The Family Upstairs
A Novel
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4.2 • 4K Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The past is never far behind us. In Lisa Jewell’s tense psychological thriller, it’s right in front of us, too, ready to reveal some very alarming things. When Libby unexpectedly inherits her family’s London mansion, she’s pulled in by a history of family dysfunction, a mysterious stranger, and several deaths. The tension keeps building—and secrets keep being revealed—right up to the final page. If you feel like you’ve seen it all in contemporary thrillers, trust us, you won’t know what hit you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twenty-five years before the present-day action of this un-put-downable psychological thriller from bestseller Jewell (Watching You), the bodies of Henry and Martina Lamb and an unknown man were found in the Lambs' mansion in London's exclusive Chelsea district. How did they die, and where were the Lambs' children? Three entwined stories provide some answers. Homeless Lucy, a busking violinist, is sitting on a French beach with her son when she receives a message on her phone: "The baby is 25." Lucy's account of her voyage to London merges with that of Libby Jones. Libby, adopted when she was around a year old, is working for a kitchen design company in St. Albans when she receives the news that she has inherited the Lambs' family home. Henry, the Lambs' son, describes his childhood and the terrifying events that changed all their lives when the charismatic charlatan David Thomsen came to stay. Investigating her past, Libby gets much more than she bargained for. Distinct, well-developed characters, shifting points of view, and a disturbing narrative that pulses with life create an enthralling tale full of surprises.
Customer Reviews
Love this book!
Slow in the beginning. Tricky to follow all the character and timelines that change every chapter. I recommend reading in large chunks and making a note of the characters so you don’t get. The second half of the book is soooo good. Read like 300 pages in one day. I love this book!
Shocking at how it all went wrong…
It was a bit of a slow start, what with the views of each character shifting around in the present day; and the events that transpired in the past as well. It grows momentum until finally, you realize who is who and how it all went wrong.
I find the shadowy past of this story grimly manipulating, to say the least. It easily spiraled me into a mild depression, and yet, I couldn’t put it down until the dark fog cleared at the end. The more I read, the more aggravating I was to hear about the couple that moved in the mansion. What a wicked, slow way of torture to simply scam a family. I sometimes wonder what goes there Jewel’s head to create such twists and turns to make her stories gut-wrenching or much to adding her red-herrings. I’m fond of her work and will continue to read more.
So good!
Couldn't put it down! I wish there was more.