The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the first book I’ve read by Lisa Jewell, and I’ll definitely check out more of her work in future. That said, there are a multitude of POV shifts, both past and present, and at times it isn’t entirely clear who is doing the talking or remembering. Some of that is intentional, but not always.
The story starts with Libby, a high end London kitchen designer who, for her 25th birthday, inherits an eight bedroom property in Chelsea in an area multi million pound homes. It turns out the Libby is actually Serenity Lamb, a baby left in the home 25 years before, both parents and a stranger found dead at the scene, an apparent murder suicide.
Alternately chilling and complex, the stories of the three narrators — Libby/Serenity, and Henry and Lucy Lamb — gradually begin to thread together, bringing the reader closer to the main mystery: who were the previous inhabitants of this Chelsea mansion, and what happened to them?
Definitely worth a read, and after a bit of a slow (or maybe more accurately confusing) start, a quick page turner. A solid 4 stars.
GOODREADS RATING SYSTEM:
5: It was amazing
4: really liked it
3: liked it
2: It was okay
1: didn’t like it
Interesting review, Judy. I like the way you give the pros and cons of a book. I found a lot of reviews are too universally laudatory to be helpful.
Thanks Gillian. I try to be fair and balanced and as an author I know how important reviews are. I’m always saddened by the number of people who read books and don’t review them.