This book was so captivating and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Everytime I thought I had it figured out, another twist would come and I would be guessing again. Highly recommend this book if you enjoy thrillers!!

A Man Downstairs fell short for me. The ARC formatting was distracting and I had a hard time connecting with the characters and plot. I was hoping for more psychological thrill and suspense.

This book is told in 3 POV: Molly, Gil and HIM. The story follows Molly who returns to her hometown for her father who had a stroke with her teenage son. As one who stumbles back to their small town does she runs into her childhood. The past regarding her mothers murder become uncovered and secrets come to light .

Wow! I could not put “A Man Downstairs” down. I devoured this thriller in just a few days. I did not see the twists coming and the author kept me guessing until the epilogue. The characters were complex without being confusing. The switches from present to past were frequent enough to keep me engaged in the story, and I did not once get bored or want to put this book down.

Thoroughly enjoyed this wild ride of a story! In true mystery format, I kept trying to guess who “him’ was. It was one of the characters I’d thought but the ending played out so well. Would love to read a sequel!

I loved this book! I thought I had it all figured out several times, but nope. I was wrong. It was one of those books that makes you want to just keep reading. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I definitely recommend giving this book a go.

That was a bit of an adventure. A slow burn that ignited half way through and sizzled into every page. Told through multiple people's perspectives in the here and past weaving out a mystery about a family in turmoil, a boy and his made up world and how a three year old girl turned woman figures it all out. Loved it.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

What a uniquely told story!
You read it, you know what is happening, and then you no longer know what is going on, and then the mystery narrator (wait till you find out who that is, omg!). This story is told in such a way that makes you question what is what, despite everything kind of being laid out there in the open. All the flawed characters, none being likable or unlikable, and all with some added extra depth – this all makes it a *truly unique* read. I feel like UNIQUE is the best word to describe everything about this book.
Yeah, ok, the plot and story are great, and the twists are breathtakingly good too, but still – UNIQUE in the best sense possible. Eerie, haunting, filled with suspense. It was more about the characters than about the action, and it made it even more enjoyable.

Title: Man Downstairs
Author: Nicole Lundrigan
Pub Date: March 5, 2024

Molly Wynters moved back to her hometown to care for her father who recently had a stroke. When she was a young child, Molly witnessed her mother’s murder and her testimony ended up sending a local teen to prison. Now an adult with a son of her own, Molly’s past comes back to haunt her and her return has her questioning what she witnessed all those years ago. Molly, being a trained therapist, also picks up some work with a local hotline and immediately begins receiving threats. She quickly realizes that she needs to figure out the truth about what happened to her mother before something happens to her or her son.

This book was definitely a slow burn mystery and is told from multiple point of views. The three POVs are Molly, her father Gil, and an anonymous narrator, “Him”.
I thought having a disturbing anonymous narrator added suspense to the story and and contributed to the creepy vibe. For me, it took a little time to get into the edge of my seat suspense mode, but about halfway through it really picked up and I couldn’t wait to see what happened.

I have to add that as a mom of a son with Type 1 diabetes, I really appreciated the realistic representation of this disease through Molly’s teenage son. I could relate to the fear that she experienced as well as the struggles of living with a child with Type 1 Diabetes.

This was my first book by this author and I’ll definitely be looking to read more!

Nicole Lundrigan has a gift for crafting stories that send shivers down your spine. They are eerie yet deeply rooted in the real world. Your neighbour, your friend, a store clerk, a nurse… they are are all potential victims and potential perps…

A Man Downstairs, is no exception. I devoured the book, feeling on edge from cover to cover, and loving every minute of it.

Here are some highlights:

💛Eerie Atmosphere: there is an undercurrent of unease throughout the book and I am here for it. Every situation, even the most innocent, is loaded with tension.

💙Complex Characters: Molly Wynters and her son Alex are the heart of the story. Molly is a standout protagonist. I experienced a lot of the book through her and especially connected with her journey to understand her memories.

💛Multiple POVs and timelines (aka my fave book format): Lundrigan skillfully shifts between Molly’s present-day and her father Gil’s perspective from years earlier, along with Molly’s own childhood memories.

💙The “him” chapters! I love when a book lets me play detective and the “him” chapters kept me on my toes.

Lundrigan is not afraid to explore the dark side of human nature. This sets her work apart and makes her books compelling and memorable reads. A Man Downstairs is a must-read for fans of psychological suspense. Highly recommended it!!

💙Thank you to @vikingbooks @penguinrandomca for the gifted book and @thrillerbookloverspromotions for including me on this tour! 💛

Secrets and lies from the past come back to haunt all those involved in this compelling book.

The building momentum had me hooked as the author slowly revealed details a little at a time while telling an incredibly intriguing story.

Readers will not be disappointed!

This is a hard book to review! The synopsis tells us pretty much everything that isn’t a spoiler, and much like the ratings I’ve seen, my feelings on this book are all over the place.

Molly’s father has recently had a stroke, so she moves to a tiny town called Aymes to help take care of him. This is the town she grew up in, and she’s avoided it throughout her adulthood because something awful happened there - when she was three years old, she witnessed her mother’s death, and her toddler testimony led to the conviction of a young man who later killed himself in prison.

To get into any other characters would be a bit spoiler-ish, but I will say that all of the characters were written very well. You can tell the author spent a lot of time on developing these characters, and that made the first half of the book quite enjoyable. There is a lot of drama to unpack in this town, and Molly is uncomfortable with the attention she still receives all these years later. I did find it slightly implausible that people are angry with her for what she saw and said when she was but a toddler - people are threatening her because of something that happened when she was three. Who does that?

The second half of the book slowed down a lot, and that’s where I started to get to a point where I just wanted to find out the ending. We have dual timelines, and words from a mystery person, and those were good. The ending was fine, but there were only so many ways it could end, so there was no giant twist (in the end - there are a couple of big ones throughout the book). Overall, I liked this story a lot, but it could have kept the character development without becoming a slow burn with a somewhat lackluster ending and epilogue. 3.5 stars.

(Thank you to Viking Press, Nicole Lundrigan and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

Thank you to #partner Thriller Book Lovers Promotions, Viking and LibroFM for the copies to review!

An interesting read, I thought this was very well done and the suspense was slow building until the end which was very intense. The audio was excellent and only enhanced the experience. I thought I had this one figured out and was wrong, and was surprised by the ending. This was my first read by this author and cannot wait to read more of her books.

My what a twisted web in a town where it seems everyone is shady and up to no good. Old secrets. Some people never grow up or change. A teen boy obsessed with the Lunch Lady (made me think of Adam Sandler's Lunch Lady song) willing to go to extreme measures to keep her in his life even if only in his dreams. Molly and her teenage son return to her home town to be near her retired pharmacist father, who suffered from a major stroke. Her mother was murdered when she was 3 years old and she was a witness to the murder. Can a child be a reliable witness? Her mother lived on the edge and paid a price. With so many teenage hoodlums and adult men finding her attractive, something bad was bound to happen. I figured it out at the start who done it (I think the story was written that way), but the story kept me reading until late hours of the night to see how it was all going to play out and get an answer for the whys. Love turns to obsession in this small town.

Happy Publication Day to this awesome mystery/thriller by Canadian author Nicole Lundrigan🎉🎉🎉

What if the childhood you remember, isn’t what really happened at all?


I was glued to the pages of this book about a mom returning to her hometown with her rude and surly teenage son. Her father is in assisted living after having a stroke.
Molly’s son Alex starts working on a project about a potentially wrongfully convicted killer of a young mother - Molly’s mother to be exact!
Then Molly is being stalked online and in person. And everyone seems to know more about her father than they’re willing to share.
More and more questions are raised about her mother’s murder, and Molly is suddenly having flashbacks to her childhood.
There are two timelines with three POV’s- Molly in the present, her father Gil, in the past, and a mysterious/creepy HIM in the past.
There is twist after twist in this book but I don’t want to give anything away!! Put this one on your tbr ASAP!
Thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomca for this eGalley! All opinions are my own

“A Man Downstairs” is a thrilling read that will captivate fans of dark suspense. The different points of view, especially that of the unknown narrator, keeps readers guessing and second-guessing the true motives of the characters. However, while the novel excels in building tension and suspense, it suffers from an abundance of side characters that can make the plot confusing to follow at times. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for sending this ARC for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

For me it was a little slow paced. It didn't capture my attention at first but then the pages couldn't be turned fast enough. I enjoyed the back and forth between the Then and Now. I feel like the Then helped a whole lot. I would recommend this to a friend.

This book will keep you guessing. Not a fast paced book but definitely worth the read.
Thank you netgalley.com for the ARC!

I was so impressed with this book! This was incredible. It's been a while since a psychoilogical thriller shook me to my core. This was such a good read

Well, not wanting to give away the twists and turns of this novel, I do have to say that the reader will be pleased, sort of, by the ending. This is an interesting psychological thriller with many characters to keep straight and different from each other. We’re not sure of anyone throughout the whole novel and that’s a plus in the author’s hands. The pace was good, but structure a bit confused to keep characters separate with so many having similar age and different backgrounds to keep straight. I do wonder how a pared down version might have accelerated the action and involvement of the reader without eliminating the points of the author. This book is written primarily for entertainment, rather than being truly issue oriented, and as such, fully delivers. Four stars.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic! I did not hear much about the author so I went in blind, and it did not disappoint. I was so invested from the start, and did not predict any of the storyline. Awesome thriller!