There’s a lot I really liked here, and some major glaring issues I didn’t. I was certainly engaged throughout and wanted to know the ending. For the most part, I liked Sarah (she’s horrid, yes, but entertaining). Loved Reaper. Part of the story were also downright scary.

However, while I love jumping between timelines usually, it was kind of messy here. And the end section with changing narrators was hard to read. Finally, the ending… good lord. Much of it was good and the END END scenes were good (not sure we needed an epilogue, though). However, the answer to the mystery was kind of stupid. And I can’t say that ending with such a dumb concept makes the book memorable in a good way.

Still it was fun for most of

Creepy and incredible best describe this book. The cover grabbed my attention, but the dark and twisted story kept me engaged until the very end. I read this book in one day…it’s that captivating.

I got sucked into the drama of this book, the creepy factor of the house and the horrible main character. I truly did not like the main character, but I also could not stop reading this book. It felt similar to many thrillers that I have read, but was still creepy and enjoyable to read. The main character was dark, impossible to trust and an overall unlikeable character. I wanted a little more action in the book - it felt like a lot of the story was centered around one person and a very creepy house. But, if you are looking for a book that brings the spooky factor, I would absolutely give this one a try.
Sarah purchases Black Wood House, the scene of a horrible murder-suicide and is determined to fix the house up and document it on her lifestyle blog. As time goes on, Sarah is convinced that there is someone in the attic of her home - and finds it harder and harder to ignore the house's past. As Sarah loses control of her life, her marriage and her career - the notes that are hinting at the secrets Sarah is desperately trying to hide start showing up all over the house. Who is trying to kill her? 
Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

This is a fantastic debut novel, that is captivating and thought-provoking. It challenges you, making you question everyone and everything.

The twists and turns, throughout created a sense of suspense and intrigue.

The story revolves around Sarah a social media influencer and her husband, who buy a murder house for cheap in hopes to flip it and sell it for alot more money. Residents of
this ritzy community have been wanting it demolished for years, after a gruesome murder over 40 years ago.

As the story unfolds, strange occurrences and unexplained phenomena plague Sarah, causing her to question her sanity.

However, what sets this book apart is its unique twist, towards the end.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroup for the ARC #TheStrangerUpstairs by #LisaMatlin. I thoroughly enjoyed this book with the strange things going on in the house, the secrets and the crazy ending. Definitely recommending this book!

Sarah Slade is starting over. Her numbers as a social media influencer are dwindling. She hopes that in purchasing an infamous murder house to fix it up, her followers will gain a new interest in her.

She then discovers that the previous owner disappeared suddenly and that things in this small town are not what they seem. Is she being paranoid or is she hearing noises in her house? They do say it’s haunted after all…

This book is full of twists and turns and will have you trying to put the pieces together- all while feeling the creeps about his spooky house!

Thanks to Bantam Books for the gifted copy!

This book was good but I think I had it more hyped up in my mind. I liked it but felt like it was missing something.
I think I figured from the start that Sarah was actually the main characters sister and was impersonating her life.. I was hoping for a good old haunted house and this wasn't it. More of a thriller to me. I just wasn't in the mood for it at the time I read it.

This was a fun little dark read. Sarah has just bought THE murder house. It's an upscale neighborhood with a cheap house because. . .the murders were gruesome. Unexplained and bloody, the murders marred the house with stains and the neighborhood with the lingering questions - what happened all those years ago? But Sarah doesn't care. It's was a no-brainer because she's going to do a murder-house-home-improvement blog and influence her way into selling this for hundreds of thousands over what she bought it for.

I loved how unapologetic Sarah was, to start. She was all about getting her life on track. But, it just takes a chapter or 2 to really start to see the cracks in her life. With the murders still unexplained, the house really was creepy and a whole character in the book all its own. I liked the twists and turns as it all slowly went off the rails. It kept me guessing and wondering what was going on. I really loved the last few chapters. Such a fun, perfect fall read!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Interesting premise but the story just doesn’t deliver. I made it to about 33% before I gave up on this. The main character was unlikeable. I was hoping for a haunted house-type vibe and it seemed like it had the potential to be there but it was more focused on the rantings and actions of a wannabe influencer. I wish I had liked this more.

The Stranger Upstairs is one of those super hyped Booksta books that everyone raved was so shocking and twisty, so it was no surprise this one left me...not shocked. With an unlikeable FMC that showed me some of my own bad traits amplified, reading it made me uncomfortable, but probably not for the intended reasons.

Sarah Slade is a quasi-celebrity therapist, fresh off the high of a best selling self help books, and Instagram wellness influencer. Always one to look for a way to make a buck and get an endorsement, she buys the infamous murder house, Black Wood House, along with her husband, with the intention to flip it for a profit and post her progress along the way. But some houses don't want to be fixed, and soon Sarah is plagued with headaches, strange noises and notes being left for her in the night, and her past catching up with her. She tries to discover the fate of the previous owner of the house, a young woman who looked mysteriously like herself who disappeared without a trace, but is thwarted at every turn by neighbors who have made it very clear that she isn't welcome. Sarah devolves into a haze of alcohol and delusions as the house continues to take its revenge on her, but as we come to find, sometimes there is a logical explanation for things that go bump in the night.

If you like to be paranoid, grab this book 🫣

Sarah is a main character that not only is unreliable, but that you just love to hate. I really enjoy stories where you can’t trust ANYONE.

The ending was so unexpected and not even on my radar! And I always love when there’s an epilogue that smacks you in the face!

I loved this one and even had to pick it as my #botm for September!

For a debut novel, I thought this was a decent thriller. There were a few parts that moved a little slow but there were also parts that were pretty fast paced. The story was definitely engaging and had an interesting premise. However, the twists were not as exciting as I was expecting and felt a little anticlimactic. Overall, it was still a good story.

* 3.5 stars *
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M Matlin is about Sarah Slade, Author, Blogger and Therapist. She has it all... right? In hopes to save her failing marriage and get blog content Sarah buys an old murder house that no one wants for good reason and plans to renovate it. After 40 years with no occupant the house was a steal and nothing could go wrong.
I enjoyed this thriller novel and all of the twists and turns it lead me down. However I did not like the main character. I don't know if we weren't supposed to like her or if it was just me but day one I did not like her. She was mean and uncaring about anything but herself. It was hard to be worried about what could happen to this character when I felt like she wasn't a good person herself.
The house storyline was creepy, especially with the town's involvement. The twists and turns were crazy and I felt like I was going mad with the main character. The story felt all over the place which makes sense with a character driven mad if that was the intention.
Overall I enjoyed this book and will be looking out for future releases by this author.

Sarah is a self-described therapist and blogger with a dark past. She leaves her past to buy and renovate a "murder house" (a house in which a murder occurred). She is psychologically troubled, ends up fulfilling the advice Emily, her therapist colleague, warns of: "you repeat what you don't repair." Interesting twists, and transparent author note at the conclusion set this book apart.

This is such a thrill and twisty story. Sarah and her husband Joe decide to buy a house that has been sitting in the market for years. It has a deep past with two murders. Sarah is a social media influencer and knew the house needed work. She plans to remodel the house and document the journey online. the story grabbed your attention early on and I was hooked into what would happen next after moving into the house. It’s a quick easy read. Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A solid debut novel! The Stranger Upstairs tells a twisted story about lies, betrayal and the secrets we all keep! When social media influencer Sarah buys a house with a famous past she gets more than she bargains for! This kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end and I could not get enough!

Social media influencer and successful author Sarah Slade buys Black Wood House, the site of a murder-suicide forty years before. The house has been closed up ever since. Sarah is hoping to use the renovations as new subject matter for her blog and to possibly heal the rift between her and husband Joe. But as strange things start to happen at the house it only drives a bigger wedge between them. The more time she spends in the house alone, the more she falls into the fear that something in this house doesn't want her here.
This is such a creepy haunted house thriller by a debut author. With the main character as an unreliable narrator, hints of her secret past, and news articles of what happened after, you're never totally sure what exactly is going on until the end. What a way to start spooky season!! I highly recommend this psychological horror thriller.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #TheStrangerUpstairs #LisaMMatlin

Author: Lisa M. Matlin
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine
Publication Date: September 12, 2023

This is a creepy horror/thriller debut from Lisa M. Matlin. It tells the story of Sarah, who is an influencer and therapist. She and her husband, Joe, have just bought the infamous Blackwood House and she’s excited about renovating and flipping it. Immediately, however, she begins to suspect that all is not as it seems within the house and around the neighborhood. Every neighbor is either hostile or shuns her. The house makes odd noises and Sarah’s cat is acting very odd. Maybe the house doesn’t want to be renovated. We’ll see!
This was a fun book. It’s a twisty thriller with a pretty cover. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Sarah and her neighbors. The author gave out little tidbits along the way in order to keep the reader clambering for more. Each time, the protagonist lost her temper or had a door slammed in her face made me want the twists more and more. Sarah’s multiple plights will have the reader second guessing every turn, especially if one goes into the story knowing as little as possible.
White there’s no denying that this twisty character study is fun and a pleasure to read, there is a little bit of the feeling that I’ve read this same type of plot in a lot of other twisty thrillers. The twist trend right now makes it a bit difficult to be truly surprised. We may not know the specifics of the twist but we can mostly guess what direction it will go in. We’re always looking for the character that has been dead the whole time, so to speak.
This book had a lot of positive things about it. It had great character development, some twists, and a cute cat character. It may have been a tad cookie cutter, but if you enjoyed “Gone Girl” and you’re looking for a fun way to pass an afternoon and you enjoy feeling a bit creeped out and unsettled, then this one's for you.

This was an enjoyable ride. I partially guessed the twist but I had such a good time with the author's writing style that I still had fun figuring out where I was right and wrong.

Thank you NetGalley and Bantam for the advance copy.

3.5 stars

A spooky and tense read. I don't think a book has ever made me feel so uncomfortable.

I liked the mystery element, but I do think the mentally ill mc trope is a little overdone in thrillers. I also feel like this book tied up the ending pretty quickly, leaving a lot of plot holes.

This book just wasn't for me.