Lisa Jewell

I've enjoyed all of Lisa Jewell's previous books, but her latest - The Night She Disappeared - is a new favorite!
Tallulah and her boyfriend Zack disappear one night without a trace. Tallulah's mother Kim knows her daughter would never abandon her wee son. But a year passes and the police are no closer to an answer. That changes when a new headmaster and his girlfriend Sophie, a cozy mystery writer move into the village. When she finds a sign saying 'Dig Here" in her back garden, Sophie does. show more And the first clue to what might have happened is found...

Jewell tells the tale in three timelines with multiple points of view. I was hooked as every chapter gives us more hints to the past, more information in the present and a cold inkling as to what might have transpired.

Jewel gives us well drawn protagonists in grieving parent Kim and amateur detective Sophie. These characters are imbued with personal storylines as well, quite believable in their relationships, doubts, loss and more. Jewell ekes out the story of Tallulah before she disappeared and the reader can see what's coming as her narrative progresses. (Don't peek ahead though! I wasn't entirely right in my guess) There are plenty of supporting characters and each and every one of them seems to have trouble with the truth. Who should we believe?

I really enjoyed Sophie's sleuthing skills. I always wanted to grow up and become Nancy Drew, so mysteries are favorite genre. And Jewell has written a great one - the plotting is excellent, the settings are atmospheric (love the creepy mansion in the woods) and the varying timelines and voices really worked for me. And kept me up late as I really needed to know what (or who) happened to Tallulah. A great page turner. show less

The Family Upstairs was one of my most highly anticipated Fall 2019 reads. I often struggle with the thriller genre and am frequently left feeling disappointed, either because they were way too far fetched and the ending comes out of nowhere or they feel cliched and totally predictable.

There are a few I have just loved but far more that felt like a letdown...and I get it, I am rather picky about them. I like the perfect balance of detailed characters, suspense, mystery and a satisfying, yet show more semi-realistic ending.

The one author that has yet to let me down is Lisa Jewell, and so this made my expectations even higher for this one. I am happy to report that she has done it again! The Family Upstairs was the perfect book to cozy up with on the couch and read the afternoon away.

In the Family Upstairs, I loved how Jewell moved back and forth in time which helped unravel the mysteries surrounding the three main characters. Jewell weaves an intriguing story and while there are a few storylines to follow, because of her immaculately detailed characters it all flowed so well for me.

I was able to follow along and quickly became engrossed and curious about how they were all connected. There was the perfect amount of intrigue and behind the scenes details that left me guessing until the very end. Jewell's writing is always compelling but I think this is my favorite one of hers yet. She has a unique voice and strong originality in her writing which in this genre, is especially impressive! show less

Paddy Swann is the life of the party — a charismatic restaurateur with a devoted wife Nina, a twenty-something daughter Ash still living at home after a mental breakdown, and a younger son Arlo. He is pushed in front of a train one day, and the family is devastated. Weeks after the funeral, Nina and Ash receive a package in the post: a condolence note from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of Paddy's, and a lighter that once belonged to him. Nick reaches out to reconnect, and soon he and Nina show more are growing close. He is charming, attentive, tasteful, exactly what a grieving widow might need — a man who seems to understand what people want and delivers it effortlessly. Ash doesn't buy it for a single second. Nick is too smooth, too perfectly calibrated. She begins investigating him without telling her mother, and what she finds is deeply unsettling.
Meanwhile, Martha is a small-town florist married to a man she knows as Alistair — devoted, lovely, but mysteriously always traveling for work and constantly a little short on money. She's essentially a single parent to her baby and her two sons from her first marriage, and something is starting to feel very wrong. The novel moves across multiple timelines and perspectives, including sections narrated by Nick himself in a first-person voice that begins seemingly rational and progressively reveals the full architecture of his narcissism and self-justification. Nick goes by seven different names across the novel. He is, in the author's words at the end, not a literary invention — men like him exist, and she lists the sources that helped her construct him.

[May contain spoilers]
Nick and Alistair are the same person — one man running multiple simultaneous identities across multiple women, extracting money, emotional investment, and whatever else he needs from each. The web extends further than just Nina and Martha — there are other women, other aliases, other lies. Ash's investigation eventually brings the women's worlds into collision. Paddy's death, which opened the novel, turns out to be directly connected to Nick's operation — he didn't push Paddy by accident. The ending involves law enforcement and a final twist or two that reveal the full extent of Nick's sociopathy and the lengths he was prepared to go to protect his lifestyle.
What I think: This is Lisa Jewell doing what she does best — propulsive, multi-perspective domestic thriller where the reader knows more than the characters and the dread is exquisitely constructed. Nick narrating his own predation in a voice of cheerful self-justification is genuinely chilling. The Dirty John comparison is apt. show less

Tallulah is a teenage mother trying to do everything. She is a mother, a student, a girlfriend and a daughter. However, her boyfriend Zach is a little possessive. So when Tallulah has an opportunity to slip off and be with one of her friends at her home, The Dark Place, she does, every chance she gets.

When she and Zach both disappear on the same evening and never return for their young child, Kim, Tallulah’s mother is distraught. Kim turns the whole town upside down looking for this young show more couple. But, no such luck! However, things change when a mystery writer, Sophie, moves into the neighborhood.

Well! Lisa Jewell has done it again. The strange house called the Dark Place…that is all it took to reel me in! Add in secret passages and the weird history and I was hooked. But! That is not all that makes this thriller amazing…these characters…wow! I swear, I wanted so badly to come through these pages and shake some sense into Tallulah. Then there is Zach! I wanted to beat his butt for they way he manipulated Tallulah.

But…the final straw was the twist at the end! Whoever reads a book and skips to the end….DON’T DO IT! It will ruin the whole book for you!

Need a weird and creepy thriller….YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS ONE! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest opinion. show less