This was a great debut novel! What originally sucked me in is the stunningly gorgeous cover. There were tons of twists that kept you guessing till the very end when it all makes perfect sense. I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future!

This book was a wild ride. The Main character is a hot mess mixed with completely crazy lol. Kinda like a train wreck you have to keep going because need to know what is happening in the house!!!!

The cover is amazing btw!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Firstly, I would like to tell you that I will be suggesting this book to every person I speak with from this day forward! And it's this authors DEBUT NOVEL!?!?!??!?! 🤯

"All my life I've been told, You need to see a doctor.
The fuck is wrong with you?
You're strange. You're broken. You're not one of us. Maybe I'm sick of people trying to fix me. Maybe I don't want to be fixed, just like the house. We're dirty and hideous, and we love it. We have blended our ugliness into one pure thing."

There's a little sample of what this book/writing is like! ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!!!

So, 40 years ago, a couple and their daughter lived in the "Black Wood House". The husband killed his wife with a hammer, attempted to kill his daughter the same way, and then committed suicide. (That's not a spoiler btw....its literally on the 2nd page). The house sat empty until "Sarah" (therapist/author/social media star) and "Joe" (bartender) decided to buy it to flip. They got a really great deal on it, but theres literally still a bloodstain on the floor of the main bedroom! "Maybe it's Maybelline. Or maybe it's murder". (See, brilliant I tell you!) Except during renovations, it seems the house may have other plans. Shit gets crazy and then more crazy! I could read this book once a month and still not be tired of it!

I am so grateful to be blessed with an ARC through NetGalley in return for my honest review of The Stranger Upstairs. Written by Lisa M. Matlin. Published by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

"The Secrets Within Black Wood House" takes readers on a chilling journey into the depths of a gothic and psychological tale. In this captivating debut, Sarah Slade, a social media influencer with a hidden past, purchases Black Wood House—an infamous location marked by a gruesome murder-suicide. Little does she know that the fixer-upper she hopes to showcase on her lifestyle blog will unearth more than she bargained for.

A book with a lot of promise and a great premise.

I may not be the right reader for this book, so I’m hesitant to rate it. But as was the bargain I struck, I will.

Grating protagonist (Sarah) so unlikable in action and “voice” made the book hard to get through.

Meh, this book was alright and, due to this fact, I feel like I don't have much to say. The narrator is pretty unlikeable throughout, and her husband + the supporting characters aren't much better either unfortunately. That said, I did think the twist fit within the context/plot of the book in spite of everything else sometimes working against it, so there's that.

what a creepy and unique story! sarah is a therapist, author and social media influencer. her and her husband, joe, buy black wood house after it’s been left empty after a murder years ago. sarah hopes that repairing the house together will, in turn, repair their marriage. as joe and her continue to drift apart, sarah experiences some strange occurrences in the house. she begins to spiral and lose her sense of reality. this book is spooky and sarah is a very unreliable narrator, which makes it an interesting ride.

I love the cover. although I felt the beginning was a tad slow, the ending had me flying through pages. I can’t say i’ve genuinely enjoyed a haunted house type book before this, but I definitely recommend! the major downside to me, was I felt there were some plot holes that never quite for explained or resolved in the end.

thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Sarah Slate, influencer and self-help author, decides to buy and renovate a murder house with her husband for all of her followers, she finds herself way over her head. And as the renovations go awry, she finds herself entangled in a history of the house that nobody wants to share with her. Intent on getting answers, she will do whatever it takes, but also refuses to let the truth of her past get out. Will she be the next victim of the murder house? Or will she be a survivor?

Woah!

This book is so good. There’s so many twists and turns. The ending is so good. I didn’t see it coming.
If you look spooky stories this is the book for you!!!
Can’t wait to read more by this author.

For a while, this hovered around a 3-4 for me. The narrator is extremely unlikeable and I wasn’t really moved by her husband either.

But halfway in, things start to get unsettling. And you don’t quite root for the narrator, bc she’s still pretty awful, but you’re a little scared for her.

Then things get downright unsettling. I still didn’t feel like I’m completely on the same side as the narrator but at this point, I’m not enjoying her discomfort as much.

I had my suspicions about what was happening and I turned out to be correct, but there’s a couple different ways things could have gone.

The last few scenes don’t play out how I would have liked but they make for a good story. It’s dark as hell but I think it paid off.

Not every book is for every one. I did not finish this book, finding a lot of what the characters did unbelievable.

Really liked the idea and pace of the book. Found the ending to be quite disappointing. Not enough twists & turns for my thriller loving self. Ending was just not enough surprise, sad that an innocent character was killed. Otherwise, I enjoyed the authors quirks and relatable thoughts.

Thanks, Netgalley and Random House Publishing-Bantam for this arc.


The Stranger Upstairs was interesting. The basic gist is that Sarah and her husband Joe move into "the murder house" AKA the Black Wood House, the site of a domestic murder 40 years prior, that has remained empty since then. Strange things begin happening almost immediately, and there is where our story begins.

As far as a psychological thriller goes, this wasn't bad. I wasn't ever truly creeped out, but I am very rarely disturbed by most thrillers/horrors, and I did find myself invested in figuring out what the heck was going on inside that house.

I do feel like I've read several versions of this before - creepy house, the unreliable narrator on pills that drinks too much - but it definitely wasn't boring. Considering this is a debut, I can see this author's work growing a lot as they continue, and I'd definitely be interested to read more thrillers from them.

This was a great start for a debut author, and I'm excited to try more in the future!

I really enjoyed this book and was super surprised this is a debut! One of my main gripes with thrillers is that the twists don't always fit with the narrative and are very obviously thrown in for shock value, but all the twists in this one fit perfectly with the story, as messed up as it is. It's quite a dark book. My only issue is I felt the characters could've been a bit more fully developed, but even that's not a huge complaint. I would recommend it if the synopsis sounds interesting to you and you like thrillers with unreliable narrators.

This was an amazing debut novel! There are so many twists and turns that make this an incredible read. I can't wait for more by this author.

What a strange, creepy story! Very original and imaginative. Sarah has plans of renovating a strange house with a terrible past but who has more skeletons in the closet - her or the murder house? Kept me up too late finishing it but was worth it.

This was the first book I've read from this author and it was just okay. It was hard for me to get into and the characters didn't keep my attention.

Is The House Haunted?

I had a love/hate relationship with this story. the writing and storytelling are superb. The characters, not so much. Most of the story centers around one character who has been known by multiple names. I’ll just call her Sarah, her most current name. She and her husband have just bought an old murder mansion in an old established village. It’s been empty for 40 years and needs major repairs, but they plan to renovate and resell it. The house has deep, dark secrets, the villagers would rather have it torn down, and the neighbors are not friendly. Sandra and Joe aren’t exactly a loving couple, either, Sandra will fill you in on that. As the story progresses, the house seems to take on a life of its own and Sandra is caught in its spell. A truly captivating story that gets increasingly difficult to put down as it unfolds.

I've never read anything by this author, and I'm not sure if I'd be interested in checking out future books. I struggled to connect with the writing styles, as well as the characters. The premise sounded interesting, but it fell flat for me in the execution. The characters were unlikeable, so I never cared about what happened to them. The story was missing the "wow!" moments I expected. I didn't care for how mental illness was portrayed. Some plot points were unresolved, and others resolved a bit too neatly.

This book provides a steady eeriness to it that really picks up during the second half. I am still wondering about Black Wood and if the carbon monoxide poisoning was legit or not? I also want to know how the life of Emily 2.0 turns out!

Very fun debut novel from Lisa Matlin and I appreciated the journey she took throughout the writing process!