The Stranger Upstairs: A Novel | 
pickSocial media influencer Sarah Slade is starting over. Running from a secret past she‘s hoping to escape, she invests in the Blackwood Murder House. However, she finds more than she bargained for underneath the peeling wallpaper. Menacing notes appear, spiraling Sarah out control and out of touch with reality. Predictable thriller premise, but it was really creepy and entertaining. I was hooked. 3.75/5
so-soThere was just something about this one that I didn‘t care for. I don‘t know if it was the style or the story. It felt like it was dragging a lot and I didn‘t care for the characters. It was just okay for me. Kept my interest for the most part, but I didn‘t love it.
Thanks to these Litsy folks for today‘s prompt:
#ABOUTABOOK
@Eggs
@AlwaysBeenALoverOfBooks
TODAY‘S PROMPT: WITH MYSTERY
A good one!!
https://tinyurl.com/5fkvcujy
pick6-23-24: My 19th finished book of 2024! Sarah Slade and her husband, Joe, have started a new life. They‘ve decided to buy the Black Wood House to renovate and resell. But the house comes with a terrible past and the neighbors in Beacon are completely against them. Sarah, a therapist and media influencer isn‘t going to take it lying down. She is unlikeable and in need of her own therapist and besides the neighbors the house seems to be against her.
pickThis was a wild ride! I loved how they interspersed future news articles about bodies found in this house and accusations and rumors about our characters while we are watching everything unfold within the story. Some bonkers stuff happens and it‘s not exactly what you‘d call believable, but it was entertaining! 🌟🌟🌟🌟
pickThis thriller to place in Australia. The characters were not particularly endearing. The story was far fetched and had a fast pace. I did want to know how it would end. Mental health issues were evident from almost the very beginning. 3.5/5
pickThis was a soft pick. The main characters and even their cat were unlikeable throughout this.
I will admit the cat did grow on me. Grumpy cats can be endearing.
It was one of those thrillers you speed through because you are so curious of what is going to happen. I didn't quite guess the ending.
Saturday snuggly reading - nothing beats a cozy blanket and a new book. Have heard loads of good things about this one. Im a sucker for a spooky house.
panPart domestic thriller, part Amityville. I wish I liked it, but I didn‘t. I can deal with an unlikable protag if the payoff is good enough…. 😬
At the acknowledgment the author talks about her mental health struggles & how she poured her misery into they MC, & how she recovered & that arc, but that‘s absent from the resolution of this book.
pickWhile this didn't blow me over, I quite liked the unlikeable protagonist and her secrets. Not sure how I feel about the house's “twist“ but I liked the ending.
#WinterGames #GangstaWrappers
@Bookwormjillk @Clwojick @StayCurious
#WGWordesearch 380 pts
pickI finished this book despite the fact that I absolutely detest the narrator. She really has no redeeming qualities and is unreliable and sociopathic. That being said, this is a chilling, horrifying novel, complete with a haunted house. It is eminently readable but I hated the ending, inevitable as it was. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
panI couldn‘t wait to be done with this book. It felt chaotic and frenzied and I didn‘t really feel invested in any of the characters. That said, I enjoyed the creative ending.
pickI HATED … nope … I loved to hate the MC!! Australia, narrator has a great accent.
I read this strait through! You‘ll be on the edge of your seat! Fun quick creepy Halloween month book!!
#31by31 … 19/31
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/4
#PhotoChallenge #Scarathlon @FlynnDewey #TeamWhoYouGonnaCall
Day 15: Purple - Purplish
pick4/5 ⭐
The Amytiville vibe.
This book follow a young woman, that decides to buy Black Wood. It's been on the market for years because the family that lives there had a tragedy. The mother was murdered by her husband. The only survivor was their daughter. The neighbors want to have the house bulldozer.
Along the book we try to figure out if the house is really haunted or is it the neighbors?
#TeamWhoYouGonnaCall #Scarathlon
@FlynnDewey
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️ An unhappy couple buys a “murder house” - empty for decades - with the intent to renovate, because it‘s cheap. But the house doesn‘t like change and makes its inhabitants question their sanity. Is history repeating itself? I‘m not a huge thriller reader, but I liked this. The characters are delightfully awful. A solid start to rejoining #BOTM.
Now reading..... 🍂🎃🍁
#Scarathlon #TeamWhoYouGonnaCall @flynn
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
This was a fun thriller with an eerie murder house, an unreliable and unlikeable narrator, and solid twists. It made me want to keep listening to figure out what was going on (which I couldn‘t guess)! The narration was enjoyable, and getting to listen to an Australian accent is always a bonus! 😄🎧
pickBook 174📚 4.3⭐️
This was wild and far-fetched, but I loved it!
I was kinda hoping for a spookier ending for Sarah but it played well with the rest of the story!
Finished in 1 day so you know I liked it!
Does anyone have a different edition than the #botm one, and can tell me if this is a misprint? I think there is something missing here, even though the pages are numbered correctly. Page 219 stops mid-page like the end of a chapter and page 220 starts like it‘s in the middle of a chapter. It‘s in the middle of chapter 31. No other chapters or section breaks look like this. (Pages blurred to obscure possible spoilers.)
My BOTM pick and add-on. I hope I'll have time to read them this month.👻☺️🎃
#Scarathlon @FlynnDewey #TeamWhoYouGonnaCall
Friday night soccer training ⚽️ + a spooky book. 🫣
pickAdmittedly, this was barely a pick. But the ending was so nuts that it really made the book. Sarah, her husband and cat, move into the murder house in a rather exclusive neighborhood, and of course, it all goes to hell.
Sarah is extremely unlikable, I mean, I hated her, and her husband was kind of a schmuck but I did love her cat, Reaper.
#BOTM
panEurgh, was this boring! It deserves so badly to be a less rushed, longer book, and for the author to just give into herself and let it be the supernatural romp she ever so clearly dreamt of writing.
pickThe author said she wants dog pictures, so I posed with Liesel for my Instagram book review ?
In "The Stranger Upstairs," the very unlikable main character buys a cheap house in an upscale neighborhood with intentions to flip it.
The house is cheap because a murder happened there.
The neighbors want it bulldozed.
And there's more to the main character than meets the eye.
pickA well-paced read with fun twists and a little revenge! Gives haunted house energy that‘s perfect for spooky season.
Thus ends my reading slump. This one kept me guessing haunted house or deaths by more human causes until the very end. The novel highlights the dark secrets we can keep even from ourselves. It doesn‘t veer away from the darkness of the MC, and sometimes that is very cringe-worthy.
#SummerEndReadathon @TheSpineView
pickThis book was pretty good. It was a little slow going at first, however, I enjoyed learning about the MC and trying to figure out her deal. The second half of the book was when things really started going if the rails 😂 and had me laughing the insanity of it in some parts. It kept me turning pages and engaged even though the end seemed just weird, i just sat back like what??? 😳🤯 It was a 🍿 moment. ⭐⭐⭐✨
so-soHmmm, I‘m on the fence on this one. I like to either root for or against my main character which can make unreliable narrator stories a hit-or-miss for me. I didn‘t have thoughts for Sarah until I finished the book which was too late for me. There were parts of this that were kind of creepy though -getting into the skin of the person you most admire.
Now Available! 🥳🎉📚
The Stranger Upstairs- Lisa M. Matlin
Book Review- https://www.boleybooks.com//the-stranger-upstairs/
#boleybooks #thestrangerupstairs #lisammatlin #bookbeast #bookbuds #pubday
Book 2 down. This is my most recent #BOTM pick and I read it in a morning. Small timeline jumps help the story flow, and like any good suspense/thriller, I put off all other chores till I'd finished, just to see how it ended. 😅
@TheSpineView
#SunmerEndReadathon
pickDEBUT BOOK
HORROR - MYSTERY - GOTHIC
Who would buy a house where there was a brutal murder?
Well… Sarah Slater did.
THE STRANGER UPSTAIRS is a book mystery fans and those readers who like creepy, haunted houses and characters with secrets won‘t want to miss. 4/5
FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/2hjsczhf
@lisa_m_matlin
pickDoes every neighborhood have a “Murder House”? Sarah pushes her husband into buying the Beacon Murder House- assuring him that they can renovate and make a tidy profit. But Sarah quickly seems to be something more than a social media influencer and therapist… she has a lot of secrets- maybe as many as the house itself holds! A creepy and entertaining pageturner, & sure to start discussions amongst readers! Sarah makes for an interesting character!
pick#TheStrangerUpstairs #LisaMMatlin #BookSpinBingo #SeriesLove2023
With every passing moment, Sarah‘s life spirals further out of control and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she‘s crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade, as the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House, the scene of a grisly murder-suicide, she‘s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful
This month's #BOTM choice. No add ons because I'm so behind in these books already, but this thrill sounded intriguing.
Anyone interested in being a reading buddy? 👇👇
https://www.mybotm.com/phuw7esbgwl5l8fr?show_box=true
September #BOTM picks are live! I went with a thriller heavy selection... anxiously waiting for crisp fall weather and cozy reading days 🍁
Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
What are you reading?
#boleybooks #thestrangerupstairs #lisamatlin #bookbeast #netgalley #bookbuds #bookchat 😊
pickExpected publication date: September 12, 2023 • 4 Stars
…a mesmerizing and often terrifying Gothic thriller about Sarah Slade, therapist, author, and part-time social media blogger as well as the proud new owner of the infamous Black Wood House. The house was an incredible bargain since no one has expressed an interest in it after a grizzly murder/suicide took place there 40 years ago…
FULL REVIEW WILL BE ON SEPTEMBER 12.
Who would buy a house where there was a brutal murder?
Well… Sarah Slater did.
No one wanted it mainly because of the murder, but sounds from upstairs, bizarre accidents, intimidating notes and more make Sarah wonder what‘s going on.
A book mystery fans and those readers who like creepy, haunted houses and characters with secrets won‘t want to miss. 4/5
@lisa_m_matlin
@penguinrandomhouse
pickSarah buys an infamous house where a murder-suicide happened 40yrs ago. As mysterious things begin to happen, I felt myself lose the grip on reality in time with Sarah‘s spiral. She‘s the perfect unreliable narrator, w/ a secret past & hidden issues that slowly come out. I never knew what was real & what I could trust. There are so many twists & a whole lot of psychological manipulation in this book; I was guessing until the end what would happen!
pickRun to your nearest bookstore and buy this book. I kept thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it and couldn't wait to pick it back up to find out what happens to Sarah Slade and The Murder House; and let me tell you I didn't see any of it coming. I can't believe this is a debut, I'll be looking out for more from this author. 5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for proving me an ARC in return for my honest feedback.
