The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin

Genre: Thriler, Gothic fiction

Format: Print, Hardcover

Pages: 288 

Start Date: October 24th, 2023

End Date: October 25th, 2023

Overall: ★★★★ 

Character Development: ★★★★ 

Ending: ★★★ 

Recommend: Yes

 🚨 May Contain Spoilers, Continue at Your Own Risk 🚨

     Well, I certainly am surprised by this one. A little bit creepy meets slightly fantasy, yet not too far fetched? Yes, please! I, for one, didn’t see that one coming. Probably my biggest gripe about the book is that there really isn’t any character to root for…. No like-able characters. I actually found myself sort of hoping Sarah died in the end, honestly. Hey, at least the cat survived!

First and foremost, do you think you could buy a murder house? Oh absolutely not. A house where not only someone was killed, but someone LOST THEIR MIND and killed their family? Yeah, hard pass on that one for me. You better believe I’m googling everything about it, though!

Did you find it believable that Amanda ended up on the roof? This was so stupid for me. On the roof?! I don’t care if she was being poisoned, why was she on the roof (yes, which is what Sarah says)? The part I found to be a major eye-roll was that she was never discovered on the roof. You mean to tell me in all the looking for her, no one looked at the exterior of the home? No satellite image, airplane, even drone ever came across some kind of human body-like image on a rooftop that someone felt like needed to be looked into? Especially when the home was known to be vacant? I get she wasn’t reported missing right away and the neighbors were tight lipped…..but SEVEN months…..sorry, not buying it. 

What do you think happened to Winter? My heart hurts. The positive, though, no dog body was mentioned. So I’ve determined he ran away through the scary woods and a loving family adopted him. 

Did you find yourself disappointed we never found out what happened to Janet? I did appreciate that Janet’s story was left alone. I feel like if the author tried to incorporate another side story to tie that loose end up, the story would’ve felt muddy and almost clouding the main storyline. As I say that, I’m dying to know what happened to her! 

I found Sarah to be a similar character to Chloe from A Flicker in the Dark. Did you find yourself doubting her credibility as a narrator? It really didn’t hit me until I finished the book at how unreliable she really could’ve been. Drinking problems, sketchy past she is running from, clearly mentally unstable. So no, I didn’t doubt her in the moment, but after I finished the book I realized I should’ve have been so trusting of her.

     Overall, I found myself really struggling to put his book down! As much as I appreciated the ending, I do have mixed feelings about it. I felt like the storyline built up to this dramatic, theatrical ending….for it to be carbon monoxide poisoning? What? At the same time, I appreciate that the ultimate plot twist wasn’t a neighborhood trying to run the new neighbor out of town. Or another book where the main character has a psychotic break (even though that could be debatable, in the end). I didn’t love the Emily chapters, though. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, more or none….. I either need more from her point of view or none at all. Even though I wasn’t loving them, they weren’t as annoying as these kind of chapters are when you typically see them. At least they offered some contribution to the story and ultimate plot revelation. I think what held me back from giving the last star was the fact that not a single character was like able. Who do you root for? The cat? Even the cat was a douchebag….