The Family Upstairs

by Lisa Jewell

'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
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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.
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'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
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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!'

• ISBN10: 1501190105
• ISBN13: 9781501190100
• Publish Date: 5 November 2019 (first published 8 August 2019)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[maggiefan]

...not this...

[Kim Deister]

This was a book of psychopathic goodness, a phrase that I realize sounds somewhat weird. Yet it is entirely apt. The Family Upstairs is disturbing, atmospheric, and delightfully chilling on so many levels. The creepy mansion is a perfect setting for the dark story of the devolution of a family, the destructive cult that takes over their lives, and the horrors that ensue.

The story is told from three different points of view, but until the end nears, we aren’t quite sure how the three are connected. Adding to the anticipation is that one of the narrators, Henry, tells his story from both the past and the present, and he is at times an extremely unreliable character.

The characters are so complex, regardless of whether they are a major part of the story or a supporting character. The primary antagonist, David, is dark and twisted but highly charismatic. He almost reminded me of a more polished Charles Manson in the way in which he was able to subvert most everyone around him to his whims. To watch Martina change under his control, becoming a shadow of her former self, was especially horrifying, made even more so by the fact that she embraced it, somehow blind to the reality of what was happening to her and to her family.

The mystery of it was engrossing, and I was as absorbed in as Libby. I needed to keep turning the pages, needed to know the truth of what had happened to her, to everyone in that house. In truth, what was still happening.

When the story finally came together, it was in a deliciously perfect way. It felt resolved. And then I read the ending… and I LOVED IT!

My recommendation: If you love a gothic thriller, rich with atmosphere and dark characters, this is the book to read. I HIGHLY recommend it!

[stressedrach]

This is a little different from other books I have read by Lisa Jewell, a little darker and creepier. It is told in three POV, Libby, Lucy and Henry and the storylines flip between Henry in the past as a ten year old and as he grows up, in the present, Lucy a homeless mum of two and Libby who was adopted as a baby. When Libby she is 25 she is finally allowed the letter that has been in trust for her, she is about to find out where she came from. In that letter, she finds about her birth parents but even more astonishing is she has inherited a house, nothing strange there as many people inherit houses, but this is a house is actually a mansion in Chelsea and worth millions. This is where the three characters lives intertwine and secrets are revealed.
This was an absolutely brilliant book to read, it was gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of The Family Upstairs through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Family Upstairs is the latest thriller novel by Lisa Jewell, which means it's going to do an excellent job of creeping you out. This thriller will make you question the people you know, and think twice before trusting anybody too closely ever again.
It all started with one house. First, it was one family, being kind enough to invite a guest in until she was back on her feet. Then more came. Twenty-five years later, the mystery of what happened to all of the family members or children still hasn't been answered.

“She compromised on everything in the end to find a place that was close to her job and not too far from the train station. There was no gut instinct as she stepped across the threshold; her heart said nothing to her as the estate agent showed her around.”

The Family Upstairs was described as a 'bone-chilling thriller' and boy, did it live up to that description. I was on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out the mystery of this infamous house. There are so many disturbing elements that Lisa Jewell managed to weave into this single novel, it's almost too much to handle.
This novel is split into two timelines. One is set in the past, and slowly reveals what happened in the house in question – and right away began giving us an idea as to what happened to the teenagers within. And then there's the present, twenty-five years later, following the baby girl who was born inside the house – and left with dozens of questions.
The pacing seemed to wax and wane, with intense moments followed by a bit more of a lulling sense of security. It was an interesting combination and applied in such a way as to feel like there was always something set to happen shortly.
This is one of those thrillers where you'll find yourself trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle before the dramatic reveals and thus will prove your emotional connection to it. It was fun trying to figure it all out beforehand, and I actually think I did a pretty good job of anticipating the reveals; that can be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint.
The complex set of characters made for an electrifying story, with each and every one of them having a complicated history and reason for caring about the house – and everything that it represented. There are plenty of questions raised about the characters, though naturally some more than others.
I'll confess that this wasn't my favorite thriller out there, though I did enjoy it on the whole. It was fascinating and full of curiosities, not to mention dozens of questions about what happened. And thus it kept my interest throughout the novel.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks