The Family Upstairs

By: Lisa Jewell

Narrated by: Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, Dominic Thorburn

Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

PREPARE TO BE HOOKED

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF INVISIBLE GIRL

In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.

They've been dead for several days.

Who has been looking after the baby?

And where did they go?

Two entangled families.

A house with the darkest of secrets.

A compulsive thriller from Lisa Jewell.

©2019 Lisa Jewell (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"I swear I didn’t breathe the whole time.... Gripping, pacy, brilliantly twisty." (Clare Mackintosh)

"Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive...." (Guardian)

"A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption." (Ian Rankin)

Hmmm

I wanted to like this story but I did not. I found the story line frankly ridiculous and who would know where to start with the very casual approach to multiple crimes. All in all a bit of a pot boiler and from perspective something I had to endure to read. This is the second and last book I will read by this author.

Tantalising but truly very sad

It was a gripping book but a few times I had to fast forward because I did not want to feel the misery of the caracters. I also expected another twist at the end but also feared it as it might have been sinister.

Excellent writing,

Beautiful story about the struggles of the children and the most amazing ending. The actors are Supreme

Could see the twists coming

Overall an engaging and very enjoyable audio book. Very well read by the actors, and I think the experience was better on audio because of their talent. I was looking forward to some great twists, as promised in other reviews, but I could see them coming from a mile off.
This was my first but I will be definitely reading/ listening to more of this author.

Brilliant

Absolutely brilliant! A perfect book during this period of confinement... I just couldn’t put it down.

Not bad

Very dark story, very nice told. I just would like one more twist at the end.

Pleasantly surprised

Love this book! Much better than expected! A great read.
Really recommend it. Dark and highly entertaining, impeccably written and well narrated!

Great listen!

Great story from start to finish, so many twists! narration was easy listen to. would definitely recommend!

"The weakness of men."

Firstly, the narration: three people are listed here, reading the chapters appropriate to their character as the point of view switches between Henry, nicely performed by Dominic Thorburn, Libby and Lucy read by Tamaryn Payne and Bea Holland. Unfortunately, the credits do not say who read which part. Not that it matters as both were good, clear and maintained an interest and were so similar in sound that I didn't realise that there was more than one female narrator. There were a couple of pronunciations but little of consequence and the male/ female voice variation helped provide a textural interest.

The actual story was, however, disappointing. It started well with the mystery of three dead, one woman and two men, found on the kitchen floor of a house in Cheney Walk, a very select and expensive street by the Thames in London. Two of the bodies were identified as husband and wife, the owners, but the third victim was unknown. It was an apparent suicide pact. But there was also the complication of a live baby on the floor above, well fed and cared for, secure in a cot. Although believed to be the dead couple's child, who had cared for her in the time between the deaths and the discovery of the bodies? Twenty four years later, that same baby who had been given for adoption, was surprised when she inherited the house and set out to find out more about her birth parents. This story, which moves back and forth in time and between protagonists, reveals all. Not so much a who-dun-it? mystery but a who are you?

Interesting enough to carry this reader to the end, just, by virtue of the good narration, but it dragged especially towards the end and despite the final resolutions, did not have the anticipated feel good factor but instead just rather shabby sad and unlikely.
So five stars for the readers and, being generous, three for the convoluted tale itself.

Disappointing

Audible has been recommending that I listen to this book for ages, and I’m really disappointed. Plot was flimsy and unlikely and I found it difficult to warm to any of the characters. Nevertheless I did finish this book, and I think it could make a nice ‘beach’ listen.