Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Stranger Upstairs: A Novel

The Stranger Upstairs follows social media influencer Sarah Slade who has bought a notorious "murder house" with the intention of flipping it for profit. But when the lies she has built her life on starst to unravel, she starts to wonder what else is living in the house with her.
I really wanted to like this book because I like the premise of these type of thriller/horror novels. Something about haunted house stories always intrigues me. But this book really fell flat for me.
I also want to acknowledge that the author did go through a very rough time in their life and I am so happy to hear they are doing well now. Now on to the review.
First off, I like unlikable main characters. I actually find them very intriguing to read. However, this unlikable main character was just plain awful to read from. There was times I was so confused by her actions and how she was supposed to be normally that when she started to lose it, I didn't know what her actual personality was. I feel like if we spent more time with how she "normally" was versus when she went off the metaphorical deep end, that would have benefited this.
What ultimately made the rating of this book for me was the amount of loose ends that were left untied. I don't expect all loose ends to be tied up in thrillers or horror novels, it's best to leave some things unsaid. But there were so many threads started in this book then just dropped a few chapters later. I like unpredictability but this felt like it was a bit unmoored.
I would be interested to see how this authors work grows as they continue to write and publish. This was just an okay thriller/horror novel for me. I would say if you are interested to pick it up and I would be interested to see what this author writes in the future.

Content Warnings

beckyremillard's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

book2kel's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

if you love a book that causes you to constantly make predictions, I think you’ll enjoy this one!

My book theme for this October is anything that involves a haunted house. This was my BOTM for September so It obviously made the list. I’m currently on Pg.183 and making my way through the last 100. so far i’ll say this has been an enjoyably fast past read and has kept me entertained all day. I did find the main character a annoying and It’s not as spooky as I’d hoped it would be when diving in (so the “haunted”house theme took the back burner with this *for me*). I made an annotation in the beginning of the book that stated and I quote “not here for the marriage problems (don’t care) only the haunted house” but the mystery around Sarah, the house, (and its occupants) has kept me reading and guessing (I found myself having so many different “OMG! I got it! It’s ___,” moments. The constant mentioning of the birds (not wallpaper) felt out of place at times every time they’ve been mentioned I’ve been like “okay…”

(Cont.) finished the book and really enjoyed the last 50-85 pages.

Content Warnings

More...