Lisa Jewell | THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS

Plot (via Goodreads):

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.

Review:

Lisa Jewell's publicist and my friend Ariele must really get sick of me sometimes. Jewell will announce a new novel nine months away and I'll already be emailing Ariele asking if I can be on the list for an advanced copy. "Sure, Garrett! Just remind me closer to pub date!" Can I get more annoying? But that's the thing, I don't care. Ariele is a sweetheart and luckily hasn't blocked my email to deny me my addiction to this incredible author. Lisa Jewell is a masterful storyteller whose writing is razor-sharp at times, delicate in others, and completely riveting overall. With each story I read from this masterful writer, I find myself dumbfounded and yet amazed at how she can completely captivate me on page one, hold me hostage by page two, and then toss me on an emotional rollercoaster blindfolded throughout the rest of the novel. That is how good Lisa Jewell is.

The Family Upstairs just blew me away. I was having a hard time putting my finger on it, but something was really different with this one. Sure there were different timelines and character perspectives that were so eloquently done and shrouded in mystery that you knew you were reading a Lisa Jewell novel, but there was something else brewing between the pages. You see, with each Jewell novel I read, her writing grows stronger and her storylines are much more intricate, giving me enough to want to keep reading and yet holding back enough to keep me confused and intrigued. The Family Upstairs is the novel that ignited my imagination and took the psychological suspense genre to a whole other level. You see, this one had this really ominous and chilling backstory that just felt off and anxiety-ridden from the start and the present time chapters were sensationally dark and psychologically stunning. The characters in this one are not only prominent during the story, but really carry it well, each personality is devastatingly real that I even felt myself sympathizing with the antagonists. Jewell has a knack for taking three-dimensional characters, making her readers fall in love with them, and then dragging them to hell and back. This story is definitely one of the more harrowing reads of hers and I was tense and emotional throughout its entirety. 

The Family Upstairs may just be my favorite Lisa Jewell read yet. Between the setting, the characters, and the way Jewell takes her time providing you with tidbits of information that are executed perfectly, I am so eager to see what Lisa Jewell does next. I refuse to give away more regarding the plot because I was initially confused when I started reading this one and as I put the pieces together with the characters, I found it to be such an unforgettable reading experience that will stay with me for a long time. An immediate go-to author for me, Lisa Jewell is sensationally brilliant, remarkably talented, and terrifyingly cunning in her prose. This is definitely one you'll want to devour all weekend long.

Special thanks to Atria and the fantastic Ariele for this copy in exchange for my honest review. 

Rating: 5/5