This book started off well for me but then I began to lose interest and it all went downhill for the rest of the read.

Sorry but this book wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I loved it!
There we are, short review, that's all you need to know , right?
It's twisty like a hairpin road, it's thrilling like a rollercoaster ride and satsifyingly concluded in all the best ways. Who, even , is the downstairs neighbour?
And can we take a moment to applaud the awesome cover design which is retro and also deeply chilling?
As Helen moves her characters around her chessboard of a novel, point after point is scored against the reader who desperately scrambles to keep up with a complicated plot.
The neighbours who live upstairs, are Steph, Paul and teen daughter Freya, downstairs lives Emma and in the basement are Vicky and Chris.
All happily going about their business , awkwardly smiling in the hall as they pick up post, pass each other on the stairs and so on.
Until Freya goes missing and some rather ugly secrets are brought to light by the ensuing search.
Someone in that house is not what they seem, someone knows more than what they are saying and someone is about to pay the price for another's mistake.
As the police search turns from a missing girl to the hunt for a body, a ghost raises its head and tells the story of a catastrohic mistake. Alternating between now and then, the multiple narrators give the book a feeling of urgency that drives the reader on past a sensible hour and into the early part of the morning. But hey! No regrets!

I’d like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e ARC. 

Summary: 

The story opens in a converted Georgian Townhouse in an affluent London suburb as we are introduced to Steph and Paul and their bubbly daughter Freya who occupy the top two floors, reclusive Emma who is their downstairs neighbour and Chris and Vicky who occupy the ground floor. It all seems to be going well until Freya, one day, does not return home from school and goes missing. 

This event is the unravelling of the carefully constructed lives of her parents as well as her neighbours and thereby begins Helen Cooper’s mystery / thriller. 

My Thoughts: 

As a first time writer, Helen shows a lot of promise in the way the plot has been constructed, moving between narrations from the POV of all the main characters i.e. Paul, Steph, Emma, Chris and Kate whose story is taking place 25 years earlier. 

While this form of storytelling has been (very successfully) adapted by a number of authors – George RR Martin comes to mind mainly – it is not an easy narration style, moreso for the reader as the author has to ensure that they don’t muddle up the plot lines and start delving too much into each individual narrators past, to the point where the focus starts moving away from the main story. 

Unfortunately in this case, it tethers on the edge of losing control of the plot : 5 key characters telling a story from their POV and all of them ALSO having an individual backstory. 

Final Words: 

I eventually had to DNF this book at 52%, as the narratives from each persons’ POV started branching out the from the main plot far too much for my liking.

I liked the premise of The Downstairs Neighbour, but found it sadly lacking in tension. It is set in a converted house in London where the lives of the residents of the three flats become intertwined following the disappearance of the top floor residents daughter Freya. It is a well written thriller but I felt it lacked pace and originality and I was not gripped by it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

I’d like to thank Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Downstairs Neighbour’ by Helen Cooper in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Paul and Steph live in part of a smart townhouse in South West London and it isn’t until their teenage daughter Freya disappears that long-hidden secrets start to emerge. Their neighbour Emma and her son Zeb are keeping secrets as are driving instructor Chris and his wife Vicky who live in the basement, but do any of them know what’s happened to Freya?  

‘The Downstairs Neighbour’ is a cleverly-written and complex thriller which has more than its fair share of drama, suspense, tension and twists and turns.  The timescale moves from the present time to what happened twenty-five years ago involving Kate and her cousin Becca, and it isn’t until I’m nearing the end that all the loose ends tie up and the story takes on a whole new meaning.  I like the author’s style of writing which is easy to read and kept me involved in what had happened to the characters in the past.  This is an enjoyable novel that I can recommend.

Teenager Freya is missing!  What follows is a fast paced, well written debut novel that kept me reading well  into the night.
One house. Three sets of neighbours all with their own secrets.  What, or who, joins the dots?  What happened 25 years ago?
The drama and the tension keep on right up to the end.  A great read that I will be happy to recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for an arc of this e-book.

This was such a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, i was hooked from the first page, great storyline and loads of twists and turns , highly recommend this book x

Thank you  Netgalley for this advanced copy. Lies lies lies....so many connections in one book. not a bad book at all. Just when you think the ending is revealed, you find out, it's not. keep reading and you will find one last twist. I liked the back and forth chapters. It was a little confusing with the page breaks but I realize this is an unedited copy.

Freya Harlow – vivacious, athletic, full of beans… and missing. Parents Paul & Steph are beside themselves, jumping straight into action to find her; contacting her friends, tracing her route and trying to figure out what secrets she was hiding in the lead up to her disappearance. Downstairs neighbours; quiet, social introvert Emma and jumpy, driving instructor Chris also lend a helping hand to the search, each having their own insights into Freya’s mysterious little life. But slowly, everyone’s secrets start to unravel – everyone has a past, everyone has their own demons; but who’s really to blame for Freya going off the grid?

Helen Cooper jumps straight into the action from the very beginning, landing the reader right in the middle of this suburban townhouse along with the characters. The narrative is told from multiple different perspectives across two timelines – present day and 25 years ago. Initially, it is a bit confusing as you don’t really have a chance to get to know or warm to any of the characters, making it hard to really delve into their backstories as the narrative progresses. I would have loved a little bit more character development, because each of their backstories is as interesting and as intricate as each others. Helen Cooper writes with a high level of detail and ensures that no stone is left unturned.

The middle of the book is where I started to get really hooked. By that point, I had a better idea of the characters, was able to make my own assumptions about the suspects and was desperate to figure out where it was headed! The reader is treated to a multitude of twists; every time you start to guess where the story is headed, she spins you into a totally different direction, jumps straight into another perspective and forces you to keep turning to page to find out what’s next! When everything finally spills out at the end – it was a satisfying conclusion, albeit a pretty unrealistic one! But, it was entertaining and exciting, so even though it maybe tied up a little too neatly, it still left me glad that I’d picked this book up off the shelf!

I haven’t read many books with a tempo quite like this – it was somehow both super fast-paced, but really slow moving all at the same time. Helen Cooper makes sure to sprinkle in as many characters, secrets and twists as she possibly can, making it a great, easy read for any mystery book fan.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my advanced reader copy! 💕

I really enjoyed this book all the way through.  It had a really good plot, great main characters and really keeps you hooked on the plot.  I would highly recommend this book.

Paul and Steph own a house in London that allows them to live on the top two floors and they rent out the first floor as well as the basement. Those in the bottom half of the house are very quiet and usually keep to themselves say for some car watching. Paul and Steph have a 17 yr old who unfortunately goes missing. The police are called and the reader is then thrust into three different perspectives. That of Emma, the first floor tenant and Chris Watson who lives in the basement. The author does such a great job with changing characters as well as the timeframe. This writer definitely has a great future in writing thrillers and keeping the readers enthralled and captivated with the twists and turns. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

* spoiler alert ** One of those books where it feels like absolutely everybody is lying,and not just little white lies either.
The two not connected stories were frustratingly keeping me glued to the book so I could see how they did connect.
Major drama.
A good story with twists a plenty.
I can't help but feel I'd like to know what happened to Billie though.

Chris Watson, a driving instructor lives with partner Vicky in the basement flat and Emma Brighton on the ground floor and they are the downstairs neighbours of Steph and Paul Harlow who own the house and live on the top two floor with seventeen year old daughter Freya. Freya goes missing and her disappearance appears to be linked to the past ..... The story is told in two timelines, twenty five years ago and in the present day and from several perspectives. 

What a cracking debut which clearly indicates a writer with a very bright future. This is a really good mystery thriller which keeps your attention throughout as you try to solve the intriguing puzzle. The different points of view are very interesting and illuminating throwing up so many secrets, lies and cover ups and each of the protagonists have good backstories. It becomes apparent that several characters are wearing masks and carrying burdens that weigh them down which come to the surface with Freya’s disappearance being the catalyst. The characters emotions are well depicted with everything from being bereft and fearful and terrified by what could happen to Freya to unraveling guilt. The plot is very good as is the pace, it’s full of tension and suspense as the mystery deepens. There are plenty of deceptively clever twists and revelations as the consequences of all the secrecy emerge and you have no idea how it’s all going to end. 

Overall, a compelling and intriguing read which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the arc for an honest review.

An excellent crime thriller depicting the disappearance of a teenager girl that upends the lives of her family and neighbors. Highly recommended!

I enjoyed this book, but found the number of secrets concealed by all the characters strained belief. This aside, it was a real page turner and I  felt I really had to finish it. There were many twists and turns to the plot, which kept one's attention. The ending did seem a bit too cosy.

I received an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. 

I wanted to like this book more than iI did. It really felt like a time filler. None of the characters to draw you in or are especially interesting, all seem a bit flat. Just turning pages to get to the end of the story.  Three stars

London couple Paul and Steph lead a happy life along with their daughter Freya. But when Freya disappears, the cracks in the family begin to appear. It would seem things were not as rosy as they seemed. Their downstairs neighbor, Emma and next door neighbor become drawn into this picture of what was far from the perfect family. Twisted and creep

Steph and Paul are a happily married couple (for the most part) living in a nice flat in London. Everything is well until their teenage daughter Freya disappears, leaving her parents wondering whether everything they thought was real was just a façade. But Freya vanishing has an impact on their neighbours, the quiet, keeps to herself Emma, and driving instructor Chris, who’s got reason to keep himself to himself. As the story skips from one character’s perspective to another, you have to wonder who is actually keeping the most secrets, and how well can you ever know the people who live so close. I thought it was nicely paced and kept me on my toes, wanting to reach the conclusion.