The Family Upstairs

This thriller by Lisa Jewell was fully engaging, sometimes downright creepy.   She uses 3 different narrators which adds to the complexity and the intensity of the story.  Jewell weaves a story that spans past and the present and she moves between the 2 eras very readily.  The story is a bit nerve wracking and you aren't quite sure if everyone is as they appear to be.   At times there were portions of the story that made me think of the VC Andrews Flowers in the Attic.  Dark and creepy with a sense of evil looming through the story. 

The characters are developed in such a way that the reader has emotional responses to them.  You cannot help but feel pity, anger, fear right alongside them during the story.  You root for them to find the resolution they are looking for and for it to have a happy ending.  I am not entirely sure there isn't a sequel on its way for this book based upon the ending and some unknown answers to some questions that still linger. 

All in all this is a very good book that I read in 1 day. I look forward to checking out additional books by Lisa Jewell.


The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Chilling thriller

Wow is this an engaging thriller that is downright creepy times. I liked the style of having 3 different narrators the story is well written and Jewell does a great job of jumping between present day and the past. The reader is easily grabbed the storyline wanting to find out what really happened in the house in Chelsea. It is very easy to have emotional reactions to the different characters This was a definite page different kept me engaged


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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge -  Book #58
2. Cloak and  Dagger #CloakDaggerChal : Book  #46
3. Medical Examiner-  4 Toe Tag 
4. Mystery Bingo: 
   • Red Herring :  Forgery
   • Crime Scenes:  Attic 
5. Beat the Backlist #BeatTheBacklist2020 #8 
6. TBR Book #34  #Backlistreader ; #MountTBR2020; #StartOnYourShelfathon