Wow! This is the third book I’ve read from this author and has been my favorite by far! It kept me guessing until the end. Thanks for the ARC, and I’ll definitely recommend this book! The characters were interesting along with the gothic setting! I’ll definitely work on reading more from this author and think this book has made her an automatic read for me on new books!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book officially publishes on 3/5/24!

This is my favorite Lisa Unger book that I have read to date! The characters were multi-faceted and well-developed, even with the story being told through a single POV. The building itself has a gothic and almost haunted house feel to it, which tied into both its history and the history of the MC. Everything is definitely not as it seems in this novel, and the author crafted a story that had me guessing until the last page. Definitely recommend giving this one a read!

This was pretty solid for me in the end but it did take me some time to warm up to it. The setting was great, an old apartment building with a sinister past made for some unsettling reading and I enjoyed the dual timelines as well. There was an underlying sense of danger running throughout, I just wish the pacing was a little faster to keep the plot moving forward a bit more. If you like a gothic setting with a fabulous atmosphere and don’t mind a slower paced book this may work for you.

This was my first book by Lisa Unger and it didn't disappoint! I'm not sure why I haven't read anything by this author before, and will definitely remedy that! I went into this with barely reading the synopsis so wasn't quite prepared for the paranormal portion.. but I still enjoy it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row for the advanced readers copy.

It is hard for me not to believe that the author was not influenced by Rosemary's Baby when she wrote this book. While there were significant differences between the two (Rosemary's baby dealt with the occult while this referred to the occult), along the way there were definitely things that made me think of Rosemary's Baby. That is not a bad thing; I think most writers cannot help but be affected by things they read or see. That said, the author takes what I believe to be a seed from that story and makes it her own.
It did keep me guessing until pretty close to the end, which is what a mystery/thriller is supposed to do. While there were hints at someone else, like in any murder mystery, I saw that that it was unlikely to be that individual because there was still too much of the story left for that to be the case. But, I did not see where the finger ultimately pointed, which is a good thing in this genre.
The author did a fairly good job at character development as well.
The only thing that I think it was lacking for my 3.5 star review (rounding up) is that the first half was a bit plodding. I think I read one other of her books and found that to be true there as well. The pacing seems to be a little uneven because the second half kept me reading, to the extent that I stayed up later than I should have because I couldn't go to bed until I found out what happened. I would have liked to see a bit more movement in the first half of the book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for the opportunity to read this before publication.

This story was about Rosie and Chad, a couple who is struggling to succeed in New York. Rosie is a writer and Chad is an actor, and they’ve just come into some luck. Chad’s uncle passes away and leaves them a luxury apartment in a historic building, complete with an old elevator and doorman. But there is a dark history of death surrounding the building, and Rosie wants to write about it. Chilling and suspenseful with a slow-burn dread.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Park Row for this e-arc.*

The New Couple in 5B follows Rosie and her husband Chad as they move into a beautiful apartment in Murray Hill that they unexpectedly inherit when Chad’s uncle passes. The apartment building, the Windermere, has a reputation of being the site of multiple murders and suicides. Despite this dark past, Rosie and Chad feel like they’ve won the lottery with this apartment that they wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.

Between the new apartment and exciting career developments for both Rosie and Chad, it seems their luck is turning around - that is until Rosie begins to take notice of the strange behavior of the people around her and far too many unexplainable occurrences at the Windermere. Rosie starts to question what’s real and what’s not, and nothing is making sense anymore. It starts to feel like something sinister is going on, and everyone is in on it except for Rosie.

Just when I thought everything had come to light, a whole new layer of the story unfolded. This book had me taking notes on each character, trying to figure out who’s connected and what they’re up to. It was gripping and pretty spooky at times - I found that my heart was racing at multiple points throughout the book. If you like books that make you question everything and everyone, you will love The New Couple in 5B.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars!

A couple inherits an apartment in a dark, mysterious, historic and wealthy building in NYC in this atmospheric and suspenseful thriller.

In typical Lisa Unger fashion, this book was a fast paced, wildly entertaining thriller. The apartment building itself and unit 5B was not only the setting of the book, but felt like another character in the novel. It provided a lot of tension and seemed to be host to many ghosts. The group of residents were all quirky and just slightly off, making you question everything as you read. I also like that the story went back and forth a bit between the current couple and the occupants of the apartment before them. It seemed like everyone was hiding some pretty juicy secrets and there were some paranormal elements present.

Full of suspense and super interesting, I definitely recommend picking this one up, especially if you're already a fan of the author's writing style. Well done!

This book follows Rosie who’s a writer working on her next book, the first one being successful. Rosie and her husband (Chad) are under financial stress with their creative jobs and they feel the pressure that they need to find success soon to keep the money coming in - after all, New York is an expensive place to live.

All that changes when a man named Ivan passes. He gifts them his $5 million apartment in the will, as a token of thanks for being by his side since his health decline in the building called the Windermere. From there, the apartment has been causing them nothing but grief, at least for Rosie. She feels as if she is being watched. Things go missing. She begins to question if what she saw was real, or if it was just another bout of her panic attacks… Yes, that’s it. Time for her to see Dr. Black again.

The book also has a secondary POV in the name of Willa Winters, who resided at the Windermere in the 1960’s - in the very same apartment in which Rosie and Chad now reside. She is unhappy with her life and is having an affair with a mystery man. This man makes her feel alive, much unlike her husband Paul, a writer who would rather stay in than enjoy a night out with her.

The line gets blurry of what is real and what is true regarding the conversations, the events that unfold within the walls of the Windermere. Everyone is questionable. Who can Rosie trust?

This was my first Lisa Unger book that I’ve read and I will definitely read more of her novels! I liked her writing style. I enjoyed the slow pace of this thriller. It provided great build up to the story and it dedicated the time to make the reader feel exactly what Rosie was feeling throughout the book: the discomfort, the unease, the distrust. I really sat in it all with her. The intercom system especially and the visions Rosie had were written so well!

I liked how the beginning really reels the reader in and that it gets revisited again near the end. I didn’t anticipate some of the events that unfolded such as the mystery man and the some aspects of the ending. All in all I enjoyed the read and I thought that this character focused thriller was well done.

The Acknowledgement section is worth the read, don’t skip over!

I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (Book), Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Book), Last Night in Soho (Film) and the Haunting of Hill House (Book/TV Series). It felt like a mash up of elements from all of those!

Thank you Harper Collins Canada (Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row Books) for the ARC. This is my honest review!

Fantastic! Please send me anything by Lisa Unger. I will be recommending this book to all the thriller readers!

If you are a mood reader as I am & looking for a thriller, The New Couple in 5B is a solid choice. I love NYC and the setting of this book captivated me from the beginning. While there were parts reminiscent of Riley Sager's Lock Every Door, this book was just different enough to keep me reading. I enjoyed the characters in this book, as they seemed very diverse. And who doesn't love a dark, twisty thriller? This would be an excellent fall/Halloween read. And props to Unger for adding in the paranormal aspect in this book. Thank you to NetGalley & Park Row Books for this ARC!

Wow! This psychological thriller was a ride!

Rosie and Chad unexpectedly inherit an apartment worth a fortune in the Murray Hill area of NYC when Chad's Uncle Ivan passes. But the building has a history of untimely deaths, hauntings, creepy residents, and a doorman who is always on duty and never sleeps.

Positives:
Engrossing from beginning to end
Just the right amount of paranormal activity
Terrific gothic setting-I really got into the descriptions of the apartments and the building
A solid plot point as to why most of the bizarre events and behaviors were happening
Beautiful cover
Multiple timelines

Negatives:
a lot of interconnected characters to keep track of

Will always pick up Lisa Unger's latest novel. This one about a too good to be true inheritance for a young couple was another winner!

I really wanted to love this book and while it was entertaining and enjoyable, I couldn't help but feel like parts were oddly similar to "Lock Every Door" by Riley Sager (they were totally different and I was way off base, but it was still distracting!).

I listened to this novel on audio and the narrator was good. I would have preferred multiple narrators for the historical flashbacks and her voice for Sarah was grating, but otherwise the narration was really well done.

This book was complex and there were a lot of characters. We had the struggling actor, the struggling author, the inherited multi-million dollar NYC apartment, the odd neighbors, the ghosts, the weird doorman, the dead bodies, the flashbacks, and so much more. The many layers and subplots made the book feel a bit long for me in parts and honestly I probably could have entirely done without the flashbacks. Most of the twists didn't feel all that surprising but I did really enjoy how everything came together and played out.

All in all, this was entertaining but probably won't stick with me. Thank you to Libro.fm for the audio and to Harlequin Trade Press and NetGalley for the copy.

t has taken me weeks to come to terms with the fact that “The Couple in 5B” just didn’t do it for me.

This is my second book by Lisa Unger (and definitely not my last) and I was completely hooked from start to finish on the first, “Christmas Presents.” So it made me quite sad that I can’t give a rave review for this one.

Rosie and Chad inexplicably inherit an opulent apartment in a historic NYC building. Rosie is quickly faced with a unique cast of neighbors, hotel employees, encounters a potential haunting, and deals with many untruths dealt to her by Chad.

While it was well written and engaging I never was able to fully immerse myself in the story. The supernatural elements weren’t impactful enough for me, and the mystery within the walls and the characters has been done better in better ways.

But all that to say, it was perfectly fine, just not a book I feel strongly enough to evangelize.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Park Row Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A predictable but entertaining tall tale, not one of Unger’s best. I have to believe that the reviews that fail to mention Rosemary’s Baby are by people who haven’t read or seen it, since the inspiration is a bit too obvious.

New Yorkers Rosie and Chad Lowan are shocked when they inherit a luxury apartment at the historic Windermere from Chad’s late uncle. However, a dark history lurks behind the walls of the Windermere, and upon moving in Rosie begins to feel like something is off. After one of their neighbors turns up dead, Rosie becomes even more suspicious and hopes to uncover the truth behind the Windermere.

This was a unique novel, incorporating the elements of a mystery/thriller/suspense book with a touch of paranormal activity. I love an NYC setting, and there was a great cast of characters making for plenty of potential suspects. Definitely pick this one up if you’re looking for a captivating read with a touch of spookiness!

Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row Books for my gifted e-ARC!

This has to be my favourite Lisa Unger novel. This one reminded me a little of Riley Sager's "Lock Every Door." This book was fast paced and a lot of fun to read. I loved the main character, Rosie, and how well developed her character was.

Rosie and Chad are just getting by when they inherit a luxury apartment from Chad’s late uncle. However, it becomes very obvious that the building has a dark history that is continuing to plague the residents.
As people start to die around her, Rosie tries to uncover the truth about the Windermere. Hopefully before it’s too late.
Highly recommended.

* I received this advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row in exchange for my honest review

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The New Couple in 5B
Author: Lisa Unger
Thriller

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC! Lisa Unger’s newest release you will not want to put down. It was a perfect mix of thriller, with some paranormal creepy vibes. Our main character Rosie and her husband Chad inherit an apartment in a super luxurious building. They are super eager to move in because they are struggling to make ends meet. Things start to get weird though when people start winding up dead.. 💀 Also, Rosie is an author and she’s writing a book on the history of the building. In her research we also get some POVs from another couple that lived in the building many years ago. Somethings not right… but you will have to read the book to find out what it is 😉

3.5 star read - loved the setting and the vibes. I did guess some aspects of the book but it was still a super entertaining read. It’s a medium paced, medium/long chapter mystery. Not much else I can say without spoilers!