The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell - [Book Review]

 Book Details:

Title: The Family Upstairs

Author: Lisa Jewell

Genre: Mystery, thriller, suspense

Publisher: Atria Books

Print length: 352 pages

Source: Copy from the local library

Blurb :

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA COVER TO COVER BOOK CLUB PICK

“Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author

“A haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read.” —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

Purchase Link:

Amazon

My Review :

I got this book from our local library intrigued by the blurb. 

Oh my God! It's a perfect mystery thriller with a lot of unexpected twists in the story. I thought it is a horror while reading the first few pages. The story parallelly narrates  2 different time periods touching 3 to 6 characters.

Libby who unexpectedly inherits the ancestral house in Cheyenne walk is excited as well as curious about this inheritance. She tries to learn more about the house and the mysterious murders that happened 25 years ago with her friend and an investigative journalist Miller.

Lucy with an abusive ex-husband and 2 children, tries to come back to the house after 25 years to find the baby they left in the house long ago.

Henry is a pivotal point to the story and the most mysterious character. Clemency, Justin, and Phin play an important role in revealing the facts gradually about the house and their families.

Connecting the dots from past and present and reading the story from different people's perspectives is the most interesting part of the book. 

What's great?

Unexpected twists, parallel stories, interesting characters, and mystery maintained till the end.

What might have been better?

I would love to read more about Henry. The story ends well, but the curiosity about Henry stays when you finish the book. 

I didn't feel the title is apt. Yes, the mysterious family of David stays upstairs. But, I felt, there is more to the story overall.  

I would love to read more about David and his personality. A few pages from the perspective of David / Birdie / Justin / Henry Sr / Mom might have been better to understand the reasons for their strange arrangement. It really seems unbelievable that David could twist the mind of the main family members and use them to his advantage. I wasn't sure about his final goal. 

My Rating:

4/5

I recommend this book to readers who love suspense stories with multiple unexpected twists. 

Until next time,