It took me a while to get into the book but once I did I was totally lost within it's pages.

Libby turns 25 and inherits a huge house in Chelsea. She's always known she was adopted and starts to research her family. She gets in touch with the journo, Miller Roe who wrote the explosive story about what happened all these years ago....

In the past things change for the worse for Henry and Lucy Lamb when the strangers move in and what follows is an intricately woven twisted tale of secrets, lies, control, hurt, sadness along with hope, love and friendship.

I totally loved it and really recommend (as an aside note I don't really feel the title suits the story).

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. Whilst this book wasn't quite what I expected, I really enjoyed it. The story was gripping and different, and well paced, although I felt there should have been more demarcation between each of the narrators telling the story from their perspective, as sometimes it would jump between narrators without any indication. Whilst they all had clear voices and perspectives, it sometimes took a moment to catch up. Really interesting read.

In the end I loved this book. Taking quite a few chapters to get into the swing of it and connecting with the characters, but I could not put it down and read late I to the night. I would highly recommend it

Wow, just wow!
As a long term fan of Lisa Jewell I marvel at her recent change of direction - its hard to believe that the same writer of Ralph's Party and (my personal favourite) Vince & Joy could take such a dark and complex turn, her books of smiles and romance are now uncomfortable and deep. I love them, but in a completely different way - I want to savour them and read impossibly slowly but I just cant and I devoured this in 2 sittings.

The plot takes you on a journey, letting you in on secrets along the way but always keeps something back for the end. I absolutely love this book, and I'll need to read it again to absorb it all. It was hard to get to grips with at first and I kept flicking back a few pages to check where I was, but I think this is by design - the confusion just drew me into the story even more and the quality of the writing was evident.

I look forward to many more novels from Lisa in the future - but I do wonder what happened to turn her outlook inside out!

Wow wow wow this book was not what i was expecting. There were so many different, interweaving layers to the story and they all came together perfectly at the end. This is the second book by Lisa Jewell i've read but i am definitely becoming a major fan of her work. This book has such a distinct voice and can create a dark, tense atmosphere that leaves you on edge.

When libby turns 25 her whole world turns upside down. Libby always had known she was adopted but when she finds out that she has been left a fashionable house in Chelsea London she cant even to begin imagine what went on there.
25 years earlier three dead body are found in the kitchen of the house with a healthy happy 10 month old baby awake upstairs. Two teenage children missing
The body's have been there for several days, who has been looking after the baby and what on earth has gone on in this house.

Another excellent page-turner from Lisa Jewell. I have read many of her books and this is up there with the best of them. It had me hooked from the start. Having just finished 2 so-so books I think made this one seem even better.
As a number of reviewers have commented the multiple characters initially make it confusing but it soon becomes clearer. Thank you for allowing me to have a preview copy.

Libby has worked hard and saved hard and is on the look-out for a husband. She is an ordinary, likeable young woman. On her 25th birthday she inherits a large house in Chelsea and from there the history of the house, the people in it and their relationship to Libby begins to evolve. The characters are well portrayed and the story unfolds at a good pace with twists and turns making this quite a page-turner (I stayed up far too late to finish it!).
Many thanks to Netgalley/Lisa Jewell/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Enthralling. Loved the way the story was told through different perspectives and over many years. Would recommend.

Big fan of Lisa Jewell. This book wasn't my favourite of hers, but it's still incredible. Well thought out characters, dark and twisted plot, excellent resolve and surprises and twists right up until the very end.

It wasn't what I expected at all. The POVs from Henry, Lucy and Libby all served their purpose and had me enthralled in their individual lives, and how they would come to entwine. A slow start for me, but quickly became a gripping read.

The Family Upstairs is a mesmerising,enthralling domestic drama/thriller about brother and sister Henry and Lucy Lamb and how swiftly their young lived descended into a living nightmare after two strangers moved into the opulent home in Chelsea that Henry and Lucy shared with their socialite mother and father. A nightmare that culminated with the death of three people and the discovery of a abandoned ten month old baby in the almost empty shell of a once loving family home.

It's also the story of Libby Jones and journalist Miller Roe's investigation into the people who lived at 16 Cheyne Walk after Libby is shocked when she receives a letter informing her that she has inherited the house. The story that they uncover is shocking,twisted and heart breaking and will change Libby's life forever.

The chapters flip back and forth in time and are voiced by Libby,Lucy and Henry in the present day and Henry in the past. The chapters covering Henry and Lucy's younger years were very dark at times and pulled at my heart strings more than once as the story unfolded. It was frighteningly scary how quickly their parents were coerced and manipulated by their sinister,twisted house guests. The characters were well rounded,vivid and diverse,many of them were flawed,some were likeable but quite a number of them were not so likeable for various reasons.

I love Lisa Jewell's books and The Family Upstairs is no exception. It is exceedingly well written,her words flow with ease,drawing the reader into her enthralling story and holding you captive throughout. Once I started this book,I honestly couldn't put it down,I was hooked in from the first page,totally captivated by the twists and turns as the story unfolded before my captivated eyes. It also raises the moral question,are a person's actions excusable depending on the circumstances?. Very,very highly recommended by little old me.

A lovely thriller to get your teeth stuck in.

I was excited to read this after the blurb and I enjoyed it a lot. The story was compelling and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

A real page turner, following the story of Libby who inherits a derelict old house we learn it's secrets. Definitely a book to read.

This is the second book I've read in the last week where the title was very misleading or wasn't really relevant, but having said that, it was also one of the best books I've read in a while. The complex story line was nothing short of genius, how it all slotted together didn't make any sense until about two thirds or longer into the book. Once you put all the characters into the mix it made sense. But having said that, the journey was amazing. I loved every page and sat up till the early hours once I reached about 80% through it. The well rounded personalities were utterly fascinating and kept you wanting more with each chapter finished. I felt as though I was actually in the house with them and could feel their anguish and pain. I was very sad to reach the end but was also happy that there weren't any disappointments. I highly recommend this book, it stands out as a brilliant work of fiction by this excellent author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Lisa Jewell and Random House UK for my arc of The Family Upstairs in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: When Henry Lamb is eleven years old, things in his house begin to change. Henry and his sister have had a privileged upbringing with their socialite parents, private schools, furniture and clothes from Harrods, and the big house in Chelsea. But things change when Henry’s mum befriends fiddle playing pop star Birdie and she and her partner move in. Shortly after Birdie’s friends; David and Sally arrive with their two children and things start to go badly.

This was the first book I’ve read by Lisa Jewell although I’ve heard lots of good things. So I was excited to see where it went. I like my psychological thrillers dark and twisty so this was perfect.

Told from three perspectives we have Henry in present day telling the story of how everything changed when he was a child. We have single mother Lucy living in France and trying to get back to London after a calendar reminder tells her ‘the baby is 25’. Finally we have Libby who having turned 25 has just discovered she has inherited a large house in Chelsea and all the dark, twisted secrets that come with it.



This was a page turner from start to finish, a creepy cult, a suicide pact, missing people and a dark, creepy old house with as many twists as the story. I’ll definitely be checking out more from Lisa Jewell soon!

Every now and then - not often - you get a psychological drama that lives up to its promise. One that has you hooked from the outset and keeps you reading long after your bedtime. The Family Upstairs is one such book.
Told from three different viewpoints and set in the present as well as 25 years ago, this is in part a compelling study of a charismatic man who takes control of his own and someone else's family,
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In the 1990s Henry's parents are rich socialites. He attends private school and his worst worry is the ghastly knickerbockers he has to wear. But then something goes wrong, there are hushed conversations between his parents and the ghastly Birdie, a failing pop singer, and her partner Justin move in after the house is used for making a pop video. But there is worse to come. David and his family also insinuate their way into the house and before long David is running the show with cult like rules: no shoes, no meat, give away all your personal possessions etc.

In the present day we meet Libby, just turned 25 and inheritor of said house. The solicitor tells her she was found in the house as a baby with the dead bodies of her parents and another male downstairs. It is thought to have been a suicide pact and it is also thought that there were other children but they have disappeared. Meanwhile in France, Sally is impoverished and desperate to get home to England with her two children.

Along with Libby we discover what happened in the house and just how damaged the children have been by their experiences. I loved this book, its intrigues and the twists and turns of the plot. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

A solid 4 stars, mainly because I was drawn in from the first page and couldn't stop reading until I knew how it ended. Even though the premises of the story may seem a bit unlikely, as do some of the things that happen throughout the book, Lisa Jewell, as always, manages to make us readers forget all of this because the characters are so alive and the whole mysterious situation with the house is so enthralling. The story is told from different points of view and the mystery is unveiled little by little, as everyone's role in the drama becomes clear, and the protagonists lead us to a very satisfactory happy finale. Thank God, because this is the sort of satisfying summer read that would have been spoiled by an unhappy ending. Recommended for summer reading lists.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review. Here is the blurb

"In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.
In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.
They’ve been dead for several days.
Who has been looking after the baby?
And where did they go?"

I found the blurb got my interest without giving me away the story so I was immediately interested. The story switches about between different characters perspectives. The baby who has just turned 25 and inherited the house and various others who were in the house. The stories switch between the present and past, weaving the stories together. Can't really say much more without spoiling the story.

Really enjoyed the book and there were surprises along the way.

I'm a fan of Lisa Jewell novels and this one did not disappoint. It was set in the present day and 25 year ago when an event happened which affects the characters to the present day. We follow several characters from the story and have to discover how their stories come together to unravel the mystery. This story had it all romance, horror, psychological thriller! Very enjoyable read.

Not so much the family upstairs as the couple who moved in then made a us a weird commune. It took me a while to get into this book, but it was worth it, though I did get a bit confused with all the characters towards the end. Some characters almost disappear, and I couldn't remember how others were related. That said, it is a well written story that develops over about thirty years, of a household that ends up under one man's total control. It moves back and forth between time frames, this is clearly written, and works well.