Stephen Hayes reviewed Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
None
5 stars
The best crime novel I've read so far this year, and among the top five books I've read this year too.
When Henry Lamb was 10, and his sister was 9, and his family were living a comfortable and fairly prosperous life in Chelsea, another couple came to spend the night, and ended up staying for more than five years and destroying the life of the family, till in the end most of the adults were dead and the children scattered, until Libby, the youngest, comes to collect her inheritance, and discovers she was not who she thought she was, at all.
When my wife read it, she said it was like one of the books written by crime novelist [a:Ruth Rendell|10890|Ruth Rendell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1196257541p2/10890.jpg], and especially Ruth Rendell when she was writing as [a:Barbara Vine|47687|Barbara Vine|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263385982p2/47687.jpg]. If you liked [b:The House of Stairs|468664|The House of Stairs|Barbara Vine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571621315l/468664.SY75.jpg|2407553] or [b:Asta's …
The best crime novel I've read so far this year, and among the top five books I've read this year too.
When Henry Lamb was 10, and his sister was 9, and his family were living a comfortable and fairly prosperous life in Chelsea, another couple came to spend the night, and ended up staying for more than five years and destroying the life of the family, till in the end most of the adults were dead and the children scattered, until Libby, the youngest, comes to collect her inheritance, and discovers she was not who she thought she was, at all.
When my wife read it, she said it was like one of the books written by crime novelist [a:Ruth Rendell|10890|Ruth Rendell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1196257541p2/10890.jpg], and especially Ruth Rendell when she was writing as [a:Barbara Vine|47687|Barbara Vine|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263385982p2/47687.jpg]. If you liked [b:The House of Stairs|468664|The House of Stairs|Barbara Vine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571621315l/468664.SY75.jpg|2407553] or [b:Asta's Book|508882|Asta’s Book|Barbara Vine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344356736l/508882.SY75.jpg|3330783], you will probably like this one too.
The story alternates between the past and present, with the sections in the past written in the past tense, and those in the present in the present tense. It is also told from three points of view, with Henry Lamb, telling about the past, being told in the first person, while the stories of the other characters are told in the third person. This rather unusual technique seems to work pretty well.
