A suspenseful thriller that kept me engaged from beginning to end. I was pleasantly surprised by this book being of the mindset that I didn't care for Lisa Jewell's writing style after not liking the last book of hers I read.

I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded through the perspective of multiple characters. I was surprised by the ending, as well, whereas so often with thrillers I predict the ending within the last 50 pages or so.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good mystery/thriller. Thank you to Net Galley for the Advance Reader Copy. 4 stars!!

The Family Upstairs is a suspenseful novel, true to Lisa Jewell’s style. On her 25th birthday, Libby is surprised to find out she has inherited a house, and that what she thought happened to her birth parents has been false all along. Thus begins her search to find out what really happened to her birth parents. It takes a bit to get a hold of the characters at the beginning as each chapter introduces a new character and his/her story. The timeline jumps back and forth a bit but once you get a sense of it, this book is hard to put down. 4/5 stars.

This book was a roller coaster ride to me. The first part took so many chapters to figure out who the characters were, or weren't. I'd thought that I had severly misread or just totally skipped reading some...lot of confusion. But, that said, all of a sudden it just clicked. And while I wasn't 100 percent sure of what was what and who was who, I knew that I was going to continue reading it to find out. It is a bizarre story, and I'm sure that it could be 100% true somewhere in this world...I was looking for a hero to come and save the day. And I did, kind of...sort of. And BAM!, just when you think you're going to have a happy ending, well, you're put right back into the craziness of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book after I got over the confusion!

The Family Upstairs is a masterpiece among psychological thrillers that you will not be able to put down until you reach the last page. You will delight in its twist and turns, as it leaves you utterly and totally gobsmacked.

What I Like
The characters are divinely human and drive the plot. Libby is 25 and just learns about her birth parents and their home. She has inherited the home in a very wealthy district of London and now must decide what to do with it. Lucy is a homeless mother trying desperately to provide food and shelter for her son Marco, age 12, daughter Stella, age 5, and their pet dog. When a notification pops up on her phone, her focus shifts to getting her small family back to England, where she was born. And the last narrator is Henry. He provides the back story of the events that led to the birth of the baby that was found 25 years ago in the house that Libby inherited. All three characters are so complex and well-developed that you can easily imagine their choices outside of the immediate picture the story presents. Having three narrators can prove disorienting at first, but all 3 stories are integral to the conclusion and create an element of suspense that carries you through from the first to the last page.

The narrators are intriguingly unreliable as they tell their version of their story. Since the characters are so complex, so are their versions of their own stories. They tell us what they want us to know, which may or not be the truth as it really happened. This also builds suspense and leads the plot in directions we cannot possibly anticipate.

The plot is like your favorite amusement park ride, full of twists, turns, and sudden stops with a change in direction. And, just like with your favorite amusement park ride, you feel an exhilarated rush when it is over. You will not want to put it down once you start until you see it through to its conclusion.

The ending provides the necessary wrap-up but also is very haunting, as you can see outside the picture presented. Questions are answered, but you are left with an unsettling feeling that more questions have developed at the end of the novel. This psychological play makes the story stand out among other books in the genre and elevates it to the distinction of a masterpiece.

What I Wish
My only wish is that Lisa Jewell keeps writing amazing stories like this one.

To Read or Not to Read
It is an excellent book for a book club to delve into and debate the psychology, but all will love its complexities.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Talk about twists and turns! This is the second book that I have read from Lisa Jewell and this work has solidified her as one of my favorite authors!

The Family Upstairs is about a girl who has inherited her biological’s family’s home in an upscale neighborhood in Chelsea. As she goes about claiming her inheritance, she feels that she must find out what happened to her parents, more importantly, what happened in that house and why her mother took her own life.

The writing went back and forth between Libby’s third-person narrative and Henry’s first-person perspective. The really cool part about this is that Henry’s chapters are directly in response to what is happening in the overall narrative. It’s half creepy and half hilarious when he is being sassy. That perspective also allows us to see what the house was like when he lived there. Everything is in question. Why was Libby left alone in the house with three dead people? What happened to the dead people? How did they die? Who are they?

There are so many questions that I found myself a little dizzy but it was for the best reasons. Lisa Jewell has proven again how much she knows about writing intriguing storylines. The systematic manipulation and abuse that occurred just highlighted the distance we have from the people who live next to us. So many bad things were happening in that house and they were in the middle of a bustling city and no one noticed!

This book is perfect for a complicated dark suspense read. Highly recommend it.

Thank you for Net Galley for the free copy in exchange for this review.

This one was super atmospheric. I was wrapped up in the setting and finished this book really quickly. It seemed to be a little bit of a departure for Jewell but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

I could imagine every page in my mind and I couldn’t wait to see what happened. I thought this book had the perfect amount of believable twists without getting ridiculous… Which I appreciate these days!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell


“It all happened so slowly, yet so extraordinarily quickly, the change to our parents, to our home, to our lives after they arrived.”

On Libbys’s 25th birthday she is notified that she is entitled to an inheritance and is shocked to find that she is the sole inheritor of her birth families estate, worth millions of dollars. After learning that her parents and another mysterious man had committed suicide while she lay in her crib at only 10 months old, Libby strives to find out what happened at this estate.

The Family Upstairs is a gloriously twisted tale flipping back and forth between a family in the early 1990s and Libby. This one kept me intrigued from the start and I absolutely FLEW through the second half of the book! How can you not be intrigued by a family that gets tangled up into a cult?! I loved that we saw the cult through the eyes of teenage Henry, who was obviously disheartened by what was happening and yet couldn’t seem to escape. Having the main plot cantered around a cult was a very unique setting for this thriller, I found it absolutely fascinating! This story has twists and turns at every corner and despite being around 450 pages, it reads extremely quick.

At first, I found this book to be very confusing for the reason that the book would change narrators for every chapter, however, once I got further into the story I was able to follow along. Also, it was a very slow-moving plot which at times I just wanted to hurry the story along to get to the point/twist. Speaking of a twist-there wasn't much of a twist in my opinion and the "twists" I was able to see it coming. I prefer thriller plots to be fast-paced and more difficult to figure out.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Overall I give this book 2 stars.

3.5/5 I've read a lot of thrillers over the years, and many of them have had violent themes, plots, etc. But this one focused on child abuse, neglect, and even rape- all of which I just could not get into. The overarching plot was interesting and we'll executed, but I was having a hard time getting through all of the details.

This book was good, but very strange. I had read another review that said something like if you're confused, just keep reading as it will all come together. That was great advice! I felt I was confused for most of the book, which is why it's between 3.5 and 4 ⭐, but it all came together in the end for a solid 4⭐.

Libby who was adopted as a child knows nothing about her biological family. When she investigates she discovers that her past is complicated and sketchy. She learns that she is the child of a wealthy couple who had become followers of a new age guru, inviting him into their home where he took over all aspects of the family's lives. The couple, the guru and an a follower were found dead but a baby, Other children who lived in the house were missing. Libby, was discovered alive. In addition to this horrifying news, Libby learns that she is the sole beneficiary of the couples' estate and has inherited a mansion worth millions of pounds.

The novel alternates between the present day and the past, as the children who lived at the house tell their stories.

I'm sure a lot of people have imagined that they will receive a huge windfall from an unknown relative. It's probably more complicated than it seems, as Libby discovers. With the help of a journalist, she is able to locate and contact other members of her family and uncover more secrets.

The book was not bad. As a fan of Lisa Jewell I was expecting some kind of shocking revelation which didn't come, so ultimately I found it a little disappointing. Nevertheless, this fast paced story will be engaging to many readers.

Lisa Jewell’s books do a good job of keeping the reader off kilter, especially at the beginning. At the age of 25, Libby learns she has inherited a house. Not just any house, but a mansion in Chelsea, London worth millions of pounds. The house has been vacant for the past 24 years, ever since her parents killed themselves in a suicide pact and left her to be found. What was never determined was what happened to the other people, including her siblings, supposedly also living in the house.

The book moves along at a rapid clip. The book is told from the viewpoints of Libby, Lucy and Henry. Lucy is a mother of two young children, living in Nice and basically homeless. And we hear the backstory of the residents of the house from Henry, the teenage son . Henry is a delightfully creepy person, the kind that just gives you the shivers. In fact, you’ve got a whole cast of odd and disturbing characters.

This is one of those books I didn’t want to put down. I was anxious to see how it was all going to come together.

My thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

Lisa Jewell delivers another unbelievably twisted story. I kept thinking how could this possibly happen? Why didn't someone stop David from becoming head of the house that didn't belong to him? His rules were outlandish but no other adult tried to stop him. The children were the victims and they were powerless against a grown man who decided his word was law,

The characters were well structured. I became emotionally involved in the welfare of the children. I thought about some similar situations that were uncovered in the news. No one really knows what goes o on behind closed doors. Congratulations to the author for a good story.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Atria Books through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#TheFamilyUpstairs #NetGalley

This was a twisted sort of book! It’s told in three time lines which at times I found a little hard to follow. I’m just not sure what to think about this book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

Thank you to NetGalley, Lisa Jewell and Atria Books for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Jewell and was really excited for the opportunity to read her newest before it was released! Unfortunately, I didn’t love this one quite like I loved her other novels; I found this one tough to get into and to connect with the characters. I really got into it about half way through and then I couldn’t stop reading and I adored the different story lines told by different characters. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, but this one came off more as a feel good ending then I am used to from Jewell. Fans of Jewell may still enjoy this one, but you have to know that this one is more of a slow burn, but there are just as many twists as usual and the characters are just as interesting!

The Family Upstairs was twisty and twisted, and I loved it! The story is told by three narrators, not all of them reliable, and as things unfold, you find out exactly who they are and how they're connected to each other. The book starts off at a decent pace, and I was pulled into the story right away. Just before the halfway point, things just took off, and from that point on I found it difficult to put down.

I enjoyed the character of Libby and how she deals with the life-changing secrets that begin to be revealed to her on her 25th birthday. All of the pieces come together slowly and disturbingly through the stories of the past as well as the present until they collide, revealing some shocking revelations.

There are some pretty messed up relationships in this story, but Lisa Jewell weaves the tale in such a way that you can understand why these people make the decisions that they do---for love, for money, to not feel alone, or simply just survival!

Thank you to Atria Books for providing this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“The Family Upstairs” is a psychological thriller by Lisa Jewell. The main character, Libby Jones, inherits a large house in London on her 25th birthday. Libby, who is adopted, learns she is the only surviving heir of her family who died in a cult suicide pact in the house. Libby’s search for answers drives the plot of the story.

Though I found certain story lines a bit improbable, I still really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down and had some great twists that I didn’t see coming.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC.

2.5 Stars rounded down

I'm glad that I didn't really have any expectations for this book since it was only my second Lisa Jewell book and while I liked Then She Was Gone, I didn't love it; yet, I wanted to read The Family Upstairs because everyone kept telling me what a tremendous author she is and since I love thrillers, that I would love it. I figured I had nothing to lose by reading it and to be honest it was a fast-paced, tautly written quick, unputdownable read. BUT it didn't wow me because the characters lack depth, and I found them very emotionless in what should be an emotionally compelling plot full of weighty, dark, disturbing moments. The novel focuses on cultish behavior but the characters seem like cutouts instead of fully fleshed-out people, which is sad since the novel deals with such an interesting plot. I also felt that it wasn't thrilling or creepy at all and after reading other reviews, I had to wonder if we read the same book??

Now I will say that Jewell did an excellent job switching back and forth with the narrative between Lucy, Libby, and Henry as we uncover what happened 25 years ago and the narratives converge from the past to the present. I think the narratives are where Jewell excels, at least from what I can tell having read this and Then She Was Gone.

Also, does there have to be animal abuse in these books? Really? I would have not read it at all if I had known because that is just an automatic trigger for me and usually is an automatic DNF for me, but this was so late in the game that I continued. Actually, be warned this one has a LOT of triggers in it.

There seem to be tons of mixed reviews about this one, so I don't actually feel like I'm in the minority this time around. However, I will gladly pick up another of Lisa Jewell's books. There must be a reason she's so beloved.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC copy. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have been a long time fan of Lisa Jewell and was very excited for her newest book. She did an amazing job of keeping the reader interested and wanting to know more about the twisted home life of the kids.

I flew through The Family Upstairs. There is just so much going on, and so many different narrators in different time periods, it is hard to put down. While it was a very enjoyable read, know going in: here there be unreliable narrators, which just adds to the fun of the read.
This is definitely one you do not want to miss if you enjoy thrillers.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book!