This story is about Molly, who returns with her teen son to the town where a local teenager killed her mother - and where she testified against the teenager as a mere toddler - after her loving father suffers a debilitating stroke. Throughout the book, doubts surface, secrets are uncovered, and the details of the day her mother died are revealed.

I might be in the minority here (which is a good thing!) but I really didn't like this. Like, at all. First, the writing was so weird. Every other sentence was a sentence fragment. I'm not sure if it was done to make the statements read more dramatic or suspenseful, but the formatting got on my nerves. The story is comprised of three POVs - Molly's in the present day, her father Gil's in the past, and "Him". I know this was an ARC copy, but so much of Him's POV was just not there, with unfinished sentences, blank pages, and huge sections missing from the section. I don't think it impacted the plot too much and will of course be more polished in the final version, but that was a bit disappointing.

The characters sucked and I didn't care about any of them. Literally none of them had redeeming qualities. Not even the random side characters. I also didn't care about the ending. I had hope that the big reveal would be worth it or there'd be a twist, but it wasn't surprising, intriguing, or big at all, because by that point I had already figured it out. I just wanted to finish the book and be done with everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I'm glad many people enjoyed it, but unfortunately, for me, it was just a drab story overall.

4.5 stars.

Molly Wynters has moved back to her hometown to care for her ailing father who has had a stroke and is no longer able to care for himself nor communicate. She’s recently divorced and ready to make a fresh start with her son, but she is haunted by old events and new realities in her childhood home. As a young child, Molly was a witness to her mother’s murder and her witness testimony was the key to sending a teenager to prison. This event is still very much in the mind of the townspeople and the more Molly remembers, the more she fears what she testified may not have been the whole truth. When Molly who is a trained therapist begins volunteering for the local helpline, the threats begin. At first the threats feel random but as they progress, Molly begins to see that she is the target, raising her suspicions to many of those closest to her.

This is the first book I’ve read by Nicole Lundrigan and I don’t think it will be the last! A MAN DOWNSTAIRS is an intricately written and very well-executed novel. It is told in three perspectives: 2 are known characters (Molly in the present and Gil (Molly’s father) in the past) told in third person and 1 referred to as ‘him’ told in the first person. The alternation between character POV and through past and present is done seamlessly, creating an easy understanding of the timeline and story progression.

The three main character POVs are all really well done with each character being incredibly well-developed with an abundance of flaws and positive attributes marking a well-balanced and realistic character; they are each dynamic, and wholly intriguing. Their impeccable characterization allows the reader to better understand the twisted logic that even some of the more morally questionable characters employ.

The plot of A MAN DOWNSTAIRS is a carefully constructed puzzle that the reader slowly puts together as the true story surrounding Edie Wynters (Molly’s mother) life and death is revealed. As the ending approached, I had a couple hunches about who ‘him’ was and what really happened to Edie but I was only partially correct, making for a delightful surprise!

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Viking Books, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own.</i>

Good thriller. It kept me guessing what really happpend. It shows 2 timelines which gives you the whole story of the events. I didn't get why she went back to her father's house instead of selling and starting fresh with her son somewhere else, after knowing how things unfolded many years ago. But that is just my opinion. It doesn't affect the book. Well written. The characters were well developed.

A Man Downstairs by Nicole Lundrigan is a delectable intense psychological thriller with just the right amount of disturbing reality to entice and enthral. I greedily hung onto every word and detail and enjoyed the beautifully-written dual timeline story told from three points of view. Talk about skilful writing and weaving!

Molly witnessed a horrendous event as a child. She saw her mother's murder and a man downstairs. Her testimony was largely responsible for putting a teenager into prison but as she grew older and had a son of her own, she was forced to face her past with fresh perspective. As a single mother, she had numerous challenges and the angst of her son is almost palpable to the reader.

I loved the deep dive into the inner workings of Molly's mind, especially as she grappled with what she saw as a child later in her adulthood. Her job as a therapist didn't exempt her from terrible struggles and effects of trauma. But she wasn't the only character who struggled with past and present intersecting.

You need this book if you crave a suspenseful read which explores the human psyche and what makes it tick.

My sincere thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this engrossing novel.

I really enjoyed this book. This story is filled with suspense and trill (The cover obviously speaks for itself). From my pov, it felt like everybody, in a way, promptly turns into a suspect and you're uncertain of who to trust. The characters are all complex in their own way. I also enjoyed seeing them going from the "past" to the present pov because we see how much they have changed. With such countless characters you truly need to attempt to restricted who's behind the dangers and the secret. In spite of the fact that I had thought about who was behind the calls with Molly, I didn't see the closure coming.

Plot? Molly and her teenaged child Alex move back to her old neighborhood to deal with her dad after he experiences a stroke. Everybody in that area knows Molly(she's the young lady what mom's identity was' killed when she was 3) and Molly was the one to have the option to recognize the culprit. As Molly's work permits her to work from a distance, she chips in her time at a neighborhood helpline, but it doesn't take long before she starts to dangers over the phoneline and she can't know who to trust. This book is told through numerous POV's and bounces from the past to the present.

Molly and her son move back to her childhood town where people remember her past. Molly's mom was murdered a long time ago when Molly was about 4 years old- she even gave testimony to witnessing the murder. The man responsible, paid his debt. But the town remembers, and perhaps Molly didn't quite remember it right.

A cozy murder thriller with a twisty end.

I received an advanced copy of this new thriller by Canadian author Nicole Lundrigen in exchange for an honest review (Thank you Netgalley!).

We follow Molly, a divorced mom of a teenage boy who moves back to her hometown to care for her father post stroke. Molly’s son, Alex, starts asking questions about the murder of his grandmother, which occurred when Molly was only three years old. With dual timelines and multiple narrators, the truth is slowly pieced together. Character development is extremely well done, with the three narrators giving their own take on events: Molly, Molly’s father, and someone identified only as “Him” – until the end, in a twist that I should have seen coming but didn’t.

Lundrigen does a great job exploring the idea that the childhood we remember may not be the childhood that existed in reality; that our parents’ lives are never what we, as children, assume them to be; how memories are formed and influenced; and the things that love and grief can make us do.

While some of the formatting was off (as is typical of ARCs), I enjoyed this book and these characters, especially the chapters narrated by “Him”, which give us a somewhat sympathetic view into the mind of someone whose fantasy has taken over their life.

A slow-building mystery more than a thriller, this is a book for fans of Sally Hepworth and Katherine Faulkner.

After her father’s debilitating stroke, Molly Wynters returns to her small hometown of Aymes to care for him in his broken state. Now merely the shell of the man she remembers, she is forced to watch him sit in his wheelchair and stare out of the windows of her childhood home. No longer able to communicate, all she has to go on are her memories of the man she adored growing up. Loving and devoted, he was the perfect father. If only she could ask his advice following her divorce and recent troubles with her teenage son, Alex.

At the same time, however, there are darker recollections that reside both in Molly’s hometown and her childhood home. At only four years of age, she witnessed her mother’s murder in their very own garage. Tasked with giving evidence at the killer’s trial, her testimony alone sent a young teenage boy to prison. Despite forty years since that life-changing event, she’s never second guessed what she said on the stand. The longer she’s in town, however, the more details seem to become clear and Molly wonders if it’s possible that she has never actually know the full truth of that fateful day.

It isn’t until Molly decides to assist with the local help line, though, that her deepest fear seems to take hold. One night during a call, she receives a distressing threat when a mysterious voice wants to know what she remembers about her mother’s death. As Molly starts to look closer at those around her, they each seem suspicious. From the local cop to her own landlord, there are more connections to the past than she would like. More worrisome, however, is the realization that her words as a child just might have consequences on her life now. After all, someone seems intent on making sure that she pays for her actions.

Wow. That’s all I can say about A Man Downstairs. An eerily dark drama embedded with foreboding and suspense, I was spellbound throughout the four hundred pages. And while I was anticipating a more hard-hitting thriller, the realization that it was actually an exploration of the more human side of a small town’s very worst event somehow still satisfied my thriller loving core. Adept at spinning a captivating tale, Lundrigan revealed herself as a master of immersive storytelling that kept my fingers quickly flipping the pages.

Much more a character-driven plot than action-packed with surprises, the fully fleshed out personas kept me fully on the back foot throughout. Told from multiple POVs and dual timelines, the plot was slowly revealed through its multitude of layers. Piece by piece, revelations were unfurled until the timely, pulse-pounding climax exploded all of my expectations with a truth that was shocking in the extreme. Hard to wrap my head around, but also entirely believable, Lundrigan nailed it in one.

As for those characters, each and every one of them were just a little bit morally gray. With plenty of disturbing motivations and long hidden secrets, my distrust meter was off the chart as I questioned every single individuals’ true plans and goals. From the creepy landlord to the all too helpful live-in nurse, there was even an anonymous narrator who made me squirm with distaste. All together, I looked at each with more than suspicion. And, IYKYK, but second guessing all involved is one of the hallmarks of a truly great author for any mystery/thriller.

All said and done, while the plot was anything but fast-paced, this epic slow burn revealed dark truths about society as well as providing a riveting tale of suspense. With multiple subplots that all revolved around a deep understanding of human nature, I was simply gobsmacked by the time I closed the cover. Even better, the evocative prose made me feel as if I were there as the past came calling. But the best bit?That was easily the conclusion, which led me to deeply want a sequel to the perfectly plotted finale. Rating of 4 stars.

Thank you to Nicole Lundrigan, Viking Books, and Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC of this book exchange for my honest review. This book officially publishes 3/5/24!

This book as a whole fell a bit flat for me. This was a slow-burn type thriller told from 3 POVs. Through my reading experience, I found that most of the characters were well developed and the use of 3 POVs here appropriate and organized. While the premise of the plot had promise, I felt like there were several chunks of the book that could have been cut out with no disruption to the plot whatsoever. I also did guess one of the two major twists at the end which does distract from the reading experience for me. That all being said, I would recommend this one if you enjoy slow-burn type thrillers. Please check any relevant trigger warnings before picking this one up!

3.5 stars
this had so much potential for me, i thought it was going to be the perfect thriller/mystery, but it ended up falling a bit flat. my main issue was the main character’s son was THE absolute worst, he was so rude and insufferable that i truly didn’t care about his storyline/what happened to him. also, there were a few plot points that just fizzled out and didn’t get resolved which was frustrating. it’s a quick read and has a good ending, but i wouldn’t rush out and read it.

cw: suicide

thanks to netgalley and penguin random house canada for my advance copy of a man downstairs by nicole lundrigan. all opinions are my own.

Solid 3.5 star read ⭐️

This one follows Molly and her troubled teen son as they move back to her hometown after her father has a stroke. Molly being back in her hometown brings back up a lot of traumatic memories because her mother was murdered there years ago when she was a toddler. We follow two different timelines, the present and the past.

I was really excited for this one and was enjoying it until about the halfway point when I felt it started to drag a bit. I also felt the twists and conclusions were kind of confusing to follow/fully grasp for some reason.

I did really enjoy the past chapters though. I found them to be so intriguing and found Edie to be a very unlikable yet interesting character. I wish the past and present kind of intertwined more in the present chapters, but I still really enjoyed my time reading this ARC!

When Molly returns to her hometown to care for her ailing father, she gets some strange phone calls, and some of the locals are acting strange around her. Soon she’s forced to reckon with her past, questioning her testimony as a toddler during the trial of her mother’s murderer.
Told from three points of view - Molly in the present, her father Gil and her mother’s stalker(!) in the past. Trying to connect the dots between the present-day characters and their past versions, especially the stalker, kept me turning the pages. I found the characters and a lot of the dialogue to be pretty flat, but the story itself was nice and twisty through the end.

As a child of three, Molly Wynters witnessed the murder of her mother. Her testimony helped put the murderer away. Now, forty years later, she has returned to her small hometown to help care for her father, Gil, who has suffered a debilitating stroke, leaving him unable to communicate. When Molly volunteers for a local help line, she begins to get threatening messages accusing her of not telling the truth. She begins to doubt her own memories of what really happened to her mother, especially after she finds evidence that someone has been in her dad’s basement, searching through boxes containing her mom’s old clothes and papers.

A Man Downstairs by Nicole Lundrigan is a slowburn thriller about obsession, memory, and guilt. The story is split between two timelines, NOW which is told in third person from Molly’s perspective and THEN, split between the third voice narration of Gil, and another character, identified only as HIM, speaking in first voice. The story is well-written and interesting. The characters, and there are a lot, are well-fleshed out and complex. The mystery is compelling with plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing. Nothing is quite as straightforward as it seems. A very entertaining thriller with an ending that, well, leaves a lot for the reader to think about.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Are you sure mommy dearest was as innocent as the picture painted by the ones you trusted?

A MAN DOWNSTAIRS by NICOLE LUNDRIGAN

Rating: 3.5🌟
Thrill level: 2.5/5🔪
Genre: psychological thriller

This is a rather slow paced novel that was both captivating and boring. The story is told from three different perspectives over two timelines (now and then) which is done quite well with smooth transitions. While it was very “slow burn”, the author kept the storyline intriguing enough that I kept reading. Some chapters were boring and dragged on but then you’d come to another banger of a chapter coaxing you back in for more.

Characterization was done well with the characters being what I’d describe as generally relatable but not remarkable. They all have their own “demons” (if you will) which makes them imperfect and simply human. This created a welcome challenge in the first 2/3rd of the novel when trying to theorize the truth, it made you keep guessing. One of the perspectives is from “him” and Lundrigan created a beautifully disturbed mind indeed with the vivid fantasies and emotional dysregulation. To make a person so possessive and infatuated over someone that was never theirs is bone chilling. Lundrigan did a really good job at writing this POV. I really enjoyed it, of course in a creepy way.

Being completely honest, I did not really like her writing style. And I’m sure part of it was that there were still lots of grammatical errors and the formatting was off, understandably so for an ARC. Still there’s something about the way some sentences were formed and unnecessary that took away from the story at times.

I do not consider this a suspenseful thriller but it can mess with you psychologically. I never felt on the edge of my seat but I did continue reading.

So yes, captivating yet boring 🤷🏼‍♀️ It’s a decent novel if you are wanting a more chill, slow thriller and are looking to explore lesser known authors. Overall I do still say I’d recommend, I also think you could pass..

Thank you kindly @netgalley and @vikingbooks for this ARC! It has been a pleasure to explore a piece of work from a fellow Canadian!

A Man Downstairs was a very difficult book to rate and review. I can see why the ratings are all over the place. I'll start by saying the character development was excellent. I felt immersed in the story. Molly and her son go back to her home town to take care of Molly's dad who had a massive stroke. He is unable to speak, so we don't learn any of the past from him. Molly has spent her whole life believing what her dad told her happened the night her mother was murdered.

This was a super slow burn. Very slow. Personally, I don't do well with books like this. This was not dark or sinister in any way but was twisted at the end. There were parts I was confused about, only because there were a lot of teen characters from Molly's past and her mother's past. The book switches from present to past for both Molly's father and Mollie herself. The epilogue was long... I suppose to tie up all the loose ends. I was still a bit confused at the end. All in all it was a good book, but I do think it could have been shorter.

Thank you to Penguin Random House books and Netgalley for the ARC. I greatly appreciate it and I do recommend this book if you don't mind the slow burn.

Book Review
A Man Downstairs by Nicole
Lundrigan

Tropes and Triggers⚠️
Childhood drama
Suicide
Drug abuse
Mental health issues
Diabetes
Murder
Secrets in a small town
Multiple POV ( past and present)

Characters
Russ- strong silent type, often on his own, kind
Glenn- friendly, outgoing
Bradley- lives with his mom, the kid who never grew old
Edie- bipolar? Its kinda suggested? She’s Carefree, tried to be a wife and mother but at what cost?
Molly- recently single parent, worries about her past and the lasting consequences of her actions as a child, worried about her father and what happens next
Others: Lyle, Terry, Seth

But who is HIM

Thoughts
A slow start…. Was feeling like more of a family drama towards the beginning. Lots of flawed characters and developing background about our MC’s and their shared past but the pace picked up in the last quarter.
I especially liked the chapters from HIM- they were creepy and dark , he just felt “off” - As a reader I knew I was watching the making of a psychopath unfold but WHO is HIM
Then Clues started coming together, secrets were revealed…. I thought I knew the ending..
I did not know HIM

Overall a great thriller mystery that will leave you wondering about A Man Downstairs

Thank you@netgalley and @penguinrandomca for my digital ARC in return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own.

★ 4 Stars ★
"A Man Downstairs" is a mysterious tale set in a small town that left me questioning what I had just read. Although there are some odd and suspicious characters, there is no single person that I can identify as the sole antagonist. It is told in dual timelines from multiple perspectives. One of the POVs is a creepy and eerie unknown character that kept me gripped.

The majority of the townsfolk made poor decisions that set off a chain of events leading to the tragic death of Edie. Despite being the victim, Edie is not entirely innocent. I'm not blaming her for what happened. She was a young woman who enjoyed life, and I don't believe she had any ill intentions when making her choices. However, her decisions were motivated by the wrong reasons, and the consequences were not hers alone.

The story isn't heartbreaking, but it is somber and depressing. It was a slow burn that kept me engaged, but it left me feeling gloomy.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for providing copies of this book through NetGalley and Libro.fm. As always, all opinions are my own and left voluntarily.

#AManDownstairs #NicoleLundrigan #NetGalley #ARC #PRHCanada #LibroFM # #honestreview #thriller #bookreviewer #thrillerbookloverspromotions #thrillerfriendsunite #thrillerobsessedbookishclub #ReadersOfTheLateArc #TalkWordyToMeTeam #lovetoread #bookworm #lovebooks #booknerd #readaholic #bookstagrammer

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Canada for the eARC.

This book really was tough for me. While I enjoyed the dual timelines and multiple POV, I really struggled with the book as a whole. I did enjoy the wrench thrown in at the end, but overall, I did not love this book. I really struggled with the mother/son dynamic and how disrespectful he was about her own experiences. Idk. 2.5 stars.

A Man Downstairs had a great premise, and usually I love novels told in multiple POVs. I don't feel like I had time to get to know Molly enough before a switch in POVs. At first, I wondered why we even needed the flashbacks to Gil and Edie's relationship. I wanted to know Molly and understand who she was and the trauma that happened to her, along with what was coming for her later in the novel. It was just too much of a slow burn to start and I did nearly DNF. The ending saved it, though. Having no idea who "him" was until the very end was well done and I loved the reveal.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. While I feel like the premise had potential, it was too slow of a burn and did not keep my attention. At another time it might have held my attention, and maybe one day I will try again.

2 stars because I do think it has potential.