A review by taliatalksbooks
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin was compelling from cover to cover, but I wish that it committed more to its premise. I really liked the concept, and I think it had a lot of potential to be a really great paranormal story, or a really great story you thought was paranormal but actually turned out not to be, but I feel like it almost tried to be both for a little too long. I really loved how our narrator was unreliable, but the way information was withheld felt a bit gimmicky and didn’t really pay off as much as I would have liked. I think that the unpredictability of the narrator played in well to the way the book ended, and I really liked that component of the story, but by withholding the information, I don’t think it packed the punch it could have at the end. Instead it left the end feeling a bit chaotic, and like I wasn’t fully able to piece together how we got from point A to point B. I feel like the supporting characters were a bit one note, but I did like the dynamic between our main character and those supporting characters. I just wanted a little more dimension from them all. This was certainly an enjoyable suspense novel, but I don’t know if it lived up to the expectations I had for it overall. 
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