The Family Upstairs - by Lisa Jewell

Book Synopsis

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA COVER TO COVER BOOK CLUB PICK

"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.

Review Quotes

"Mesmerizing. . . Another dark winner from Jewell, who expertly teases out her tricky tale with stunning moments and richly drawn characters." --Booklist (starred review)

Praise for Watching You:

"Quickly and assuredly, Jewell builds an ecosystem of countervailing suspicions...Tricky, clever, unexpected." --New York Times Book Review

"The Family Upstairs is a fresh, inventive take on domestic suspense; effortlessly traversing intimate family secrets and vast, far-reaching conspiracies, Lisa Jewell's newest release is a masterclass in psychological thriller plotting. Come for this book's gorgeous cover and twisty plot, stay for its genuinely surprising and original variations on a story of family secrets and interpersonal suspense. An excellent new release and a standout among 2019's psychological thriller offerings. . . . One of the most genuinely surprising, boundary-pushing psychological suspense novels I have read this year . . . crafted thoughtfully and carefully . . . so effective and authentic." --Crime by the Book

"[A] fast-paced, imaginative tale that keeps the reader guessing right up until the book's final pages." --USA Today

"Absolutely brilliant. Great characterisation, a fascinating and dark set-up and a great conclusion. She's always great but this is next level stuff." --SARAH PINBOROUGH, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

"No one can write a creepy domestic suspense thriller quite like Lisa Jewell." --Goodreads

"So terrifying." --PopSugar

"Jewell has a way with the quietly creepy subgenre of domestic suspense." --CrimeReads

"Lisa Jewell's story is spellbinding...and impossible to put down. By the time we unravel the last of her mysteries, we're almost choking on the malevolent threads that weave themselves into a coy and satisfying conclusion." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"The domestic suspense master unfurls another delectably familiar tale of family secrets." --Entertainment Weekly

"The Family Upstairs twists-and-turns until the very last page." --Bustle

"Jewell's chilling psychological thriller follows Libby as she uncovers the dark, twisty secrets of her family's past." --Washington Post

"Un-put-downable . . . distinct, well-developed characters, shifting points of view, and a disturbing narrative that pulses with life create an enthralling tale full of surprises." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Taught and fast-paced." --Kirkus Reviews

"Lisa Jewell has done it again--rich, dark and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunnit 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. I was desperate to uncover all the twisting mysteries inside The Family Upstairs, layer by tangled layer. Eerie, suspenseful, and completely consuming." --MEGAN MIRANDA, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls

"A stunning psychological thriller with a horrific, yet all too believable, family story at its centre. Full of atmosphere and menace. I was gripped from the first page." --ELLY GRIFFITHS, author of The Stranger Diaries

"A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption. Reminiscent of Donna Tartt in scope and quality." --IAN RANKIN, New York Times bestselling author

"Lisa Jewell is the most wonderful writer, and funnily enough we've written about a similar theme with our new books--cults, in microcosm and macrocosm. The Family Upstairs is out 8 August and I can't rant enough about how brilliant it is." --ALEX MARWOOD, author of The Wicked Girls

"The perfect poolside read. The perfect anywhere read, tbh. This book is riveting, moving, and out in August. Highest possible level of recommendation." --SOPHIE HANNAH, New York Times bestselling author

"Utterly compelling. Deliciously dark and twisty with characters who live on in your head. Lisa Jewell just keeps getting better and better." --JANE CORRY, author of My Husband's Wife and I Looked Away

"Big Little Lies-esque small town drama with stakes as high as Amy from Gone Girl's IQ, Lisa Jewell's latest thriller is not to be missed." --InStyle

"A juicy new page-turner." --Brit+Co

"A master at unspooling tightly told tales, Jewell specializes in perfectly-pitched thrillers without sacrificing a drop of her characters' complexities, secrets, and desires, and this latest one is no exception." --The Seattle Review of Books

"A twisty whodunit." --Cosmopolitan

"A twisty British mystery...Brace yourself as Jewell stacks up the secrets, then lights a long, slow fuse." --People

"Intoxicating...[Lisa Jewell] is an author to watch." --Entertainment Weekly

"Jewell excels in creating complex characters, building tension and keeping readers in the dark yet riveted until the "Aha!" moments...this thriller unfolds and concludes in a very satisfying way." --Shelf Awareness

"This suspense is going to have you turning the pages all night long." --Bustle

"Watching You takes the idea of obsession to chilling heights." --PopSugar

"[A] spine-tingling thriller...Lisa Jewell's gripping novel Watching You unravels a tangled web of rumors--and a shocking twist." --Real Simple

"[A] crafty conundrum...the author smoothly juggles multiple story lines...prepare to be blindsided by the murder victim's identity, not revealed until late in the game--and an even more stunning final surprise. Jewell does a masterly job of maintaining suspense." --Publishers Weekly

"An abandoned baby, a surprise inheritance, a cobwebbed Bohemian mansion--The Family Upstairs is rich in mystery from the very first page, and Lisa Jewell's best book yet." --ERIN KELLY, author of He Said, She Said

"Eerie and bone-chilling...this page turner surprises and stuns." --Woman's World Magazine

"I'm a big fan of Lisa's books and had hoped to save it for my holiday next week, but failed miserably by devouring The Family Upstairs as soon as it arrived. I was hooked from the first page, I think it's her best yet and hands down my favourite book so far this year." --ALICE FEENEY, New York Times bestselling author of Sometimes I Lie

"I've just raced through the brilliantly dark and disturbing The Family Upstairs. Absolutely couldn't put it down, it's so good!" --B. A. PARIS, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors

"Jewell adeptly weaves together a complex array of characters in her latest thriller. The novel opens with the murder investigation and deftly maintains its intensity and brisk pace...Jewell's use of third-person narration allows her to explore each family's anxieties and sorrows, which ultimately makes this novel's ending all the more unsettling. An engrossing and haunting psychological thriller." --Kirkus Reviews

"Jewell weaves a taut multiperspective, domestic/community suspense story that is sure to please fans of Ruth Ware and A.J. Finn." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Page one intrigued me. Page three hooked me. By page five, I was consumed. This compulsive, propulsive novel is both a seize-you-by-the-throat thriller and a genuinely moving family drama. Stellar." --A. J. FINN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"Stellar domestic drama...Expert misdirection keeps the reader guessing, and the rug-pulled-out-from-beneath-your-feet conclusion--coupled with one final, bonechilling revelation--is stunning. Best not to bet on anyone. A compulsive read guaranteed to please fans of A. J. Finn and Ruth Ware." --Booklist (starred review)

"Whenever I pick up a Lisa Jewell novel I know I'm for a compelling, immersive and unputdownable read and The Family Upstairs is one of her very best. It's an intriguing, claustrophobic and compelling mystery about a family that comes to stay and refuses to leave. I hugely enjoyed it and couldn't put it down." --C. L. TAYLOR, author of The Missing and The Lie

"Wow. Lisa Jewell has done it again. I absolutely loved The Family Upstairs. Intriguing, absorbing, unputdownable with characters so real they jump from the page." --LAURA MARSHALL, author of Three Little Lies and Friend Request

"Your hands quake. Your breath fades. Your heart wallops your ribs. Medical emergency or Lisa Jewell novel? Few writers of psychological suspense devise such swift, slippery plots; fewer still people their stories with characters so human and complex. The Family Upstairs glitters like a blade and cuts even deeper." --A. J. FINN, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

About The Author