Thank you Atria Books for gifting me a copy of The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell.

“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 living at Cheyne Walk were gone.”

Dark, twisty and disturbing. These are the three adjectives that I’ve been using to describe this book since I finished it last week.

I will admit that the first 75 pages (or so) left me a little confused as there were quite a few characters introduced that were in different time-periods. However, once I was able to get all of the characters straight, I was able to become fully immersed in this suspense-filled page-turner.

I love Lisa Jewell’s book and am always eager to read a book she has written. The Family Upstairs did not let me down. I will admit that I’m still not sure how I feel about the storyline but once you read this book, you’ll understand why. It just let me feeling completely uneasy….. and I loved it!

When reading different reviews of this book, I was made aware that there were a few trigger warnings given for The Family Upstairs and I want to address those as well. There are references to sexual assault, these are only referenced and not described in great detail. However, there are quite a few references to child abuse and the reader is supplied with a description of those situations. There is one scene involving rape. If you would like to know more about this, please feel free to reach out to me! I always appreciate trigger warnings for books.

Thank you, again, to Atria Books for gifting me a copy of The Family Upstairs which was published on November 5th! Stop by your local bookstore and pick up a copy!