Name: Family Upstairs
Rating: 3.837826086956522 (575 reviews)
ISBN: 9781797113821

Lisa Jewell

Tamaryn Payne

Bea Holland

Dominic Thorburn

In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. 

They’ve been dead for several days.

Who has been looking after the baby? 

And where did they go?

Two entangled families.
A house with the darkest of secrets.
A compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell.

A Novel

Family Upstairs

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.

The Family Upstairs

Nadine MacDonald

loved it until about 80%. easy to read, fun storyline, loved the way the characters were introduced, etc. however, I have to say that the last 20% of the book felt a bit abrupt like the author was trying to quickly wrap up the book. otherwise a nice good book

Lisa Jewel

Be careful of those who live in your home. Is it the family who lives together? Three tangled families and a house with deep secrets are gripping until the last page. Soon after Libby turned twenty-five years old, she finally received a long-awaited letter- a notice from the deceased parents' trust fund. She opened the letter with excitement: I finally want to know who I am. Soon, she knew the identity of her biological parents, and at the same time, she also knew that she was the only heir to a luxurious mansion located in the Chelsea district of London on the banks of the Thames.

Wow that was really good! That book made me gasp at least two times, I loved every page and definitely recommend👏🏻

Mariia

It had a great premise, a great set up with wonderful perspectives, characters and ultimate atmosphere. You could visibly see a good plot good have been made here, loads of different plot twists and unexpected moments could have been easily thrown in here, yet as we got closer to the end, I just found it lacking the shock factor, the wow factor and I honestly just found the ending so lame and boring it was so disappointing to read such a weird and inexplicably odd book just for it to be ended on such a useless and pointless note, you know? Really disappointed to have read this book only for it to be butchered at the end. 

Safs 🧸

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.

The Family Upstairs: A Novel

Thought this would be more of a thriller but I thought it was pretty self-explanatory and bland. There was almost 40 minutes of just happy backstory at the end. Very obvious that the brother did all the crazy things very early on.

Paige Paul

Rebecca Hurd

Such an interesting book…definitely had be a little confused for a while but eventually I figured it out!! Can’t wait to see where this series goes. Had some weird and quite frankly some disturbing moments!! I felt so bad for the children they didn’t deserve any of the trauma they had to go through!!

Ryan Mateyk

I’d totally be down to do this but my generation is so poor there’s nobody I can manipulate into giving me a house because nobody owns one in the first place 😔

tori 👻

I decided to listen to this one on audio and oh my God I'm so glad I did.

The story is told through the pov of three different characters: Libby, Lucy, and Henry. Each one was read by a different voice actor and it was simply phenomenal. I could totally feel the atmosphere around the main location the book takes place. It was interesting to dive into the characters and try and find out how reliable their versions of the occurrences were. The Family Upstairs was a nice surprise for the beginning of my reading year and I'll be checking out Lisa Jewell's other novels in the near future!

these characters will stay in my mind for a long time.

I enjoyed the structural layout of this book, the bouncing timelines and POV kept things interesting and fast paced. 

That being said there are some fundamental plot points that I just am not sure aid the book in anyway. I felt as though I was waiting for a big reveal that never came. There was so much room for potential, however I felt that we never truly got anywhere. I was left feeling mildly disappointed and uninterested in reading the sequel. It read like a draft more than a final product. 

Although it doesnt seem that way I did really enjoy this book. Not my genre of choice but I did enjoy it

Lindsey Catherine

What a whirlwind.

I enjoyed the structural layout of this book, the bouncing timelines and POV kept things interesting and fast paced. 

That being said there are some fundamental plot points that I just am not sure aid the book in anyway. I felt as though I was waiting for a big reveal that never came. There was so much room for potential, however I felt that we never truly got anywhere. I was left feeling mildly disappointed and uninterested in reading the sequel. It read like a draft more than a final product. 

Although it doesnt seem that way I did really enjoy this book. Not my genre of choice but I did enjoy it

“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 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.

Luke Harkness

A dark story that keeps on delivering

The Family Upstairs is written in a clever way: you find out what happens at the end at the very beginning - then the rest of the book is the tale of how we got to this end. Along the way there are twists thrown in and some clever explanation too.

Clearly Lisa Jewell has a talent for writing gripping stories that drip feed you just enough goodies to keep you interested. Liked it a lot, but didn't love it like many.

A woman stops at nothing to find her husband’s murderer in this psychological thriller about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “brilliantly chilling” (Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author) The Family Upstairs. When Rachel Rimmer’s phone rings in the early morning, she is shocked when she hears her husband’s housekeeper sobbing on the line. Her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France and all signs point to murder. The French police conclude that Michael was killed by his gangster associates. They have no idea that the real killer is still out there: his ex-wife, Lucy. A year later, she and her children are happily living in London, unaware that Rachel is on the hunt for her. She may have never met this woman, but Rachel knows Lucy was the last person to see her husband alive. And there is nothing that is going to stop her from discovering the truth. With her signature “electrifying, chilling, and unputdownable” (Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author) prose, Lisa Jewell weaves another twisty, suspenseful thriller in the vein of Paula Hawkins and Liane Moriarty.

The Family Remains

This book has some twists and turns and I like seeing the different points of views both books were very gripping and an easy read.

Kathy gerrard

Amazing could not put it down, finished it within two days and then moved straight onto the following book.

So I just found out that this is a sequel and now I understand why I had trouble following in the beginning. Still an interesting book that I enjoyed regardless.

Jillian Roberts

A little difficult to follow but great story and unexpected ending

Lauren Piper

zainab

had a very interesting plot and i was curious about all the characters but i think if it followed henry’s storyline it wouldve been so much better, there were so many parts of his story i wanted to get to know at a deeper level. i also thought libby was far too accepting and couldnt help but wander wht her adoptive parents thought of everything

Emmm :p

It is very easy to get through quickly! It is quite unfortunate that I was able to guess exactly what would happen within the first 100 pages but obviously some things came as a slight shock. Nonetheless, it was still a good read and definitely intriguing.

Family Upstairs A Novel

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