The Stranger Upstairs

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

2 stars. Sadly, not the book for me. I disliked it from the first chapter.

I hated following the protagonist's story. I have no problem with so-called unlikeable characters, but she was just so unpleasant and not in a fun way.

I thought this would be about a house flipping influencer with secrets from the past who moved into a famous murder house. Instead, I got a “therapist” aka self-help guru, who is an incredibly messy person with an alcohol and drug problem. She casually steals from her clients, seems to hate them all, unless they are even more unhappy than she is and needs to look up advice in her own book during sessions! As the book continues, she becomes even more unstable and turns into an unreliable narrator because of all her mental health and alcohol problems. I rarely enjoy these types of characters and had I known about this part of the book, I probably would not have requested it for review.

She and her husband do move into the blurb-promised murder house, but their relationship is more than just on the rocks and the confused and messy storytelling that is present in a lot of the book is also very noticeable in their dynamic. The story of the house itself also felt very lacking to me. I expected it to be much more important.

While the writing is fun, if a little clunky and the story is twisty and creepy at times, I just didn't care. I just wanted to be done with it. I could see this working for readers who aren't bothered by the protagonist and her behaviour and who are looking for some twisty thrillery fun!