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

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Stranger Upstairs: A Novel by Lisa M. Matlin

53 reviews

raequigley's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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zookeeper2023's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

2.75

I hated the narrator from the beginning- she's wildly unlikeable and unreliable. The plot was fine, quick pace and makes you want to know what's next. I started and finished this in a day. Honestly, the ending blew this for me- it was random, made absolutely NO sense, and was very rushed (like, last 5-10 pages).

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belava's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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courtneyreadsitall's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.0

this was a quick read but the ending felt like a cop out

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iridescentdreams's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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chloecam's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

1.0

listened to the audio book on 2.6x speed, unfortunately not for me. appreciate the author's mental health struggles and glad she wrote a book. other than that the plot seemed to go in circles and was very repetitive, I found it very frustrating.

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booklvrkat's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Sarah, is not who the world thinks she is. She’s in the middle of a failing marriage (this takes a huge backseat for most of the story), her work life is a disaster, and she doesn’t have any friends to speak of. What she does have is a murder house that she’s spent her life savings on in the hopes of selling it at a big profit. Black Wood House has its own reputation, and the rich neighbors aren’t happy she’s moved in.

Layer upon layer is revealed in this horror-slash-psychological thriller. Sarah makes a remarkable number of bad decisions that will make you wonder if she is truly unstable. Unreliable narrators have become the *chefs kiss* of storytelling and this tale by debut author, Lisa M. Matlin, excelled at this technique. There are disturbing moments, a cat named Reaper (foreshadowing?), and some uninvited visitors to which we aren’t introduced. Leaning more to the horror side, this story at once pushed me away and then gripped me so hard I didn’t want to stop. If you like to guess story endings this one is going to surprise you, and I’m interested to hear what you think.

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