The Woman Upstairs

By: Ruth Heald

Narrated by: Katy Sobey

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

You’d be lost without her.... 

She’s the shoulder you cry on when the father of your children disappears.
She’s the person you turn to when he comes back, begging for forgiveness.
She’s by your side when you discover his guilty secrets.
She helps rock your babies to sleep when they cry.
She’s your friend when you have no one else.
She’s the woman upstairs, whose feet you hear treading above as you drift off at night, thankful you aren’t alone.   

But what if you’re about to lose everything because of her? One of the most twisted, shocking, heart-stopping psychological thrillers ever! Fans of K.L. Slater, The Wife Between Us, and The Girl on the Train, prepare to be kept up way past your bedtime. 

©2019 Ruth Heald (P)2019 Bookouture

Unbelievable...

I had some problems with this book. I'm not sure I've ever disliked a main character this much before. It's hard to believe anyone could be that stupid. She's never even been to her boyfriend's place but gets pregnant and he automatically moves her into a mansion and he's almost never around. She doesn't think to ask questions. Then a complete stranger comes in off the streets and she lets her do a pelvic exam without asking her for credentials?! Who does that?! Then moved this total stranger into her home to take care of her kids while pushing her mother and sister out of her life. There were so many warning signs that it really got annoying how dumb she was. I felt like the author was taking a giant leap with this one and hope I can expect something better from her on the next one.

Started off good...

So many issues with this book. It is unbelievable how gullible the main character is. So many times times I wanted to scream “are you kidding me??” I loves this author’s first book-one if my favorite audible selections, but this one is just not great.

Good Story and great Narration but...

after awhile the naivety of this woman was just ridiculous. I kept thinking what is wrong with her? Stop believing everything anyone says and take control of yourself. Just another story about a weak woman.

Stressful and ridiculous storyline!

This book made me so stressed out!!! The storyline is pretty ridiculous and the main character of the mom of newborn twins seems to have absolutely no natural mama bear instincts!!! I’m not even a mom & I could tell you that she was being stupid, reckless, and overly trusting of people she barely knew!!! And it almost cost her everything!!! My natural mama bear instincts wanted to go off on the baddies in this book!!!

Terrible

The main character was infuriatingly dumb and submissive. The plot was boring and creepy. It was a huge disappointment for me. The narrator was pretty good, probably why I hung around till the end. Oh well.

A little frustrating

the lead character just brushes off or completely ignores so may alarming things that I found it hard to believe and frustrating to listen to

Love it!

THIS is my kind of book!!!! Absolutely love this book and didn’t want to turn it off !(love you too narrator!!)

Awful

A stupid, naive, weak main character and poor writing. The chapters written from the point of view of the children are terrible - these are not the voices of children. Couldn’t finish this weakly written book.

Really?!?

No woman is that stupid especially a mother! I can’t believe a woman wrote this!

Keeps you guessing until the end

Los of twist and turns. Think you figured it out and something would change. Good narration. Stopped book a couple of times trying to figure out who the villain was! Recommend.

Great read

Loved it, couldn't put it down and was trying to work it out all through, going to look for next book by her.

Excellent

I loved this book. It's the first book I've listened to by this author. I saw an unfavourable review about the central character but I can't find fault in the book at all. I definitely recommend it.

Could have been better

This had promise and could have been good, but after a while, the main character got annoying and it was irritating how much of a pushover she was, she needed some 'get up and go' or a bit of oomph! in fact the whole story could have done with some

Started off OK but then became frustrating, there were lots of reasons why:
Katie was not suspicious at all that a strange lady who worked as a professional Doula (Paula) was willing to work for free for her (as if that happens in real life)
Katie and Ian were not at all concerned when Paula turned nasty and refused to move out of the bedroom in their house, they still let her be around their babies.
Katie didnt seem that bothered when she found out Ian had a wife.
Katie noticed one of her babies was well underweight and even her family and friends told her so, but she didn't seem to bat an eyelid.
Katie seemed content to let Ian's wife look after the babies even though Ian told Katie that his wife was unstable.
Katie couldn't remember anything from her childhood, even though it seemed it had been eventful. yet her Mum managed to wipe out her whole memory by telling her tales of a nicer childhood..what?!
There were lots of annoying totally unbelievable parts of the story like above that left me thinking 'what the ...'
I don't want to spoil the end for anyone, but I know if someone had taken my babies I wouldnt just stand there asking for them back! I would TAKE them back, however necessary. Katie and Ian could quite have easily overpowered Paula to get their babies, but just seemed to stand there saying 'please give them back'??! and the threat that she had a candle and could set fire to the mattress that the babies were laying on?? the mattress was in a damp basement which had water coming down the walls, the mattress had been there for years and was damp and mouldy. It would have taken a long time to set fire to it with one candle and if she tried they could have overpowered her then! Also when Katie's mum turned up, rather than shout for her to phone the police urgently and not come down to the basement, they let her venture down into the basement.

Good idea in theory, but badly executed. to be honest I would rather listen to Sonia Jackson play her trumpet on Eastenders!

frustrating

I liked the premise of this story and felt there were some good plot twists (although most you could see coming). what frustrated me was the main character... so weak and gullible and constantly saying "I feel sick" made me grimace.
Also a few errors in regard to newborn babies sitting up in chairs less than a month old...

Was well narrated but I'm glad it's finished... !

Not one for Midwives..

Shouted more at this than my husband does at the football on TV. Factually very incorrect!

Worst book ever

This is one of the worse books I have ever read
It has a feeble story line and the so called heroine is an unbelievable pathetic moron
Can’t believe that it ever got published

Weak pathetic character

I actually found myself shouting at this pathetic woman and rolling my eyes on several occasions. I had invested so much time in this book I kept going hoping things would improve 🤨 I wish I hadn’t bothered.

Big gaps in credibility

Wow, soooooo unbelievable. Saw the twists coming a mile away. Hard to understand why a 36 year old woman would allow her newborn twins to sleep in a room next door with another woman.

too farfetched

unbelievable plot with many gaps
a bit predictable to be honest.
give it a miss

Really......?

I can't relate to this book....
Too implausible. Too many holes in the p!ot. Tried to like it....But in the end, it's too overstretched.