I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This is a tough review for me to write as I didn't love or hate this book and I can honestly say it just might have been my mood the day I read it. I found it harder to read as I felt it was "sad" and right now there is so much sadness in the world. I will say it was a fast paced and I'm glad I read it. I will for sure give this author another chance with her next book.

Do we ever really know our neighbours? This book had a great plot with a unique story line. I really enjoyed the writing style. The characters were well written however my one critique is the main character was not overly endearing. The story moved at a good pace and there were some great twists but the ending was extremely suspenseful, shocking and well done!

It took me a while to get into this book. I liked the story, but it wasn't until maybe 30% through that I liked the main character and got a feel for the vibe. Susie was an interesting character, a little frustrating at times, but her character journey was quite nice, and did make me a little emotional. Overall the story was nice, I didnt guess what was going to happen so that was nice; though I was hoping for different ending.

I picked up The Girl Upstairs because the concept seemed intriguing, an interesting way to explore the theme of anonymous urban isolation through a thriller. But what starts off as an engaging and sensitive mystery soon unravels in the second half. It's one of those books with several great ideas, but it lacks momentum and a satisfying resolution.

That said, as a debut novel, there is some promise here, and I'd be interested to see how Lees' writing develops in the future.

Suzie knows everything about Emily even though they don't meet because she listens to her from the flat below. When Emily goes missing she feels compelled to help find her ..
This sounds like the premise to a good suspenseful thriller but the story never really got going and I didn't feel connected to the main character at all. I found Suzie irritating and there were no moments of suspense to keep me guessing
A good idea but not quite there

The Girl Upstairs reminds me of The Girl in The Train but without the big plot twist. In both novels, the main character is obsessed with another female character without any interactions or happenstances between the two. A big part of the storyline is based on the main character's assumptions of the antagonist's life. Both main characters are driven to find out what happened to the missing antagonist for no good reason. The only difference is that The Girl in the Train had a surprising plot twist, whereas The Girl Upstairs was quite predictable. Even though some of the reasoning behind each character's behaviours are questionable, I did enjoy reading this slow-burn thriller.

Suzie can hear everything her neighbour, Emily, does, she becomes somewhat obsessed with Emily and when she goes missing, Suzie is convinced she is the only person trying to find her.
The first third of this book plays out very differently to the last two thirds. I sometimes find books told from the perspective of a conflicted, sociopathic, perhaps disturbed character very difficult to read, but all is not what it seems. However the course of the narrative shifts and it becomes the thriller I was expecting from the beginning.
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as an engaging read with all the well executed features of a good mystery/thriller novel.

2.5 neighbor stars

Suzie lives in the downstairs flat and life is a struggle. She’s depressed, not going to work, and her upstairs neighbor plays the music too loud every night. In fact, Suzie can hear just about everything happening when her neighbor is upstairs.

Emily is trying to make a go of a new life in London away from her family. She’s got a new job and maybe even a new love interest. She is getting annoyed at her downstairs neighbor though, complaining to her directly and now through the council.

Then one day it is strangely quiet upstairs, what has happened to Emily? Suzie decides to try to find out and reaches out to her landlord. The police get involved, but Suzie feels that they aren’t doing enough.

This one has a good premise, but I’m afraid the writing just wasn’t optimal and the story seemed implausible at times. The police work did not seem up to par when a layperson gets more clues than the police! I didn’t really get connected to the characters, this one was too slow a read for me.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of The Girl Upstairs
by Georgina Lees
HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter
Yes!! what a fantastic read, I recommend this novel, Could not put this book down
Suzie owns the lower flat and has a neighbor upstairs, she can hear everything that Emily does, from cooking dinner to using the bathroom. Suzie can't handle the noise, but suddenly there isn't any noise after a big party that Emily had for her birthday. Suzie has had some events happen in her life that are slowly revealed as we read this novel. She then takes it upon herself to try and figure out where Emily has gone
This is a page turner with lots of twists and turns and an unexpected ending.

This was a slow burner that unfortunately did not entice me enough to continue reading it. I couldn't sympathise with the main character Suzie, as I found her behaviour self sabotaging and although I'm aware that she faced trauma it still did not change my opinion of her.
I ended up reading a spoiler for the conclusion of the novel as I did not want to waste more time reading this book.
Overall this wasn't an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy of the novel to review.

2.5 stars

Emily is the girl who moves in upstairs, she’s loud, heavy footed, plays music at full volume and by all appearances is happy. Downstairs is Suzie, full of sadness, life in stasis, stuck in her life and her flat, the apparent polar opposite to Emily who seems to be living her life. Noise complaints are made and after a while it all goes quiet upstairs..... too quiet. Where is Emily?

Emily must be a nightmare neighbour and you can feel Suzie’s tension, she’s so taut she could snap and Emily seems to be the catalyst that stirs and awakens something in her and she becomes obsessed and obsessive about her neighbour. That’s the good part!

Unfortunately, the pacing of this novel is just so slow and Suzie just isn’t interesting enough to pull you in and sustain you in the unfolding storyline. There’s not sufficient personality on display or emotions conveyed powerfully enough for you to care very much and so it just feel rather flat and monotone. The same thoughts go round and round Suzie’s head so that it becomes tedious. It’s certainly character driven but they aren’t characters that I can relate to. I can’t get my head around why Suzie would get so involved in Emily’s life to the extent she does when she had been in conflict with her?? She doesn’t know her at all so wouldn’t she just report and walk away? The police investigation and the behaviour of the police officers doesn’t strike an authentic note as in some places Suzie is allowed way more latitude than would actually happen. Suzie also makes convenient discoveries that the police overlook. Really? Some of the dialogue in weak which is especially apparent in the police investigation. There’s a lot of clipped underdeveloped dialogue that doesn’t feel true to life. This is very evident with less than pleasant characters who then feel somewhat stereotypical. The ending after a slow build up feels rushed and I have to say, it’s a surprise! Maybe too much is a surprise!

Overall, I’m sure others will enjoy this more than me but it’s too slow for me and I don’t make the emotional response I’m sure I’m meant to feel.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, One More Chapter for the arc in return for an honest review and apologies that this one didn’t resonate with me.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this. I didn’t like this book at all! Two women live in one house. Suzie owns the ground floor flat, has lived there for five years. Emily rents the upstairs flat and is quite a noisy neighbour. Suzie can hear everything - from Emily’s heels clomping around, water gurgling in the bathroom to the bed springs in the bedroom. And the music, oh dear it is always so loud. Until suddenly it goes quiet. Suzie goes upstairs to check on her neighbour and finds the door on the latch, the place looks like a tornado hit it but there is no sign of Emily.

Suzie reports this to the owner who informs Emily’s parents and the police. But Suzie thinks she knows Emily best (but why?) because she could hear everything going on up there. So she undertakes her own half baked investigation (but why?). That’s the story. The rest is padding.

Yes I know Suzie suffered from depression and anxiety and probably a host of other ailments but I really didn’t want to keep reading about her weeping and wilting into her chair as her legs gave out. It may have been well portrayed, I don’t really know, but it certainly has no entertainment value. And I know Emily’s family was a bit strange and she had bad luck with men but honestly, her story was just one big cliche!

The one word I would use to describe this book is boring. I know that’s harsh but that’s my honest assessment. This was a buddy read with DeAnn, Ceecee and Jayme so check out their reviews as well! I appreciate the free copy from Netgalley which I have reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

Firstly the cover and the title definitely caught my eye initially. Great writing, great characters and a great storyline. Time to clear your schedule for the afternoon, coffee pot on and phone turned off - you won’t want to put this one down.

What a sad book!! It's not your typical suspense story. Overall it's a great book. It's a bit slow at parts but I would recommend to mt suspense loving friends

Suzie Arlington can hear everything that goes on in the flat upstairs-she knows when the latest tenant, Emily eats, sleeps, has sex, and uses the toilet. She knows what music she likes, the food she prefers and the wine she drinks.

Creepy, huh?

Well, it COULD have been but all of this was just recited to the reader in a dispassionate fashion, from Suzie’s POV (ie: I did this and she did that)

We were told of conflict but shown very little.

For some reason, this makes Suzie think that she knows her neighbor better than anyone else, so when Emily goes missing, she becomes convinced that she is the only one who can find her.

Even though she actually didn’t know her at all.

But, WHY would she bother? She has filed a formal complaint against her neighbor for excessive noise and should have simply been relieved if she had moved out.

Eventually we will hear from Emily as well-but although these chapters tell us why Emily moved to London, the things shared don’t have much bearing on what transpired after, and we didn’t need several chapters to explain this choice.

And, the final revelation-I didn’t feel as if there was anything in the plot to support it.

The motivations of every character just seem contrived.

I simply didn’t find this to be the spine-tingling psychological thriller described in the synopsis. In fact I felt very little tension or suspense at all.

A buddy read with DeAnn, Ceecee and Pat. Be sure to check out their amazing reviews as well to find out if I am the only outlier!

Thank You to ONE MORE CHAPTER for inviting me to read a gifted copy. It was my pleasure to offer a CANDID review! Publication date currently scheduled for December 9, 2021.

Fantastic book but very hard to review without spoiling it for others.

Very hard to put down, easy reading, great characters.

I recommend you read it yourself and don't go reading too many reviews of it.

A psychological thriller, a bit of a slow-burner and a mood-setter at first. The main character is obsessed with her upstairs neighbour. The constant noise bothers her until, one day, the noise stops... all the little noises from above stop and the thriller part starts.

An authentic look into what it means to live alone in London. May be a bit too depressive for some audiences.

Book fell a little bit flat but i find it as a good read. Maybe because I have read something really good before reading this one?
It was sad too. I can’t help but feel some empathy towards the characters.
It was a little bit slow too but I didn’t mind it. I just want something to read that time and it worked out for me.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC.

Oh, this one was good! Unexpected and solid. This is the kind of book where you think the narrator is terribly unreliable because she's dealing with some past trauma that we don't discover until quite far into the book (and the trauma is unlike anything I've read before). Suzie drinks a little, is pretty messy, calls in sick from work a lot, and is generally a pretty sad individual. She doesnt' really seem to have any friends, so her fascination (and justifiable irritation) with her upstairs neighbors is understandable. But when Emily isn't around for a few days, Suzie starts to play investigator, which gives her a purpose she was lacking before.

This is a great book. It's a tight mystery with interesting, multi-layered characters, and a few surprises sprinkled throughout. It's a great lesson in what you see (or hear) is not always what it seems. Loved it.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

‘Neighbour thrillers’ featuring a lonely protagonist, often disengaged from mainstream society, who becomes obsessed with the person next door, is a rapidly growing thriller segment, with novels by Sabine Durrant, Louise Candlish, A.J. Finn and Paula Hawkins having set the bar high. Georgina Lees adds to this her own, very promising thriller. Her protagonist is Suzie, a young widow in London who is still grieving. She becomes first upset and then increasingly upset with her upstairs neighbour Emily, a vivacious but inconsiderate student. When Emily goes missing, however, only Suzie can reconstruct what happened and who can find Emily. After all, Suzie has heard, read and seen everything there is to know about Emily….
A fantastically constructed ‘slow release’ thriller with gradually building tension and insights into the many different facets loneliness can take. I am grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC provided in return for this honest and unbiased review of this thriller that I recommend wholeheartedly.