“The Family Upstairs” - Lisa Jewell

✉️ Secrets darker than she could have ever imagined surround the mystery of Libby’s early life before she was adopted. TFU begins as some information is revealed to her. We learn as she learns which means the reader is equally as ignorant as Libby and fumbles in the darkness with her. TFU is told from 3 perspectives: Henry, Lucy, and Libby.  Henry and Lucy each know more than Lucy but they can only share their side so it’s left to the reader to piece information together like a puzzle.

✉️ Although death does play a central role, I’d say this is more than a whodunit; it’s a thriller for certain and full of psychological twists and turns.

✉️ Jewell has written a sequel which is touted as a standalone, but it seems to me that it wouldn’t make as much sense if you don’t read TFU because it seems to delve into Henry’s story and possibly Lucy’s as well. I haven’t read it myself, but if I do, I think I’ll need a refresher of who’s who in TFU.