Does anyone really buy a "murder house” and not expect repercussions? Seems like our character didn’t do her due diligence before she made this purchase.
   Podcaster Sarah Slade and her husband bought this money pit with plans to flip it and make a bundle. Little did she know of the emotional and visceral connections between the neighbors and the victims that resided in this home. Stories of ghosts are widespread in the community and Sarah soon finds herself constantly trying to dispel this theory.  Ghosts are usually more subtle than leaving dead rats in her mailbox.            
   She is convinced it is a neighbor who is behind these scare tactics. Their home appraisals have taken a downward turn since the killing. Nothing short of her leaving and then having the property razed will return value to their homes.
   This is a creepy mystery with a bizarre ending that will make so much sense in the end..stick with it. Do people really go up dark attics alone, with no lights because they hear a noise??? You’ll be yelling at the character as I did.
   It’s a winner.

This was an impressive debut novel and I look forward to another book by Lisa Matlin.

Sarah, a social media influencer, author, and therapist, purchases a murder house hoping to increase her social media presence and turn a profit. From day one, the house appears to not want its new homeowners and Sarah begins a mental spiral as the house takes hold of her psyche. Sarah has a past that seems to haunt her as much as the house, a failing marriage, and a job that should help her keep it all together but the house and the town seem to have other plans.
There were parts that dragged on a bit but overall it was well paced and there were a couple of small twists.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kudos to Lisa M. Martin for such a great debut novel! This psychological thriller / horror novel was creepy and scary. Lots of scary things happening in this murder house.

Description:
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.

Sarah Slade is starting over. As the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House—the scene of a grisly murder-suicide—she’s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful lifestyle blog, and distract her from her failing marriage.

But as Sarah paints over the house’s horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can’t conceal every secret. Then the builders start acting erratically and experiencing bizarre accidents—and Sarah knows there’s only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic.

When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her—her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The more she remodels Black Wood House, the angrier it seems to become.

With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she’s crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade must wonder . . . was it all worth it? Or will this house be her final unraveling?

My Thoughts:
Who wants to buy a murder house? Not me for sure. Sarah has aspirations of boosting her social media influencer status and thinks renovating the house will help. She runs into a lot more than she expected. There are twists and secrets from the past. The atmosphere in the house caused me to shiver. I don't know how she could stand to stay in it. I would have run screaming! The tension-building was perfect for the story. The plot moved well and only slowed down a little in a couple of places. I didn't like Sarah nor her husband, but the characters were drawn perfectly for the story. I really liked Emily though - she just seemed so friendly and caring. This thriller will keep you guessing for sure. I recommend to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, horror, or haunted houses.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on September 12, 2023.

A psychological thriller with supernatural leanings that reaches farther than the reader expects it to go. Debut author, Lisa M. Matlin, has created a spooky story that had me screaming "don't look in the cradle!" I admit, this book had me enjoying the creepy vibe.
Sarah Slade is a self-help influencer, a paid marriage therapist, and now a home renovator with a less-than-happy husband. Buying the infamous murder house isn't sitting well in the community but Sarah thinks she can make big bucks for little outlay. Only problem is no one wants her here including the house itself.
As the house renovation takes many turns for the worse, so does Sarah's mental health. What is unknown is what is causing the breakdown: the notes, the noises, the threats, the job pressure, or discerning what is real or imagined.
Addressing mental health throughout the story, the end notes by the Author also shares her own struggle with suicidal thoughts and mental well-being. In the notes, Ms. Matlin encourages the reader to reach out for help.

A terrific debut from an author to watch.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for inviting me to read an early e-copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

A house where someone was murdered. A social media influencer who's faking more than just a perfect life. A Stepford-style Australian community where all is not as it seems. These elements come together into a delightfully creepy novel.

After Sarah buys a "murder house" to renovate and promote on social media (with the goal of turning a tidy profit at the end of the renovation), her life really starts to fall apart. Is the house haunted? Are the locals messing with her? It's unclear what's really going on and Sarah's mental health unravels as she tries to solve the mystery of what - really - is happening in her house. This book will keep you guessing until the last page, in a good way.

Overall, I wanted to keep reading but I didn’t feel riveted. A but predictable. I also didn’t like how mental health was portrayed.

Holy smokes, this is a debut author?!?!!? Can I give it more than 5 stars??? I read tons of mystery/thrillers and I haven't been freaked out by a book in a long time! The Stranger Upstairs is amazing!!! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!!! Terrifying and chilling, it tells the story of an up and coming influencer, Sarah Slade and her husband Joe, who buy a "murder house" at a deep discount in hopes of renovating and making a killing (pun intended!) when they flip it. Years earlier, a seemingly normal husband killed his wife, attacked his daughter and then killed himself in this house and it has been vacant for years. Is the house to blame for driving the previous owner to kill? Is the house possessed? Strange things start to happen the day the new couple arrive at their new home. The house is holding its secrets but so are Sarah and Joe. OMG this was an insane story!! LOVED LOVED LOVED!!

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Lisa M. Matlin for an ARC of The Stranger Upstairs. Honestly - fantastic. I’ve read other haunted houses books, but this one *chefs kiss* takes the cake. I haven’t been terrified with a book in I don’t know how long. This absolutely grips you, keeps you at the edge of the seat, and probably shouldn’t read at night. I’d pay to go to an actual haunted house, but not the Black Wood House. Sarah I had a love hate relationship with, Joe .. no comment. But Reaper was the star of the book lol! Once again - honestly - fantastic. Add this to your spooky season reads asap!

Don’t Kill Me Don’t Kill Me Don’t Kill Me

Those were the words heard from Janet Campbell as she ran from Black Wood House, after her father bludgeoned her mother to death with a hammer, before taking his own life. She hasn’t been seen since.

Now, social media Influencer, Sarah Slade has just purchased the “Murder House” which has sat empty for 40 years, hoping to renovate it and sell it for a tidy profit. But the house doesn’t seem to want to be renovated. And, the local contractors don’t seem to want to work on the property. Despite posting the progress on her blog, SarahSlays.com, she isn’t getting the sponsors she had hoped for.

She has selected the “murder room” with its blood stained floorboards as her bedroom but her husband Joe, won’t join her. He didn’t want the house, and he hasn’t wanted her in months, so he will take the couch. That is -when he is actually at home.

But her cat, Reaper will keep her company. He’s the rescue she brought home five years ago after reading his tagline which said, “This cat doesn’t like kids, dogs, loud noises, being picked up, and he’s been known to fight with other cats. He is also very possessive of his blanket and food. “ It was love at first sight!
(Good thing cats have 9 lives, he will need them-but he does survive!)

Sarah is a therapist who looks like she has her act together but she has her issues too- besides marital problems, she shops too much, and drinks too much-among other things.

And, she is hiding plenty of her own secrets. Secrets the neighbors will use against her to get what they want. And, what they want is for the house to be bulldozed and for Sarah to go away.

This book started out well enough although it had more of a HORROR vibe than I was expecting.

But PART TWO got a little too WEIRD for me. Definitely aiming to surprise and shock, it veered right into 🍿territory.

Although I didn’t end up enjoying it as much as other reviewers (again, sigh!) at least it wasn’t another retread storyline and for that I was thankful.

A buddy read with DeAnn and Mary Beth. Be sure to watch for their reviews for additional insight!

Thank You to Bantam for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Strangers Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin!

Wow. I could not put The Stranger Upstairs down. I was completely sucked in right from the start. The story follows Sarah Slade and her husband, who have recently purchased a run-down Victorian that was the location of a brutal murder nearly 40 years prior. The goal is to renovate, document it and then sell it for a profit.

Right from the start, I knew something was going on with Sarah and I had my suspicions about her. But I was not expecting the storyline that ended up happening with her and husband, and ultimately Sarah as a whole.

Yes, the story kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing, but it also tackles some tough issues like mental illness, and Matlin does it in a fabulous way. The mental health representation is great. The whole story feels like a creepy haunted house story, and then BAM, you're hit with the major twist which I thought was such an interesting way to end the book.

If you're looking for a fast, unputdownable read, check out The Stranger Upstairs!

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

When I was pre-approved for this ARC, I hesitated to claim it. Thrillers are not my genre, and I feel like I have a hard time writing an unbiased review, simply because I generally do not like the thrillers I read. But I decided to give it a shot because of the overall good reviews and high ratings online.

In The Stranger Upstairs, Sarah Slade is an up-and-coming influencer, and published self-help author, working as a therapist in an affluent and small town in Australia, with her husband Joe. At the beginning of the novel Sarah and Joe have purchased an infamous "Murder House" in the town, with the intention of renovating the house, and monetizing their experience as they go through the process.

From the get-go, the writing was messy for me. It's often difficult to understand where things stand in the timeline, as the author seems to play fast and loose with time in this book. Sarah is a very unsympathetic character but is also very inconsistent in how she is presented to the reader, and I honestly had difficulty believing she was ever successful enough to be an influencer and bestselling author, as well as a well-regarded therapist. Her life falls so quickly off the rails from the beginning of the book, that her supposed success prior to the events of the novel felt like a huge stretch.

The conclusion of the novel is quick and messy as well, with a new character thrown in as a narrator in the third act, revealing the cause of all the mysterious problems in the house. Suspension of disbelief is absolutely required for this novel, and as I said, with thrillers being a not so favorite genre for me, I have a hard time doing that. With that in mind, I feel I cannot properly rate this novel, and will give it 3 stars (rounded up from 2.5), thriller lovers might enjoy this one, but I did not.

Thank you to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

This story centers around self-help author Sarah Slade and her husband Joe. They’ve bought the infamous Black Wood House and plan to turn a profit by documenting its renovation and selling it. It’s a pretty simple set up that unfortunately devolves into something that was a bit too convoluted for me to follow in the end.

The house and setting were genuinely very creepy and honestly this was a book that I avoided reading at night. Coupled with a very unreliable narrator, there is such a pervasive feeling of unease and anxiety throughout the book that makes it hard to put it down. As things unravelled, however, it did become increasingly hard to figure out who or what I could trust was real. Overall, this was a mixed reading experience where I really enjoyed the beginning and was left frustrated by the end.

Many thanks to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Bantam and NetGalley for my gifted advance reader copy!

Sarah Slade moves to Beacon with her husband Joe hoping for a fresh start. They are the proud new owners of Black Wood House- the site of a gruesome murder-suicide that has caused the home to become the pariah of the community. Sarah has grand plans to renovate the property and sell it for far more than she paid (after documenting it all on social media #murderhouse, of course). Bizarre incidents and accidents start to occur once work gets underway, and Sarah gets the idea that the house doesn't want to be fixed. Even stranger, notes start appearing around the house containing details of Sarah's life that only she knows.

This was a solid gothic horror novel and a seriously strong debut from Matlin. There's a sense of unease and discomfort that pervades every page and ramps up as the novel progresses that made it so hard for me to put this one down. I'm also a big fan of epistolary novels, so I enjoyed that Sarah's POV is supplemented with blog posts and news articles.

I like books that keep me guessing, and I truly couldn't nail this one down. I tried to piece things together as I was reading, but the entire time I vacillated between 'is it the house' and 'is it Sarah' (or is is something/one else entirely), and most of my guesses were completely wrong.

TSU was a delight, and I'd recommend it if you like gothic horror, enjoyed [book:Just Like Home|57693472], and are intrigued by books that keep you guessing.

If you like totally unlikable and unreliable characters, you will love The Stranger Upstairs. This is an easy read that you will quickly get sucked into. I did think there was a lot going on and it felt a little disjointed, but it was good enough to keep me turning the pages.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan of this book. I was super excited to read it, but it just fell flat for me. The main character was super annoying and was a big mess from the very beginning. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind not liking the main character in books, but she was just awful to read about. All the twists and turns lead right up to a terrible'/whats the point reveal. I did like some of the twists leading up to the reveal of whodunit, but finding out the cause of her going insane was so disappointing to me. This book wasn't for me.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I did enjoy the first half of this but the way this wrapped up omg I hated so much. there are two main twists/reveals: one makes absolutely no sense & the other makes the entire story pointless.

2 stars. Sadly, not the book for me. I disliked it from the first chapter.

I hated following the protagonist’s story. I have no problem with so-called unlikeable characters, but she was just so unpleasant and not in a fun way.

I thought this would be about a house flipping influencer with secrets from the past who moved into a famous murder house. Instead, I got a “therapist” aka self-help guru, who is an incredibly messy person with an alcohol and drug problem. She casually steals from her clients, seems to hate them all, unless they are even more unhappy than she is and needs to look up advice in her own book during sessions! As the book continues, she becomes even more unstable and turns into an unreliable narrator because of all her mental health and alcohol problems. I rarely enjoy these types of characters and had I known about this part of the book, I probably would not have requested it for review.

She and her husband do move into the blurb-promised murder house, but their relationship is more than just on the rocks and the confused and messy storytelling that is present in a lot of the book is also very noticeable in their dynamic. The story of the house itself also felt very lacking to me. I expected it to be much more important.

While the writing is fun, if a little clunky and the story is twisty and creepy at times, I just didn’t care. I just wanted to be done with it. I could see this working for readers who aren’t bothered by the protagonist and her behaviour and who are looking for some twisty thrillery fun!

I always enjoy a MC that you inherently don’t like and it’s even better when they know they’re awful. This was a very ‘current’ read; social media influencer / self help guru / etc buys a murder house to flip and it all goes sideways. While it was enjoyable and an easy read, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking BUT I did love the ending. Her reasoning for her estrangement from her sister was a bit weak for me but her off putting behavior and fever dream scenes were what made the book a lot of fun. A decent beach read, light on the horror and more psychological plastered with lip stick.

𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨💫

ᴛʜᴇ sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ ᴜᴘsᴛᴀɪʀs
ʟɪsᴀ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴛʟɪɴ
ʙᴀɴᴛᴀᴍ ʙᴏᴏᴋs
ᴘᴜʙ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: sᴇᴘᴛᴇᴍʙᴇʀ 𝟸𝟼 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟹
✩✩✩✩

I had so much fun reading 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑈𝑝𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑠 by @lisa_m_matlin . This was such an engrossing, satisfying, creepy, psychological thriller slash horror - paranormal elements, murderous plot, unstable characters- the perfect mix!

The story starts off with a bang and it never slows down, each chapter gets more intense and the tension is THICK throughout. The twists are unpredictable, the psychological minipulation is off the charts, and once you start reading you won’t be able to stop.

✨special thanks to @netgalley and @bantambooksuk for the early copy. This will be the perfect read for spooky season, grab your copy on September 26. Easy 4 star read⭐️

SYNOPSIS: “A therapist and self-help writer with all the answers, Sarah Slade has just bought a gorgeous Victorian in the community of her dreams. Turns out, you can get a killer deal on a house where someone was murdered. Plus, renovating Black Wood House makes for great blog content and a decent distraction from her failing marriage. Good thing nobody knows that her past is just as filthy as the bloodstain on her bedroom floor.

But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Sarah imagined custom avocado wallpaper, massive profits, and an appreciative husband who wants to share her bed again. Instead, the 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.

With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. But as she peels back the curling wallpaper and discovers the house’s secrets, she realizes that the deadly legacy of Black Wood House has only just begun.”

QOTD: would you buy a house that had a murderous past?