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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
This book got me out of my reading slump!! Just spooky enough to be the perfect October read
The Stranger Upstairs is the debut thriller novel by Lisa M. Matlin that follows Sarah, an influencer and therapist who has recently bought a house that has been empty for forty years after a grisly murder took place inside it. With the intent of documenting fixing the house up and slipping it, Sarah soon learns that the house itself may be a danger to her.
The basic premise of the thriller sounds pretty standard and I have been burned by picking up debut thrillers in the past so I went into this book with sort of “meh” expectations and this book really surprised me! The characterization of Sarah was kind of a twist of what I’m used to seeing from a woman in a thriller and it made her all the more interesting to follow. The house feels like a presence as well because you don’t truly know what is going on. Is it cursed? Is it haunted? Is it just a house with a creepy history?
The last quarter or so of this book kind of felt like a little too much to me. It started to reach a point where it passed creepy and went into the silly territory as it piled more and more stuff up without really explaining why.
I can’t give this a full five star because of my issues with the ending but this was a strong four star thriller for me which doesn’t happen a lot. I will definitely be following this author to see what she comes out with next because I think her subtle character work is a talent that I don’t see often in thriller books. I can see this being a book a lot of people love!
Huge thank you to the publisher for sending me an arc of this to read and review ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The basic premise of the thriller sounds pretty standard and I have been burned by picking up debut thrillers in the past so I went into this book with sort of “meh” expectations and this book really surprised me! The characterization of Sarah was kind of a twist of what I’m used to seeing from a woman in a thriller and it made her all the more interesting to follow. The house feels like a presence as well because you don’t truly know what is going on. Is it cursed? Is it haunted? Is it just a house with a creepy history?
The last quarter or so of this book kind of felt like a little too much to me. It started to reach a point where it passed creepy and went into the silly territory as it piled more and more stuff up without really explaining why.
I can’t give this a full five star because of my issues with the ending but this was a strong four star thriller for me which doesn’t happen a lot. I will definitely be following this author to see what she comes out with next because I think her subtle character work is a talent that I don’t see often in thriller books. I can see this being a book a lot of people love!
Huge thank you to the publisher for sending me an arc of this to read and review ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Audio was not my favorite - I want to try paperback or digital
I’m sorry I have no clue how this book got published. None of the plot made sense to me and it was written in a disorganized way.
2.5 stars, I really wanted to like this one but it just didn’t do it for me. I think it had a lot of potential though!
Writting style was not for me. I guess never tryst a book cover.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
pros: this was easy to read, the author has funny / quirky moments that i appreciated, and the suspense was just enough for it to be a bingeable read. the author did a fairly decent job of creating tension and suspense by incorporating news articles in between the events of the novel that keep the reader on edge.
cons: i wanted this to be scarier and less predictable than it actually was. i wish the plot and characters / their backstories had been more fleshed out; i feel like it would have been much more emotionally compelling, which would then add a necessary layer of tension to the story.
cons: i wanted this to be scarier and less predictable than it actually was. i wish the plot and characters / their backstories had been more fleshed out; i feel like it would have been much more emotionally compelling, which would then add a necessary layer of tension to the story.
