WOW! Another unputdownable thriller by Lisa Jewell! She has become one of my favorite authors!

I have been in a book slump and couldn’t find anything to grab my attention or even hold it. I remember I had an ARC of this, started reading and finished it in one sitting. It was THAT good!!

I won’t go into too much detail about the plot because like with most thrillers, it’s best to go in blind. I read this at night and it made it even more creepy!

It’s told in 3 different points of view through Lucy, Libby and Henry and going between past and present. I absolutely loved the writing and the back and forth. It was very engaging and everything that happened was necessary to the story. The Lamb’s have two children, Henry and Lucy, and they invite this very charming man, David and his family to move in with them. However, everything is not what it seems. When Libby turns 25, she inherits the mansion that Henry and Lucy used to live in. That’s when things start to unravel and we find out just how sinister things got in that house.

It was totally creepy, suspenseful and a very thrilling read. Most thrillers like to throw in a twist at the very end. While that is not the case here, I liked how this story ended and I couldn’t imagine it ending any other way. It was very refreshing to read an actual thriller that seemed so real instead of throwing in twist after twist just for shock factor.

Another 5 star read! Lisa Jewell, you are amazing! Thank you for getting me out of my book slump!

Special thanks to the publisher for sending me an early reader’s copy!!

Review: Another wonderful read from Lisa Jewell! The Family Upstairs has an amazing cast of characters. Jewell introduces each one of them to the reader in both present-day and in the past. As I read this book, I tried to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together to find out who was related to who and what really happened that awful day that three people are found dead at Cheyne Walk. First off, there is the original family. Then two freeloaders who seem harmless come to stay with them. Then all of a sudden a new family appears and they just seem to take over the house overnight. The idea of this is quite chilling and it is obvious that something bad will happen. This book kept me on my toes and kept me reading late into the hours of the night. And you know me, I'm a sucker for that end twist. Lisa Jewell has outdone herself with her new book The Family Upstairs. An absolute must-read!

Thank you to Netgalley, Lisa Jewell, and Atria Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reviews and social media other than Goodreads to be posted close to publication date unless requested.

Scrappymags 3-word review: Twists, turns...titillating!
All my reviews available at scrappymags.com

Genre: Mystery/Contemporary Fiction
Publication date: 11/5/2019

Shortest summary ever: Libby turns 25 and receives a letter... a letter that basically tells her she’s inherited an amazing Chelsea London house, a strange, old house full of mysteries that include a mass suicide involving her birth family about whole she knows nothing. Like any old house, there are secrets in every corner, creeks and groans that tell stories up every staircase, and an aura of strangeness that pervades every room. What’s the REAL story? And who IS Libby? 


What’s good under the hood: My 2nd Jewel novel, I’m now wondering ... why it’s only my 2nd Jewel novel!! Alternating narrators make this story - competing versions of the same story -narrowing effectively until the reader is confronted with the possibility one of these storytellers isn’t being forthcoming (and who DOESN’T love the unreliable narrator?) Nice twists and turns and plot points that leave the reader wanting. Wonderfully told.


What’s bad or made me mad: Can’t pinpoint much... as I started to get into the, “Ok why is this dragging on?" mode toward the novel's end, I was hit with the answer. Boom. Worth it.


Recommend to: All the mystery fans. Every single freakin' one.


Thanks to NetGalley, Atria and Ms. Jewell for an advanced copy (and for swearing me off creepy old houses FOR GOOD... I mean it this time!) in exchange for this completely honest review.

A real mystery. It is Libby's 25th birthday and she gets a letter telling her that she has inherited a house in Chelsea. She is hoping that at last she can fill in the gaps of her childhood. She was found abandoned in her crib with 3 dead people downstairs almost 25 years previously and she has no idea about what happened.
She goes to the house which had since been boarded up and slowly starts to piece together what happened all those years ago. Then while in the house, she hears noises up in the attic and finds that she is not alone.
This book was intriguing, but I did get a little lost in the middle of the story, but it did come together in the end.

Lisa Jewell is so talented , another great book. Stories like this make me wonder if I would be so easily manipulated. Thank you again Netgalley.

3.5 solid stars. The story was intriguing and unique and maybe a touch weird at times, It did entertain though. Thank you publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell was one of my favorites so far this year. I've read several of her other books, and for me, this one is the best yet. I devoured the book in two chunks, one larger read in the afternoon and the other shortly before bed. I couldn't fall asleep for at least an hour as my mind continued to process everything that had happened in the complicated and messy (in a good way) tale.

There are 3 main voices in the novel: Lucy, a runaway/homeless mother of two; Henry, the son of a former rich couple who fell for a scam; and Libby, a 25-year-old girl who inherits a house from the biological parents who committed suicide nearly a year after she was born. As the stories unravel, we begin to understand some of the connections between the three protagonists; however, in true Jewell fashion, what you know is not quite what you know. The lines are blurry, the connections are misleading, and the identities often change. If you just look at the shell of this book, Libby is a sweet and wonderful girl in search of the truth, Henry is quirky and possibly a little crazy, and Lucy is either truly down on her luck or causes her own pain time and time again.

That's only the beginning. Lucy acts the way she does because of what happened to her as a child. We don't know all the details, but it's easy to judge her in the beginning. While I still think she should've been partially punished for some of her actions, all-in-all, she definitely suffered more than any human should. Libby is 100% faultless... and she's the kind of girl I'd like to be friends with (before or after the money, in case you were wondering!). Henry... well... that's complicated. Sometimes, he seems very attractive. Others, I think he might try to kill people because his brain is just a little different than the rest of ours. Was he a victim of his circumstances? Was he properly punished? Do we truly know the whole story, or only the parts he wanted to share with us?

This was the kind of book that leaves you puzzled in a good way. There is a lot left to a reader to decide. Jewell has written a defined ending, and we know what happens to everyone, but... there's some doubt as to which version of the truth we want to believe. The relationships between Phineas, Lucy, Henry, Finn's sister, the various moms and dads living in their lives, and the people they meet along the way are dark and deceptive. It's a perfectly complex family drama that really hit the sweet spot for me.

Of course, there were a few areas I wasn't 100% thrilled with, e.g. where did Julian go? why did Henry Sr. have so many strokes? how did no one discover the murders going on? I can suspend that bit of disbelief, but overall, it was inconsequential to the whole of the story for me. The writing style and tone are superb, thus I can only trim away a partial star. 4.5 from me... and I'll definitely be reading more of the author's novels in the future.

This book was good. Lisa Jewell did it again with the kind of twists and turns you'd expect. However, I feel like once I've read one of her books, I've read them all. I'm not sure i connected with any of the characters or the story in general.

I read this book until I was midway through it. I just couldn't get invested in this story. It's not a book that I would recommend.

So good! I read this in one day and was annoyed when anything took me away from reading it. Great character development and storyline. Cannot wait to read something else from this author! Watching You is also amazing. Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC!

Two families living in one house. The new family begins to dominate the original family. The children find themselves with less freedom, less, space and food as the family upstairs begins to take over their world.

I found this book much like the V.C. Andrews books CF the 70's. A little bit of everything leading to an outcome not necessary as the reader that.

Another great novel by Lisa Jewell. I won't lie, the beginning of the book was a little hard for me with lots of characters (with similar names) and not quite figuring out how they connected, but when it finally all clicked, I had trouble putting this book down.

Jewell does it again. She keeps you on your toes, provides several twists and turns, and forces you to stay home so you can read to the end!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel!

Lisa Jewell’s latest “The Family Upstairs” is three stories that eventually come together. I found this book engaging and entertaining although I figured out key parts before the end of the book, although I did not know I had figured out those key parts. The story follow the current lives of two women, one a struggling bathroom saleswoman in London who inherits a house and one a homeless single fiddle player in Paris, the third storyline follows a young boy and the chaos that infiltrated life as he knows it. There were twists and turns and it shows how easy it is for people to get manipulated and sucked into the chaos.

Three people are found dead in the kitchen of an extravagant home in Chelsea, London’s swanky multi-million dollar neighbourhood. Cloaked in black robes, their deaths seem suspiciously planned. Enter “Libby”, the baby that was found on the second floor of the 8-bedroom house of dark secrets. Removed from the home and raised by her adoptive parents, the truth behind her sinister family begins to unravel with her inheritance of the very mansion she was discovered. A roller coaster of shocking secrets about her past definitely make this a novel you can’t put down.
Told from three different perspectives, Jewel slowly sheds light on the twisted lives of the people hidden inside the Chelsea mansion. I was very excited about this novel even though it’s my first one by this author. Unfortunately, i fear I hyped it up too much and felt somewhat disappointed by the end. Don’t get me wrong, I HAD to find out who her real parents were, and I desperately wanted more insight into the twisted upbringing of the children living in the house.... but it started to feel disjointed towards the end. The way the stories wove together in the end was unsatisfying and abrupt. It was a fast-paced read, but fell flat at the end as it became more far-fetched.

Well, it looks as though I may be in the minority on this one!

Libby is shocked after being notified she’s just inherited a massive house. One that comes with a mysterious and tragic history.
Libby was found abandoned as a baby in this home. Having been adopted, Libby has since blossomed into a 25 year old, well-adjusted, content young lady. Anxious to keep her life moving along on the timetable she’s set for herself.

Well, Miss Libby...this new inheritance thing may just change up your original life plan. Maybe there’s a great deal more to discover here than just an old house.

Told from several POV and timelines. From the start I had difficulty keeping it all straight, never coming together as much as I hoped.

I’ve been reading all of Lisa Jewels books and always look forward to their release every year, but I have to say this might be my least favorite.

But…I’m still a committed Lisa Jewell fan and anxiously await her next release!

A buddy read with Susanne!🌸

Thank you to Ariele Friedman at Atria Books via NetGalley and Lisa Jewel for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

A little confusing in the beginning with so many characters introduced but quickly builds to an unputdownable (is that a word?) read. You will be lost while meeting everyone, then you will discover twists and turns totally unexpected. Not to be missed.

Lisa Jewell delivers a dark, fiercely original and twisty read, mining the deepest secrets a family can hide--and the most desperate actions taken to conceal them. No thriller reader should miss this one.

This is surely a "photograph" of a dysfunctional family. It was really quite sad to read about the four children and their parents, bed sitters, and all that transpired. There were some uplifting scenarios to keep me reading- Libby and Lucy finding each other, siblings being reunited and so forth. I think some characters such as Henry and Phin weren't explored sufficiently. On the whole, I enjoyed the book and I would recommend it to others. Thank you for giving me the chance to read it.

Hey Lisa Jewell fans! This one is goooood!

When Libby Jones turns twenty-five years old, she learns that she has inherited a house from her birth parents. A very expensive, beautiful house with a dark secret: her birth parents, along with an unknown man, were found dead of an apparent suicide pact and she was found upstairs in her crib, alone but well cared-for. This is the first Libby has ever heard of this story, and she’s determined to unravel the mystery: why did her parents kill themselves? Were they members of a cult, as many suggested? And who had been taking care of her during the days between their death and their discovery?

This is more of a mysterious family drama than a thriller, and I think if you go in with that knowledge, you’ll enjoy it. The story starts off rather slowly, then unravels in a perfectly chilling and enjoyable way, as we slowly piece together the mystery of what happened to Libby’s family of origin. I adore Jewell’s writing, her quirky characters, her spot-on knack for dialogue. The setting and atmosphere was impeccable—this creepy old house and it’s secrets gave me the chills!—and I stayed up waaaay past my bedtime finishing it.

Releases November 5. Thanks @netgalley and @atriabooks for a free digital and physical copy in exchange for an honest review.

(Note: will wait to post this review on Instagram until closer to release date).

Whenever a customer asks me about a good thriller that is twisty and has some more depth, Lisa Jewell is the first author I present them with. So you can understand my happy dance when I received an ARC with the courtesy of Netgalley (thank you!).

The story itself was enjoyable, but it didn’t leave me very satisfied like her other work did. I like the direction the book was going and there were definitely a couple ‘ohhh nicely done Lisa’ moments, but overall I felt that was went in details on the wrong moments for me. The things I wanted to know more of left completely unanswered and looking back I felt a bit annoyed almost that she made these decisions. It was as if she created a hype, but very much failed to live up to it. I wanted to like this book a lot, but now it was just enjoyable - nothing really special.