'I swear I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it. Gripping, pacy, brilliantly twisty.' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive: an excellent holiday read.' GUARDIAN 'A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption.' IAN RANKIN ____________________________ FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THEN SHE WAS GONE In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up. In the kitchen lie three ...
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'I swear I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it. Gripping, pacy, brilliantly twisty.' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive: an excellent holiday read.' GUARDIAN 'A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption.' IAN RANKIN ____________________________ FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THEN SHE WAS GONE In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up. In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. They've been dead for several days. Who has been looking after the baby? And where did they go? Two entangled families. A house with the darkest of secrets. A compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell. ____________________________ 'Rich, dark and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunnit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.' RUTH WARE 'You don't read a Lisa Jewell book, you fall into it. It takes huge talent to establish a whole world in the turn of two pages.' ERIN KELLY 'I had an unrelentingly pleasurable and thrilling for-God's-sake-tell-me-what-happened sensation in my stomach for the entire read ... Stupendous!' RUTH JONES 'Absolutely brilliant. Great characterisation, a fascinating and dark set up and a great conclusion. She's always great but this is next level stuff.' SARAH PINBOROUGH 'Few writers of psychological suspense devise such swift, slippery plots; fewer still people their stories with characters so human and complex. Lisa's Jewell's The Family Upstairs glitters like a blade and cuts even deeper.' AJ FINN 'Whenever I pick up a Lisa Jewell novel I know I'm in for a compelling, immersive and unputdownable read and The Family Upstairs is one of her very best' CL TAYLOR 'I had hoped to save The Family Upstairs for my holiday, but failed miserably ... I was hooked from the first page. I think it's her best yet and hands down my favourite book so far this year.' ALICE FEENEY 'Utterly compelling. Deliciously dark and twisty with characters who live on in your head. Lisa Jewell just keeps getting better and better.' JANE CORRY 'This is my pick of the crop of thrillers out this month ... Lisa Jewell is brilliant at creating a menacing atmosphere and this is almost unbelievably tense at times.' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'It's absolutely bloody brilliant and I can't tell you much I wish I'd written it.' TAMMY COHEN 'It's SO GOOD!' INDIA KNIGHT 'I loved The Family Upstairs!' SARAH JESSICA PARKER ____________________________ Readers are obsessed with The Family Upstairs: 'I read so many books in the crime/mystery genre that it becomes harder to find a book that stands out. This one succeeded!! Hooked from page one' 'I totally adored this book. All of Lisa Jewell's books are fabulous, but something about this one is extra special.' 'Absolutely absorbing ... thoroughly enjoyed it' 'Kept me captivated from the very beginning ... Definitely worth reading - as long you like reading into the night!' 'Everything you could wish for in a book. I devoured it.' 'Wow!!' 'What a book. Clever would be an understatement. And those last pages left me with chills. The concept had me intrigued and the execution had me captivated. I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!'
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New. B-format paperback. Family Upstairs . In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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Seller's Description:
New. A-format paperback. Family Upstairs . In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
When Libby inherits her old family home on her 25th birthday she doesn't realise she is also exposing her families dark past...
The Family Upstairs was a book I really didn't get into from the offset which is a problem as the first few chapters of any book are essential to hooking me in so I can finish it in a few days. This book really didn't grab me from the beginning - there's too much jumping around and too many characters from the start that I didn't engage with it and ended up putting it down. My TBR list shifted and grew and this book sat on my Goodreads shelf for 10 months (!) until the lockdown meant I had time to pick it up again. I'm glad I did give it another chance in the end, it's not an outstanding thriller and I've definitely read better but it was a solid read which deserved more than the initial disregarding I gave it.
There are a lot of characters and the plot does jump perspectives a lot as well as introducing flashbacks which makes it confusing to know what's going on at times. This might just be me but also with two of the main characters being called 'Libby' and 'Lucy', I ended up getting them mixed up quite a lot which didn't help! I did like the idea of a cult like family moving in and slowly changing and manipulating everything in a family's life. They didn't really live 'upstairs' though which made the title seem a little odd.
I liked the darker side of the book which emerged at times, Lucy and her ex-husband, Henry & Phin's relationship and the end part of the flashbacks are all extremely disturbing but added some good layers to the piece. There was definitely a lot missing from the book though - although I accused it of having almost too much going on, what was presented did get a little boring and repetitive in places. I felt like we got a good character insight into Henry via the flashbacks but I wanted to know more about David and his motivations or more about Lucy's past or Phin's sister (can't even remember her name) or even Phin himself. There were also quite a few plot holes which made no sense when you thought about them a little more post-read.
Overall, any book that can sit unread on my Kindle for 10 months after reading the first few chapters isn't getting a high recommendation but The Family Upstairs is an ok thriller. Thank you to NetGalley & Random House UK - Cornerstone, Cemtury for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
