The Family Upstairs: The #1 bestseller and gripping Richard & Judy Book Club pick (The family upstairs, 1)

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Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. There’s a family that invites these other families to come live with them, a dude growing drugs at their house, a woman who is fiddler that’s busking on the streets and asking her abusive ex-husband for help, and a possible suicide pact/cult murder. None of this is implausible or that out there, but they’re a bit weird plot components. Whether or not it’s weird in a good or bad way probably depends on the reader. The Good Stuff

best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. She takes the letter into the kitchen and sits it on the table while she fills the kettle and puts a tea bag in a mug. Libby is pretty sure she knows what’s in the envelope. She turned twenty-five last month. She’s been subconsciously waiting for this envelope. But now that it’s here she’s not sure she can face opening it.Some family secrets should never see the light of day. In Lisa Jewell’s thrilling, addictive new release, a surprise inheritance sends a young woman on a journey into her own personal history—and what she discovers might be deadly. Libby Jones always dreamed of learning more about her origins. One day, not long after turning 25, Libby comes home to find an envelope waiting for her, its contents revealing the true identity of her birth parents… and the fact that she has inherited their vast mansion in a posh London neighborhood. Libby’s life suddenly seems to be changing for the better. But by claiming this inheritance, Libby is claiming a darker inheritance, too: a connection to an unsolved crime and an obscure, cult-like society, one which has been waiting, biding its time, until Libby makes herself known. THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS is a fresh, inventive take on domestic suspense; effortlessly traversing intimate family secrets and vast, far-reaching conspiracies, Lisa Jewell’s newest release is a masterclass in psychological thriller plotting. Come for this book’s gorgeous cover and twisty plot, stay for its genuinely surprising and original variations on a story of family secrets and interpersonal suspense. An excellent new release and a standout among 2019’s psychological thriller offerings. As trustee of the Henry and Martina Lamb Trust created on 12 July 1977, I propose to make the distribution from it to you described in the attached schedule… In The Family Upstairs, Libby Jones inherits a multi-million-dollar mansion, where she had once been found as a 10-month-old baby. Along with it, she learns who her birth parents were, but also about their deaths in what investigators deemed to be a suicide pact as well as the two older siblings who went missing. What types of power are wielded in this novel? Who has power, who loses it, and who wants it? Is there a character without any agency? Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell — Crime by Book Review: THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell — Crime by

I previously read The She Was Gone and was on the fence about Jewell, but after reading The Family Upstairs, I feel pretty sure I’ll be reading more of her work. The Family Upstairs is told from three perspectives: Henry, Lucy, and Libby’s. Was there one character in particular whose point of view you especially enjoyed? What is the effect of having Henry’s sections told in first person narration and Lucy and Libby’s told in third person narration? Why do you think Lisa Jewell structured her novel this way? With its atmospheric setting, dark mystery, and twists and turns, The Family Upstairs seems like the perfect book to adapt to a movie. Who would you cast as its stars? Discuss as a group how a director might adapt a book with so many narrators and perspectives. She feels a little breathless, as she sometimes does when she’s just about to stand up and give a sales presentation at work, like she’s had a strong coffee. She takes the tea bag out of the mug and sits down. Her fingers caress the corner of the envelope and she inhales. Meanwhile, in France, a musician living on the streets realizes that it's time for her to return to London to deal with things she once left behind.In The Family Upstairs, the New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone and master of “bone-chilling suspense” ( People) delivers another powerful and propulsive story of two families living in a house with the darkest of secrets. Go and see the solicitors,” says her mother. “Call them. Make an appointment. Make sure it’s not a mistake.” Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author In Part I, Libby Louise Jones turn 25 and inherits a London mansion from her birth parent's trust. She learns her birth parents were Henry and Martina Lamb. They died when she was a baby in what appeared to be a suicide pact. Libby' birth name is Serenity. She also had two older siblings ( Henry Jr. and Lucy) who mysteriously disappeared. Libby, Miller Roe (a reporter who previously wrote about the story) and Dido (Libby's co-worker), begin to investigate. They find a man named Phin in the mansion.