sacrifice at the house. Thanks for NetGalley for the arc.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up

This is the first I’ve experienced this author and whilst I didn’t gel particularly as well as I’d hoped with this title I will still always read more in the future.

This is like sitting round a campfire listening to ghost stories as a teenager at camp was the type of vibe of this audiobook and whilst I enjoyed the premise of this and the synopsis had a lot of potential it just didn’t quite merge thereafter.

Billy spends his summer on a remote island with spivey his best friend who was left a property from his grandmother with a lot of different rules that must be adhered to. This leads to various events taking place that include the media and police involvement however there is also a lot of supernatural element to this as well. When there is a missing girl in the plot and what is deemed to be an entity on the property it all just gets a little muddled and disjointed I found myself distracted and loosing focus of what was actually happening within this storyline. I felt I left this audiobook not really fully understanding all that had happened unfortunately it just didn’t seem to flow for me.

I appreciate the opportunity to listen to this ELC from NetGalley & RB Audio and wish all involved the best with publication in May 📚🙏🏼

This was a creepy, fantastic read! “Something I Keep Upstairs” is my first JD Barker novel, and it definitely won’t be my last. The atmosphere created was absolutely chilling, and the suspense never let up. Even though this book is over 400 pages, it never felt long while reading — a rare and impressive accomplishment. I was completely hooked from the eerie opening to the final, chilling page.

The creepiness is magnified by the fact that the island and house are real places, which made the story even more unsettling. The way the author blended friendship, sacrifice, and supernatural horror felt fresh and deeply immersive. Every twist kept me on edge, and the slow reveal of the island’s dark history was perfectly paced.

Thank you to NetGalley, RBMedia, and Hampton Creek Press for the ALC and e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

This audiobook gave me chills—in the best way. Something I Keep Upstairs is creepy, intense, and totally addictive. I loved the whole “creepy house on an island” vibe, and the friendship between Billy and David felt so real. Things went from summer fun to full-on nightmare real quick, and I couldn’t stop listening. J.D. Barker nailed it, and Michael Crouch's narration was perfect. If you like thrillers with a supernatural twist, don’t miss this one!

Thank you JD Barker, RBMedia, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

J.D. Barker’s “Something I Keep Upstairs” doesn’t leap at you with blood or jump scares — it just sits. Waiting. Watching. Whispering through floorboards and family trees. This is legacy horror at its most insidious: the kind where nothing ever screams, but everything feels like a warning.

Seventeen-year-old Billy Hasler joins his best friend David Spivey for a quick visit to Spivey’s newly inherited island home off the coast of New Castle, New Hampshire. Until now, no one under sixteen was allowed to set foot on the island — a rigid, unexplained rule enforced by Spivey’s late grandmother. No reason. No debate. Just family law, passed down like bad blood. But now she’s dead. And the house is open.

At first glance, Wood Island — only about an acre, with its two-story house and boathouse — is beautiful. Too beautiful. A perfectly preserved home, stocked with new appliances, a fresh coat of paint, and antique furniture that doesn’t look worn — it looks chosen. But throughout the house? Notes. Rules. Blunt, impersonal, and not even pretending to care if you understand them.
“Don’t answer the phone.”
“Never lock the doors.”
“Anyone here at sunset must stay until sunrise.”
“Your turn to feed Emerson.”
No context. No questions. No pet bowls.

Spivey, in remission after surviving cancer, carries the weight of someone who’s already battled death. But this isn’t illness — it’s inheritance. And he’s not just inheriting property. He’s stepping into a cycle that’s been turning long before he was born.

Billy keeps returning to the island, bringing his girlfriend and a few close friends, hoping for one last taste of freedom before adulthood. But the house has no interest in giving them space. Relationships don’t explode here. They decay. Bit by bit, through missed connections and awkward silences, the house peels them apart like old wallpaper. Every interaction gets heavier — like the island is pressing its thumb down slowly, just to see who cracks first.

And always nearby — always watching — is Marston, Spivey’s family lawyer. Suited. Unsettling. He doesn’t just represent Spivey. He attaches to him. The way a curse does. Or a contract. His knowledge is too deep, his presence too convenient. You start to wonder if he’s even a man at all — or just the house wearing a tie.

Then a teenager disappears. No panic. No public outcry. Just cold detachment and simmering resentment from the adults. Reactions in the community aren’t confused — they’re calculated.

You realize the local adults aren’t unaware of what’s happening on the island. They’re just... disturbingly detached. Too consumed by their addictions, their greed, their desperate clinging to whatever power or privilege the house has handed down. These parents don’t protect. They preserve — their comfort, their secrets, their silence.

Only one adult seems willing to acknowledge the wrongness — Police Chief Whaley. He senses what the others won’t admit: that this island is sick. That something beneath it is pulsing, old and angry. But his hands are tied by generations of quiet compliance. He’s standing at the edge of a town that already made its deal.

Barker builds horror the way storms build pressure, with silence, patience, and air that feels too still. He doesn’t rush to explain. He lets the unease expand. The island doesn’t feel haunted because it creaks. It feels haunted because it attracts and makes promises. The rules aren’t arbitrary. They’re ritual. Control disguised as structure. Tradition as a leash.

But for all its brilliance in tone and tension, the final third doesn’t quite scream the way it should. You wait for the collapse, the consequence, the emotional eruption — and instead get a slow dimming. The terror stays, but it doesn’t crest. It lingers in the back of your mind like something you forgot to lock up.

Still, this book is an elegantly unnerving face punch. 3.5 stars. Because this isn’t a story about a haunted house. It’s about how greed passes itself off as inheritance — and how acceptance, once it settles in, becomes impossible to escape.

Whodunity Award: Most Soul-Crushing Rules Since “Don’t Feed the Mogwai After Midnight”

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for advanced access to the audiobook.

This was a good book!
It had me guessing and trying to figure things out and overall just freaked out - lol!
The setting: an island off of New Hampshire - only accessible by boat. A family with little known as to why they are estranged.
I felt tense, dread, creeped out, and uneasy during the entire book.
The main characters are Billy and his high school friends - one being his best friend, David, who is a leukemia warrior.
David inherits the island and estate from his estranged Grandmother and from there, the world of Billy and all of his friends is turned upside down and backwards.
The plot fluctuates between past and present but is done well enough that the reader is able to follow along. I only found myself wondering if I was in the past or present twice (which is good for a book written in this manner). The plot is also fairly well structured.
Most of the characters are well developed - specifically Billy, David, and their parents.
Friendship is woven with secrets and sacrifice throughout the story.
I felt a little spooky reading it - I almost wish I had waited until the Fall season to read this book!
If you like a good suspenseful thriller, this is a good book for you!
The pace of the book is also done well. I had one part of the book that I wanted to hurry up, but that was because I wanted to see what was going to happen!
Thank you to NetGalley, Hampton Press, and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!
Happy Reading!

A coming of age horror story about a young boy who inherits a house and island off the coast on New Hampshire, this is a slow burn that kept me hooked. This isn't a story that will keep you up at night, more one to make you think about the unknown things that inhabit the dark corner of our lives

I liked this book but I didn’t love it. It had a good start off and plot. I loved the setting on the remote island and all of the bizarre rules it had. I did feel like it was hard to keep track of all of the characters after a while and the roles that they played. The ending was ok. Not amazing. But all around it was a decent listen that I would give 3.5 stars but will round up to 4.

I am unsure how to review this one. I didn't love or hate it. I was curious about it the whole way through. It kept me invested, but I just don't think I fully understood everything (that's a me problem). I just felt confused as to what was happening and what was real what wasn't. I do love JD Barker's writing style and the way he builds his stories, always so original and well thought out!

3.5/5 stars rounded down.

This was a pretty good audio listen! This was an eerie story and the tone in this was fantastic. I loved the relationships between characters even though I didn't completely love the characters themselves. At times I felt like there was a lot going on but at other times, it felt a bit drawn out. I was more intrigued by the beginning and end than I was with the middle. It felt like it got a bit muddled for me.

The ending was a bit more heart wrenching than I was expecting it to be. I wasn't expecting to have this type of bittersweet ending but I thought it was good! I think I would've preferred to have the physical book with me to read along to while listening but the narration was great. I had no complaints. I just think I would've been more immersed in this particular story with a visual read.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

TW: Cancer, Death, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

When you finish a book and actually question if it was true or not you know the book was good enough to pull you in and make an impact.

I came upon this book after seeing an ad for a content to spent a night on a “haunted” small island off the coast of New Hampshire. I entered as my husband would love it and then promptly went to NetGalley to see if it was available to read early and it was.

I did start it and realized that I needed to be in a certain head space to get through it so I put it aside for a bit until I saw the audiobook become available to review as well. That told me to get on it as publishing day was approaching. I decided to request it and do an immersion read of it and I am so glad that I did.

As far as the audio, the story lends itself very well to the format as you feel like you’re sitting in on the MMC just telling you the story. That story however is very detailed and long so following along with my eyeballs allowed me to stay engaged and not fall asleep at parts.

The book is supposedly fiction with some true things sprinkled in. I’ll admit it’s hard if not impossible to parse out what those facts are beyond it being a very read place complete with the real businesses and other places that make up the area. The authors note at the end give a good overview of this so be sure to read it. You could even read it first as it won’t spoil the story.

The narrator Michael Crouch did a good job with the MMC, a 17 year old boys recitation. I felt like the character was indeed telling me the story. However, he struggled when he had to read other character voices, many times not having any change in his tone but other times putting on an accent that didn’t fit with the area (in my opinion) which took me out of the story a bit.

I do think the book was unnecessarily long for what it had to offer but as I said above, the audiobook helped with that. I listened to it at 1.75x speed. Anything behind that became too hard to understand even with reading along. However, I will say that the book definitely spooked me! I’m not so sure I would want to win the completion at this point to stay on the island in the house!

The book comes out on May 13, 2025

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from RB Media and the eARC from Hampton Creek Press through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Release: May 12, 2025
Author: JD Barker
Publisher: Hampton creek press/Simon & Schuster

Rating: 4 ★ 

In the quiet town of New Castle, New Hampshire, seventeen-year-old Billy Hasler’s summer takes a dark turn when his best friend, David Spivey, inherits a mysterious house on a nearby island. With no parents or rules to worry about, it seems like the perfect spot for one last adventure before college. But as they start uncovering the island’s unsettling history, they accidentally stir up an ancient evil that’s been lurking for generations.

Something I Keep Upstairs is a chilling story about friendship, sacrifice, and the hidden darkness that can change everything when it’s finally unleashed.

Something I Keep Upstairs is a spooky, atmospheric story about a teenager who inherits a house on a sinister island — and everything spirals from there. Told through the perspectives of Billy, the best friend, and Chief Whaley, the local police chief, the story switches between different “cycles” or timelines, which at times made it a little tricky to follow.

From the very beginning, Barker creates an intense, creeping sense of dread. It gave me major ‘90s teen horror vibes — dark, violent, and layered in the best way. The house on Wood Island comes with strange rules (like feeding Emerson and never answering the phone), and as Spivey and his friends dive deeper into the island’s secrets, the lines between reality and horror start to blur. It’s not just a haunted house story — there’s witchcraft, survival, hidden town history, and an unsettling sense that something is very wrong.

I loved the eerie, chilling atmosphere and how the story slowly peeled back its secrets instead of dumping them all at once. The tension builds naturally, and when no one else seems to notice the danger, it feels even more real. There’s also a creative twist on reality and perception that makes even the quieter moments feel like they’re ticking toward disaster.

That said, the second half of the book dragged a little for me. There were so many plot points layered together that it started feeling a bit overwhelming, and I definitely had to push myself through the final stretch rather than flying through it like I usually do with Barker’s books. The ending got a little too wordy and complicated, which dulled some of the razor-sharp tension he built earlier on.

Still, even with a slightly messy ending, the emotional core stayed strong. The characters felt believable and flawed in a way that kept me invested, and the creepy setting of Wood Island was just so vivid. Overall, while it’s not my favorite Barker novel, it’s a creepy, creative ride that blends mystery, horror, and paranormal elements really well. If you’re into chilling, small-town thrillers with a supernatural twist, this one’s worth picking up.

Favorite Quote:
"it's not always the loudest voices your have to worry about; sometimes it's the silence that speaks the loudest."