Member Reviews
This story is a wonderful psychological thriller with twists and turns that will keep you guessing. Suzie is a young widow, living by herself, having a difficult time moving on with her life. She is obsessed with her upstairs neighbor (Emily) and her comings and goings. Not only does she notice who she visits with, when she leaves, the mess she leaves in the hallway, but also, the noise that she makes. Suzie becomes angry with all of the commotion from her upstairs neighbor and eventually lodges a complaint. However, before you know it, the noise stops. There is no movement from above. What has happened to Emily? Suzie becomes an active participant in the investigation. What has happened to her upstairs neighbor? This book kept my interest and I was excited to get to the end. I highly recommend it. I will be looking for other titles by this author. If you enjoy psychological thrillers, this is the book for you. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
I really enjoyed this book, I liked how Suzie’s story slowly revealed itself and the impact it had in her being determined to find out what happened to Emily. I thought this was well written, with a twist I didn’t really see coming. Very enjoyable and I struggled to put it down due to wanting to know what happened next.
I heard Emily before I saw her. The harsh smack of heels against cheap wooden floorboards. The loud phone calls. The incessant music.
I knew Emily before I met her. Discarded receipts in our communal hallway. Sticky leftovers in the shared food waste bin. Wine shop vouchers in the letterbox.
Now she’s gone missing, and I’m the only one who can find her. The only one who can save her.
Because I know her best, and I heard everything.
A well written thriller which had suspense throughout but at a ‘slow burn ‘ pace .it is a sad and sometimes depressing book and the protagonist spirals at times. It is a good mystery which will have you guessing !
An enjoyable book with a great ending but i did find it a bit slow in the middle and i only really got into it fully towards the end.
Suzie lives alone in her apartment she can’t bear to leave, after the death of her husband. Emily is another in a long line of tenants living upstairs. Her constant noise is driving Suzie crazy, but when the noise stops and Suzie realised she hasn’t heard from her in a week, she starts to worry. She seems to be the only one doing the worrying though, so the more time that goes past, the more involved she becomes in trying to find out where she is.
The Girl Upstairs started off so slowly. I found it really hard to get in to and to be honest, I probably didn’t connect with any of the characters until over halfway through. Once I got to that point though, the mystery drew me in and I enjoyed the twists and Suzie’s investigation. After Emily goes missing, the story branches into two points of view (up until then we only have Suzies point of view as to what’s going on). As Suzie’s story moves forwards, Emily’s point of view starts from before she moved to London and works towards the present day. I found having the two points of view gave the book much more depth and made it more intriguing to piece the mystery together.
An interesting missing person story that definitely gets better if you persevere with the slow start.
Read this book in one sitting and could not stop reading it. Susie is the downstairs neighbor and while she knows her upstairs neighbor patterns and habits. Emily is so much more than she seems. She struggles to find her way in London at her first job after college. Susie is struggling to get through each day and lives her life by the patterns of her upstairs neighbor Emily. When Susie notices Emily is missing she struggles to get anyone to be concerned. Will the police believe her that Emily did not run off? Will Emily’s parent even care she has not been heard from?
Thank you to Netgalley for complimentary copy.
Whodunnit great story!
This was a bit of a slow starter for me, but once I got a few chapters in I found I was becoming more into it. I don’t know if I was expecting more from the description, but I still found it an enjoyable read
3.5 Stars
“Memories bite…little pockets of time that we’ll never have again and that’s what makes them so painful, not just the moments when it was good, but the moments I can never change…”
Suzie has a new upstairs neighbor, Emily. The floors between the flat are not soundproof, and Suzie can hear every step Emily takes…every nuance of her day or evening routine…so much so that Suzie has come to know Emily quite well, even if they’ve never actually met. But Suzie is living in a world of darkness…one where memories are plaguing her mind and the noises above are beginning to crush against her…suffocating her…and they have to stop…but at what price? When Emily suddenly goes missing, Suzie finds that perhaps she may have known her neighbor better than anyone. When the police stop investigating her disappearance, Suzie convinces herself that finding Emily may help her atone for the guilt she’s been living with since her own world was shattered. With each puzzle piece Suzie puts together retracing Emily’s last days before vanishing, she slowly discovers curiosity can be a killer…
Reader, this is a sad and depressing tale of two women who are fighting their own demons in different ways…if only they would have stopped and helped one another, perhaps their stories would have ended differently. This is a train wreck of a mystery that will keep you turning the pages if only to discover what will become of poor Suzie, and will she find Emily, the girl no one seems to care is missing…
Enjoyed and would recommend to fans of this genre!
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
This started off for me a bit slow, it annoyed me that I was reading about a neighbour who always complained and I also wasn't sure of the sex of the neighbour for a while but I had read the brief and was keen to see how it panned out. It started to grip me once I knew a little more about Suzie and I was keen to know where Emily was.
Not knowing the fate of the person who most of the story circles around isn't actually realised until the end so you really have to stay with it. The ending however did feel a bit of a let down after such a lot of build up, but it also left the book open for a sequel if that was possible or just to let your imagination write it's own story.
Georgina gives us an insight into how we really don't know those who surround us, how we may see/hear things that others do that annoys us but, that we should really stop and think before acting on impulse because they may have stuff going on we can't see that is contributing to their actions.
I have never read Georgina Lees novels before but I will be looking at what else she has written.
A bit of a slow start where I nearly stopped reading but really glad I continued as this story threw some great curveballs in to keep you hooked.
Suzie lives in the flat below Emily. Suzie lives alone after losing her husband and Emily is living in her very first flat in London. Though Suzie doesn't know much about her neighbor she can hear her at all hours of the day and night. After she confronts Emily about the noise situation there's suddenly silence...because Emily is missing and only Suzie can find her.
I didn't care for this book. The plot started off quick and interesting, but by the end the prose was just emo ramblings. I also didn't care for the POV switch midway through the book. It would have been better if Emily's backstory had unfolded alongside Suzie's story. It was jarring when there was a sudden change. The dialogue was short and choppy and I had a hard time feeling anything for the main characters. The ending left a lot to be desired.
I was given this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC.
This book was just "eh" for me. I found the main characters to be annoying and hard to connect with.
The atmosphere was intoxicating! While this is a little sad, it was still thrilling. Normally I'm not a slow-burning thriller lover but I enjoyed this one. Twists are not so surprising. I was needing some really surprising twists for such a slow burn but didn't get that. But the conclusion is satisfying.
Oh, my! I found this to be an unputdownable psychological thriller that pulled me in and never let up until the last page.
Suzie is a young woman, living alone in a ground floor flat in Islington, North London. She's obviously going through a hard time, although, it's not clear why? However, she's in a bad way and is not happy with the issues she experiences with her various neighbours who rent the flat above. Then the latest tenant disappears.
What follows is Suzie working through her own issues whilst trying to establish what has happened to her neighbour - or, indeed, if anything has. We are also told the story from the perspective of the neighbour; another young woman called Emily who recently moved to London to start afresh, but, who appears to have a history of running away.
This is a gripping read, beautifully and heartbreakingly told and I definitely need a spell before I can move on from this fabulous 5* read.
Definitely a 'must read' from me and I'm really grateful to Sara Roberts at One More Chapter books / HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this cracker of a book.
Heavily atmospheric, this book dragged me reluctantly into its mesh of intrigue, loss,loneliness and despair. Suzie' s world is such a restricted ,constrictive one I felt the claustrophobia of her flat engulf me . Her world has contracted since the loss of her husband 3years ago . She surrounds herself with books and thoughts of the life and love she's lost. She is acutely aware of the young tenant,Emily,who lives in the flat above her and is annoyed by her every sound and noise ,regularly complaining about her to her landlord . However,when Emily disappears shortly after receiving a warning letter from the council ,following a noise complaint from Suzie, it is Suzie who doggedly tries to find her even after the police close their investigation. Her persistence leads her ever closer to the truth ....and danger!
A slow burner of a book, rich in atmosphere and detail .
Very much in a similar vein as ‘The Woman in the Window’, this book delves into the relationships built between the strangers we share our lives with.
Suzie lives a largely reclusive life in a ground floor London flat and is irritated (yet intrigued) by Emily: the young, vibrant, noisy woman renting the flat above.
When Emily goes missing, Suzie feels the strong need to make sure that she is ok and that her disappearance is investigated thoroughly. This feels obsessive but is explained quickly.
Told through the narratives of both women, their past lives are told in raw emotion and I empathised with and understood both as their stories unravelled.
A good novel, not especially fast paced but with enough twists and turns to keep me engaged and some surprises too! This was an unfinished proof and there were errors in spacing, which I’m sure will be rectified, and certainly did not distract me when reading.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read in return for my review.
This book was great. Definitely had a woman I the window vibe and I loved that book. Thanks for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Suzy Arlington is having difficulties. She recently lost her husband Ben and is trying to move on, but her noisy neighbor Emily keeps playing loud music . Suzy knows Emily s routine and everything about her. Then Emily goes missing and Suzy becomes obsessed with helping the police find her.
Book alternates from Emily s perspective leading up to her disappearance, and Suzy investigating in present time up till the final solution.
I liked this book. Lots of plot twists and interesting writing style. Quick easy read with good story flow. Highly recommend. My only complaint was lots of typos.
My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this copy to review.
Read this in one sitting. Couldn’t put it down. Loved how emotional and raw it felt and how the story picked up on Emily’s story half way through giving it even more depth. The plot twist was totally unexpected and the ending left me sighing with the main character. Can’t wait to read more from Georgina Lees.
Thank you NetGalley for this arc
I have a very hard time rating this book because of how many errors were in it. At least once a page there would be either a space in the middle of a word or no space between words and it would immediately take me out of the story as I tried to figure out what was actually supposed to be written and because of that I do not think I can accurately review the content book.
Suzie's neighbor Emily has gone missing and Suzie feels as if she's the only one who cares and as a result the only one who can solve the case. I was intrigued by the story but felt it fell a little short which again could be due to how many errors there were. I figured out who "done it" about 3/4s of the way through but I'm never bothered by that and actually appreciate that there was enough clues in the book that I was able to figure it out but still question if I was right.
If you enjoy thrillers I would recommend giving this book a try when it is published assuming the errors are corrected otherwise I do not think it's worth it.