Sarah Slade, a self help writer and therapist, purchases a "murder house" called Black Wood. She plans on renovating in and selling it. She sees lots of dollar signs in her future. She moves in with her husband, with whom she is having issues. Right away, things start going south. Everyone seems to dislike Sarah and the fact that she bought Black Wood. She inadvertently finds out that a single woman bought the house before her, but no one seems to know what happened to her.

Many other strange events begin happening. She start receiving threatening notes, and she swears she hears someone walking around in the attic.

Sarah decides to find out what happened to the previous owner, and what she finds out is shocking.

This is a great read, but I was left with several questions that I never really got answered by the ending.
However, I still really enjoyed the book, and it kept my interest throughout.

The premise of The Stranger Upstairs sounded really interesting but this one just didn’t work for me. There were parts of the start that were really interesting but much of the book dragged for me. The main problem for me was that I just did not like the main character or the supporting characters. There was only one character I liked and I hated the way things ended for her. There were also several parts of the plot that I felt needed to be tied in better. I didn’t hate this book but it there were too many things that didn’t work to say I liked it.

A great psychological thriller! The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin is a twisted and full of surprises murder mystery. Was hard to figure out who was the “good” or “bad” guys, very engrossing and unexpected. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a fantastically creepy read that is absolutely PERFECT for spooky season. It’s always a good sign when the neighbors come warning to beware, to leave, saying no one wants you here, and this proved to be the case here. Sarah Slade is starting over and bought Black Wood House at a steal, I mean, it was the scene of a murder-suicide, and she is looking forward to renovating and attracting followers on her lifestyle blog. Pretty soon though, things take a turn on all fronts and she realizes maybe the others were right about the house after all.

The audiobook only enhanced the experience for this one, I was hooked from the start and read it in a day as I had to know how it would end. I definitely recommend this one, it was overall such an entertaining read.

Thank you to Random House and PRH Audio for the copies to review.

What a fun and twisty debut thriller! I’m so glad Lisa quit playing drums and started writing. Her novel, “The Stranger Upstairs”, is told in first person from Sarah, who denies that she may have a drinking problem. She and her husband have gone deep in debt to buy the Black Wood House, the scene of a horrible murder/suicide. Her husband isn’t as positive about the project and there’s strife in the marriage that has moved to the new home with them. They also brought Sarah’s grumpy cat, Reaper.
Reaper is the first to alert Sarah that something’s not right with the house. He sits at the base of the attic access and stares. And the attic stinks horribly. The workers are not cooperative and workplace accidents are a common occurrence. The neighbors are rude and extremely odd in their treatment of the new neighbors. And Sarah knows she’s crazy thinking it, but she swears the house hates her.
Each day, things get worse, yet Sarah continues to go to the same bedroom where the murder/suicide took place, close her eyes and sleep. This is where you, the reader, start screaming at her to get out. But there’s another side of Sarah that is slowly eking through. A side we don’t especially like.
Each morning is a new day for bad news, and each night Sarah stays, going against logic, common sense, and our (the readers) nonstop warnings. The author has definitely set a stage for a page-turning, fast-paced thriller. This debut simply must be put on your “to read” list. Even the house says so…
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Delacorte Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was September 12, 2023.

Thank you Bantam Books, Lisa M. Matlin, and Netgalley for a copy of this ARC.

I loved the storyline of this book - Social Media Influencer, Sarah Slade, buys a murder house to renovate it, but before she can finish, all these bizarre incidents keep happening. Builders are getting hurt in strange accidents. Noises are coming from the attic. Creepy notes start appearing. It has the potential to be a great horror story.

After finishing the book, all the weird stuff that happened made sense. However, while reading the book, I wanted more creepiness and horror. I wanted a haunted house with ghosts kind of vibe, but it never really gave off a haunted house vibe. I wanted more emotion from Sarah when she realized her marriage was worse off than she originally thought. I guess I just wanted more. More backstory, more haunted house creepiness, more emotion.

I did enjoy the story, it just didn’t go where I thought it was going. I definitely did not expect the ending that it had, although it summed up everything that happened throughout the book. I liked how the newspaper articles were written in the story to tell us what happened before we read the details in the story. All in all, I did enjoy the book. 3.5 stars out of 5.

I may have been the wrong audience for this book. I like a touch of dark in my mystery and suspense, but the central character and events of The Stranger Upstairs were relentlessly dark and downright unpleasant to read about.

I am not the biggest fan of unlikable protagonists; I feel I can handle a difficult protagonist pretty well, if their character is well-developed and their flaws are understandable. Sarah, the first-person protagonist of this story, was a villain, but not a fun, charismatic one. She was off-putting and unlikable (to put it mildly). She was both a mess and in the end, pretty evil. I did think the resolution to the "haunted house" aspect was unexpected and interesting, but the ending...I feel like it was going for a "Gone Girl" type of "evil triumphs but evil is kind of fun and the victims deserve it anyway" ending. But Sarah wasn't fun, sympathetic or remotely relatable and her victims did not deserve it.

I gave this a C/C-. The writing was competent and again, I did find the resolution of the mystery to be fresh, though some readers might find it anti-climatic.

Having recently finished “The Stranger Upstairs” by Lisa M. Matlin, I am happy to have had the chance for the Advanced Reader’s Edition e-copy; thank you NetGalley and Bantam Books!

THIS was a twisted and atmospheric story! I kept turning the pages all the way through to the heartfelt author's note, even though I was more than ready to slam the door on these characters, and all the disturbing discoveries inside this sick house, and the mind and soul of Sarah Slade.

This was such a fun, quick, and easy read! It definitely had a lot of creepy and scary parts that kept me totally engrossed.

This was a wild ride!! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel!! Our main character was a head trip, she was a total train wreck and I couldn’t stop watching her. This book was spooky and creepy. I flew right through it, it was so fast pace. Each chapter and part, seemed to leave you on a cliffhanger! This was an incredible debut album and I can’t wait to see more!

Like I’ve said, I’m a sucker for gothic thriller. This one was great! It was one that kept me up at night wanting to read more. Check out this book. Thank you to netgalley and random house for the copy to read.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin is most-definitely a creepy book, but unfortunately I did not connect with Sarah Slade, the main character, her husband, or pretty much any of the other characters in the book, including her cat. The story did keep me guessing throughout and being close to Halloween, this is the perfect time time to get lost in a thriller like this.

This book has it all! Murder, adultery, mental health issues, and…a haunted house!? It seems that way as Black Wood House has a dark history of death and violence. Sarah and Joe buy the house with the intent of flipping it for a hefty profit. But how many folks are lining up to buy a murder house? This is an exciting, fast paced mystery that’s interesting from start to finish!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC.

This book kept my interest the entire time. I was desperate to know what was going on. The narrator was unlikeable and untrustworthy, but yet I felt so bad for her.

I will admit the end twist kind of let me down. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. Nonetheless the book was dark and super enjoyable.

This was a good book for the season.

"A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut."

I can get down with calling this a gothic psychological thriller in that you have all the makings of a solid spooky story: a murder house, strange happenings, dead people, etc.

The writing was atmospheric at times, and I did have a visceral reaction while reading some parts of this creaky story. However, I felt like the pacing was off. It was super slow at the beginning and it wasn't until well past the half way mark that things started to pick up.

I've read other reviews where many felt like the story was disjointed, with too much going on and too many plot holes, but I kind of liked that about this book.

Perhaps it's because the main character was not likeable at any point that also left me feeling underwhelmed, or the fact that I felt like I had read this storyline before that kept me from loving it, but regardless, I would consider this a good debut novel and would definitely read something else by this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

Available now.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

I was very excited to read this debut by Lisa M. Matlin. Unfortunately, this novel did not quite work for me. The writing seemed spastic, which I admit fit the main character, but the main character Sarah Slade is one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever read. The explanation for everything seemed quite obvious from the beginning so I was not surprised by the outcome.

The timing of this book was perfect. It's the start of spooky season. Scary/horror movies are usually my go to for a good scare, but this book was definitely a great contender. As with any scary theme, the main character starts of thinking they are immune to any horror lurking around the corner. Just as Sarah decides she can handle buying the murder house, which has been sitting abandoned for decades, to renovate it and sell it for a profit. No big deal. Until it becomes a very big deal.
Do you think you will always be haunted by the bad decisions you have made and try to run from? It seems as if Sarah thinks that if she can just change things up a bit, the past won't follow her. That's where things get scary.
There is a quote that stuck with me and as it turns out, the author noted it at the end in her author's note. "You repeat what you don't repair." I think this is an important life lesson, and hopefully this sentiment will stick with me.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. As a quick, compulsive read, I definitely enjoyed it. The plot was interesting and intriguing and did leave me guessing until the very end about what might happen. It remains unclear throughout the book if there is a haunted house situation going on, or potentially just an evil person(s) creating problems for the main character. It is for sure creepy, but in a good, scary movie way.

However, there were some major problems with key plot points that just bothered me. i.e. How can someone purchase a home, when its prior owner has been missing for less than a year? (I'm not a realtor, nor am I an expert in estate law, but the odds of this happening seem pretty slim to me.) There was also a different missing person mentioned multiple times throughout the book that was never explained. Why even talk about them repeatedly, if there is no resolution? There were several other details that were never explained that I won't spoil...however, the culmination of all of this brought my overall liking of this book down a bit.

Is it a great one to read in the month of October though? For sure!

This book was an OK read for me but I am sure there will be many people who will love it. I didn't care for the main character and therefore didn't really care too much about what happened with her or why it was happening. I do appreciate the mental health aspect and the author sharing her own experience about that at the end. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The Stranger Upstairs finds Sarah Slade with a secret buying an old victorian home where someone was previously murdered. Hopefully, as she digs into the renovations of the home, it will keep her distracted from her failed marriage.

Unfortunately, the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Not only that, but neighbors hate her guts and her husband still sleeps on the couch. And though the builders attempt to cover up Black Wood’s horrifying past, a series of bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic only confirms for Sarah what the rest of the town already knew: Something is very wrong in that house.

I truly enjoyed reading this book!