The Family Upstairs: The #1 bestseller. ‘I read it all in one sitting’ – Colleen Hoover

by Lisa Jewell

Prepare to be hooked . . . A compulsive thriller from Lisa Jewell.

* #1 UK SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *
* OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD *
* HOLLY WILLOUGHBY'S SUMMER READING HIGHLIGHT *
*A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK*

'I read it all in one sitting.' Colleen Hoover
'I loved The Family Upstairs!' Sarah Jessica Parker
'Really good, gripping. I couldn't bear for it to finish...' Olivia Colman
'A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption.' Ian Rankin
'Rich, dark and intricately twisted' Ruth Ware
_______________

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.
_______________

More love for The Family Upstairs . . .

'My eyes were glued to this book!' Hayley Morris
'You don't read a Lisa Jewell book, you fall into it.' Erin Kelly
'I swear I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it.' Clare Mackintosh
'Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive.' Guarian
'I had a thrilling for-God's-sake-tell-me-what-happened sensation in my stomach for the entire read' Ruth Jones
'Absolutely brilliant.' Sarah Pinborough
'Glitters like a blade and cuts even deeper.' AJ Finn
'I was hooked from the first page.' Alice Feeney
'Utterly compelling. Deliciously dark and twisty .' Jane Corry
'It's absolutely bloody brilliant.' Tammy Cohen
'I genuinely struggled to put this one down.' The Unmumsy Mum

The Family Upstairs has sold over a million copies across all formats [Nielsen, May 2024]
Lisa Jewell, Number One Sunday Times bestseller, March 2024

• ISBN10: 1473561345
• ISBN13: 9781473561342
• Publish Date: 8 August 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Cornerstone
• Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 480
• 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