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A review by alilbitofmonica
The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin
2.5
2/2.5 stars
I am so confused and conflicted about this book. It had so much potential for most of the book but the ending was quite honestly very disappointing.
For the majority of this book I was in the zone, I was invested and things looked really good. It was kind of supernatural, kind of thriller, kind of a mix of things but ultimately interesting.
Sarah has secrets, Joe has secrets. They are a mess and we know they will be revealed eventually. The house is creepy and something weird is going on. The community is very strange and definitely doesn’t seem right. But how it all comes together in the end… yeah I could never have seen this coming.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Things I liked:
- The secrets and the pace at which they were revealed. Especially Lizzy’s and Liam’s identities and history.
- Basically everything about the book up until the last 20%. The pacing was good, the writing was good, the characters were interesting and the creepiness was good.
Reasons I don’t like this book:
- The last 20% when things fell apart and stopped making sense.
- Who is the stranger upstairs? The title means nothing in context of the actual ending.
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning? This could have been a cool twist but it came out of nowhere and left more questions than answers. How was she even still alive? If it was concentrated enough to cause discoloration in the attic, the amount of time spent up there would likely have caused way more damage or even death.
- What about Janet? Did we forget that she was never found?
- What about Amanda? Why were her bones on the roof? We’re just gonna gloss over that?
- Why was the whole neighborhood so weird about it all? Like why all the secrets about Amanda? Why all the creeping and breaking in? Jeff Johnson? He was just being obnoxious for no reason?
- We now know why the notes showed up and why she was so sick. BUT the house is also still supernatural because it won’t let anyone renovate and also the epilogue. So the house caused the poisoning? But why?We don’t actually know anything about why the house is the way it is.
- It’s like Lizzy’s issues were used to make all the other problems that much worse.
I wanted this to be good. I wanted to love this. And I did for most of the time. But then it’s like instead of an explanation of what was really going on we got multiple explanations that just don’t really work together and didn’t feel like a solid ending. It was confusing and weird.
I am so confused and conflicted about this book. It had so much potential for most of the book but the ending was quite honestly very disappointing.
For the majority of this book I was in the zone, I was invested and things looked really good. It was kind of supernatural, kind of thriller, kind of a mix of things but ultimately interesting.
Sarah has secrets, Joe has secrets. They are a mess and we know they will be revealed eventually. The house is creepy and something weird is going on. The community is very strange and definitely doesn’t seem right. But how it all comes together in the end… yeah I could never have seen this coming.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Things I liked:
- The secrets and the pace at which they were revealed. Especially Lizzy’s and Liam’s identities and history.
- Basically everything about the book up until the last 20%. The pacing was good, the writing was good, the characters were interesting and the creepiness was good.
Reasons I don’t like this book:
- The last 20% when things fell apart and stopped making sense.
- Who is the stranger upstairs? The title means nothing in context of the actual ending.
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning? This could have been a cool twist but it came out of nowhere and left more questions than answers. How was she even still alive? If it was concentrated enough to cause discoloration in the attic, the amount of time spent up there would likely have caused way more damage or even death.
- What about Janet? Did we forget that she was never found?
- What about Amanda? Why were her bones on the roof? We’re just gonna gloss over that?
- Why was the whole neighborhood so weird about it all? Like why all the secrets about Amanda? Why all the creeping and breaking in? Jeff Johnson? He was just being obnoxious for no reason?
- We now know why the notes showed up and why she was so sick. BUT the house is also still supernatural because it won’t let anyone renovate and also the epilogue. So the house caused the poisoning? But why?We don’t actually know anything about why the house is the way it is.
- It’s like Lizzy’s issues were used to make all the other problems that much worse.
I wanted this to be good. I wanted to love this. And I did for most of the time. But then it’s like instead of an explanation of what was really going on we got multiple explanations that just don’t really work together and didn’t feel like a solid ending. It was confusing and weird.