The heart of the story is Libby’s quest for the truth. Adopted at the age of one having been abandoned in that same house, this is Libby’s chance to find out who she really is. A house that carries a history she cannot possibly hope to understand yet, and a family she has never had the chance to meet. This is the story of Libby, a young woman, not quite living her dream life, but getting by, who finds out, on her twenty-fifth birthday, that she has inherited a house in Chelsea. It also created one of those moments in reading where, no matter how late, you are far more invested in the act of getting to the truth than you are in catching some sleep.

The blending of the three tales is expertly done, the switch between them seamless rather than jarring, and the mounting sense of tension and unease it creates is perfect. Henry’s side of the story, whilst very much of the past, is more a recounting of memory, a retelling of his childhood if you like, whilst Lucy’s and Libby’s stories are very much of their present lives. Told from three points of view, that of main protagonist, Libby, a woman called Lucy and of Lucy’s brother, Henry, it is a sort of dual timeline story, only also not. The Family Upstairs is an often intense, completely intriguing and highly complex mystery which spans over twenty years. No, what makes me an idiot is that this is the first book by Lisa Jewell that I have ever read and I realise now how absolutely bloody ridiculous it is that I’ve been missing out. It makes me a reader – we’ve all been there.

If this review makes no sense it is because I am typing it while half asleep, spending half of last night reading into the small hours so that I could finish this book.

Well that and someone doing a very good impression of a nodding dog. You know when you have one of those moments of realisation? That point in time where you sit and ponder how you could have been such a complete idiot. Available from: Amazon | Kobo | Waterstones | Googleplay | Apple Books My Thoughts Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.Ī compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell. In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up. In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Source: Advance Review Copy About the Book

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