Review based on the audiobook.*

I tend to read a lot of thrillers and sadly, found this quite disappointing & for the most part predictable. I wasn’t invested in the characters or storyline throughout.
Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK Audio and Georgina Lees for the chance to listen

interesting read, had fun reading this!

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

There is nothing worse than a bad, noisy neighbor, especially if they live upstairs. Suzie is tormented constantly by her upstairs neighbor, Emily. Suzie hears everything, and I mean everything that happens in the flat upstairs. She knows when Emily eats, sleeps, has friends over and even when she uses the bathroom. To say Suzie is slightly obsessed with Emily’s life is putting it mildly. When Emily goes missing, Suzie becomes a detective determined to unlock the secrets behind Emily’s sudden departure. This sounds like an interesting premise, but the thrills were few and far between. Meg Travers’ narration did however move the plot along with a dash of suspense. Most of the action occurs in the last ten percent of the book. For me that is too long to wait for the plot to pull me in. Unfortunately this was a disappointment. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Audio, One More Chapter for my audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and Georgina Lees for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Girl Upstairs - what a book! This story follows Suzie who lives in a downstairs flat. Emily lives upstairs and is noisy and appears to have a disregard for anyone else but herself. But one day the music and noise stops.

I have read this book and listened to it. Meg Travers adds additional tension and makes the book even more gripping. This is a fantastic psychological thriller - it is a little slow to start but then really ramps up. I initially thought I’d be left with unanswered questions but that certainly wasn’t the case. It is dark, creepy and gritty.I was desperate to find out what had happened. Thoroughly recommend.

This was enjoyable. I listened on audiobook and it was a good listen and narrator was good.

It had enough thrills and excitement.

I think I need to stop reading thrillers for a short while as I’m finding them all quite samey.

Suzie lives alone in her flat in London. She keeps herself to herself, and has been hiding away from the world since a tragedy changed her life and everything she knew. Because she’s inside a lot she often hears her upstairs neighbour Emily, who seems to have no care for others around her and makes as much noise as she likes. Suzie grows increasingly agitated with Emily’s thoughtlessness, complaining to her landlord and the council about her, until suddenly she can’t hear Emily anymore. She goes upstairs to check on her to find her front door ajar and the flat in disarray. After speaking to Emily’s landlord Mike, Emily’s parents and the police, Suzie is dismayed to find they all seem happy enough to believe she’s run away, after all it’s what she does. But something doesn’t sit right with Suzie and she starts searching for answers in a bid to find Emily before it’s too late.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! I had picked it up on NetGalley (thanks to the publisher and NetGalley!) thinking it would be a standard ‘ok’ thriller that I could happily listen along to while driving to work. What I got was a fast-paced plot with a complex main character that I couldn’t stop listening to.
As characters go Suzie is so well developed and my heart absolutely went out to her throughout. I really wanted everything to work out for her and hoped she’d find her happiness. Then as it went on I grew to feel the same about Emily once we started hearing her chapters and delving into her background too. <spoiler> It was a shame they didn’t get to meet properly as they probably would have been friends and a lifeline for one another </spoiler>.
I enjoyed the ongoing mystery of what happened to Emily and trying to figure it out alongside Suzie. The various red herrings were interesting and I was glad that </spoiler> Darren got exposed for the snake he is. At least he got some sort of comeuppance, which often doesn’t happen for characters like him. Although as soon as she saw a certain person in the bar I think it was clear who was actually involved! </spoiler> I was still trying to make my mind up as to what had happened to Emily right up until the end though, so that’s always the sign of a good book for me.
I listened to the audio version of the story and the narrator Meg Travers was excellent. She didn’t do any accents or put on voices for any characters, which I liked as that can be really off-putting. It’s a pretty straight forward recording without any bells and whistles but I liked that, the story is good enough to stand on its own so it didn’t need it.

Overall I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys mysteries or thrillers, particularly fans of The Woman in the Window, The Girl on the Train and similar stories. The twist isn’t quite as big as those but it’s still a great story and you’ll emphasise with the two main female characters. Also I’d really recommend it as an audiobook - it’s absolutely gripping!
Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

*This review is based on the audiobook.*

I think I have definitely read too many thrillers as this was just really generic and disappointing. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, I felt like Suzie and Emily both had no real definable qualities. The twist at who was actually up to what was quite good and surprised me but by that point I wasn't really invested in the characters or their storylines. I also found the ending to be really pointless and nondescript. Could have been so much better.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK Audio and Georgina Lees for the copy of this book. All views are my own.*

i enjoyed listening to this book but found the pacing abit slow and as the story went on i lost interest, The narration was really good thought which kept me listening but i just didn't feel there was sufficient personality powerfully enough to make me care very much. The ended was also flat and i had figured it out.

Suzie lives in the downstairs flat and is often annoyed by her upstairs neightbour, Emily, who plays her music too loud late at night. However when Emily disappears Suzie believes the police are not doing enough and starts to investigate. It's a bit of a slow burner though the pace does pick up considerably towards the end. I can't say I particularly liked Suzie or Emily but I did have some sympathy for them because of their sad back stories.

I enjoyed the narration by Meg Travers, but it would have been even better if she'd used slightly different voices for the two main characters.

Kept me guessing until the end, plot was well executed and plausible. The storyline could of gone a couple of ways, the writer kept me guessing until the end. The characters were developing through the book and helped the storyline. Really enjoyed this audiobook. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. This wasn't a bad book. There was some good suspense, but it kind of left me feeling like things were not resolved at the end. I don't know if I felt the ending was too rushed or what, but overall it was a good thriller. It kept my attention. The narrator also did a good job.

Suzie spends nearly all her time in her ground floor flat, avoiding interacting with anyone as much as possible.

Emily moves into the flat above and Suzie is devastated to learn she is the noisiest and most entitled tenant yet. She can hear every aspect of Emily's life and is the only person who notices that something is wrong.

When even the police won't believe her, and haunted by her past, Suzie is compelled to take matters into her own hands.

Told predominantly from Suzie's perspective, as the story unfolds we begin to learn about Emily's background and reasons for moving to London.

At the same time Suzie starts to re-evaluate her initial impression, but is it too late?

Great psychological thriller, exploring loss and the loneliness of life in London, and a very well narrated audiobook.

This was a great book to listen to - a gentle but intriguing mystery, with some real depth to the backstory, that had me doing extra loops on my walks just to listen to a bit more! Beautifully read.

How well do you know your neighbour?Would you trust them with your life?
I heard Emily before I saw her. The harsh smack of heels against cheap wooden floorboards. The loud phone calls. The incessant music.

I knew Emily before I met her. Discarded receipts in our communal hallway. Sticky leftovers in the shared food waste bin. Wine shop vouchers in the letterbox.

Now she’s gone missing, and I’m the only one who can find her. The only one who can save her. The narrator narrated the book beautifully, and I loved the depictions of the different characters.

**Listened to audio book**

Firstly, the narrator of the audio book did a brilliant job, and I think if I had just read the book I probably would have given up before finishing. The narrator of the audio book at least kept me wanting to listen.

I really did not enjoy this book. I found it incredibly tense, but with no pay-off. The protagonist, Emily was super annoying and I found her to just be into gossip, into being the 'nosy neighbour' rather than really worried about what was going on in her neighbours flat. This made her incredibly unlikeable so I found it hard to feel attached to the plot as it was all from her perspective.
The pacing of the book is slow slow - what with the slow pacing, and the unlikeable narrator I just couldn't connect or enjoy the book. I just didn't get anything from it at all.
(Which has no relation to the narrator of the audio book, who I think did a brilliant job with such a lack-lustre thriller)

I really enjoyed this one! Slightly predictable but an engaging, exciting read nonetheless! I connected to the main character and enjoyed following the story.

Suzie lives in a ground floor flat conversion in Islington in London, she has stopped working and doesn’t seem to go out much. Above her lives her noisy neighbour Emily, a younger woman who has moved to London for her first job. They are not friends, they just live in the same building.

Suzie hears almost everything that goes on in Emily’s flat and isn’t afraid to ring Emily’s landlord to make noise complaints about Emily and all the other tenants who went before her.

Then, Emily suddenly isn’t make any noise in the flat. Suzie, rather than show any relief that the noise has abated, becomes quite obsessed with the situation and in turn becomes something of an amateur sleuth to uncover what has happened to Emily.

The artwork of the book made me believe it would be more of a psychological thriller, which this didn’t really love up to, and it felt more of a more mystery in that respect. I was expecting a few more twists and turns. As a debut book, it shows promise and I would look out for subsequent books written by Georgina Lees.

I listened to the audiobook and Meg Travers was an excellent narrator.

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook and whilst I personally wouldn't call it a psychological thriller, it's more of a mystery, it kept my attention and wanting to go back to listen to just one more chapter.

The two main characters of Emily and Suzie have quite sad stories to tell but for very different reasons. The start of the book is told from Suzie's perspective and whilst it does start a little slow and you are wondering where this is going, once Emily's perspective comes in and it begins to switch between perspectives, it starts to get interesting and intriguing. I admit that I didn't particularly warm to Suzie at first but she grew on me as the story developed and I got to know her better.

There is minimal violence, no blood or gore just a constant uneasiness and sense of menace sitting there waiting to creep up on you and whilst the reveal was a surprise, I did have a bit of an inkling so not the shock that I was expecting.

What I thought made this audiobook was the narrator; she kept my attention with her dulcet tones and whilst she used the same voice for all characters, there wasn't a second where I didn't know who was speaking.

Would I have enjoyed this book more if it was a physical one? Well after reading other reviews, it looks like possibly not so I would definitely recommend the audio version if you enjoy character-driven, mysteries told by an excellent narrator.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited copy.

EXCERPT: I heard Emily before I met her. The harsh smack of heels against cheap wooden floorboards. The gentle buzz of a phone followed by a surge of high-pitched notes, sometimes angry, sometimes excited, rarely sad. The sadness came through the slim pipes in the bathroom, the soft gurgles that slipped down the plumbing and escaped through my extractor fan. The incessant music thrumming through the ceiling, invading my space. Emily has terrible taste, mostly new tracks, screeching pop singers holding long, high notes, the same beat in every song.

I knew Emily before I met her. Italian food on Mondays, meatballs rich and smothered in tomato sauce. Tuesdays, something eggy. Wednesdays, something meaty. Thursdays and Fridays, mostly wine. A takeaway on Saturdays, usually Chinese, the sticky leftover noodles escaping through the shared food waste bin like silky worms breaking through soil. Sometimes I could smell the food and other times I knew from a discarded receipt in our communal hallway.

On Sundays the shake of bottles being emptied into the recycling bin outside from her weekly wine shop. A crate of six, always. They sound lovely from the tasting notes I found clinging to the letter box. A malbec, blackberry and vanilla notes with a finish of chocolate and nutmeg, soft and warm.

I've been in London over ten years now and I haven't found a quiet place. I live in Angel, Islington. The nice part, with the grand white townhouses, the ones advertised as being on tree-lined streets. I can't see any trees, just blunt shavings in the ground, weeds rising and arching over the stubs like gravestones. I'm on the ground floor of a two-storey house and Emily is above me. She moved in over six months ago and I thought she might leave, as people do here. People Emily's age, early twenties, they come and go like the seasons, and it's spring now. Time for Emily to leave.

ABOUT 'THE GIRL UPSTAIRS': How well do you know your neighbour?
Would you trust them with your life?

I heard Emily before I saw her. The harsh smack of heels against cheap wooden floorboards. The loud phone calls. The incessant music.

I knew Emily before I met her. Discarded receipts in our communal hallway. Sticky leftovers in the shared food waste bin. Wine shop vouchers in the letterbox.

Now she’s gone missing, and I’m the only one who can find her. The only one who can save her.

Because I know her best, and I heard everything.

The Girl Upstairs is a spine-tingling psychological thriller of grief and obsession that explores how lonely London can be and how sometimes it’s our neighbours who see us most, who know us best…

MY THOUGHTS: While I didn't find this to be an absolutely gripping psychological thriller, it is an interesting and compelling debut novel that I would put firmly into the domestic thriller camp.

It's funny the things that you miss when they're gone. Suzy has a noisy, inconsiderate neighbour upstairs, but when she hasn't heard any noise for a few days, she becomes concerned and raises the alarm because, strange as it may seem, no one else is remotely worried about where Emily might be. This lack of concern worries Suzy, and it becomes her purpose in life to find the missing woman.

I enjoyed this debut novel. It's realistic, sympathetic and utterly believable. It doesn't set out to shock, or apall; the author just goes quietly about her business of telling an intriguing story with just a soupçon of lingering menace to entice the reader onwards.

Both Emily and Suzy are interesting characters. Emily is an aspiring writer, shunted off to London by her parents while they endeavour to repair their fractured relationship. Suzy lost her husband suddenly and tragically and is struggling to cope. Both women are emotionally fragile and vulnerable, and have far more in common than either realise.

I really enjoyed the subtlety of the writing, and I will definitely be lining up for this author's next offering.

I read/listened to The Girl Upstairs and enjoyed the narration as delivered by Meg Travers.

⭐⭐⭐.6

#TheGirlUpstairs #NetGalley

I: #georginaleesauthor @onemorechapterhc

T: @GLees_author @OneMoreChapter_

#contemporaryfiction #domesticdram #mystery

THE AUTHOR: Georgina studied creative writing and film at university and has since pursued a career in video-games journalism, covering some of the most popular games in the world. Her psychological thrillers are inspired by her surroundings, from the congested London streets to the raw English countryside. She can be found playing games, writing stories, and reading anything from fantasy to crime fiction.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, via Netgalley for providing both a digital and audio ARC of The Girl Upstairs by Georgina Lees for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

This is an audiobook that is gripping, memorable and so easy to listen to!

The story is all about Suzie, a woman living on her own, clearly in the aftermath of some tragedy. She is bothered by her noisy upstairs neighbour, Emily, a twenty something woman who has recently moved to London, When Emily disappears it seems that Suzie is the only one to express concern.....but is there cause for concern, or is Suzie simply troubled by the events in her past? As Suzie is unable to resist some amateur sleuthing we are sure to find out!

In addition to an engaging plot, the narrator does an excellent job with this audiobook, and though her narration of Suzie and Emily is done in the same voice, it was always very clear whose perspective we were hearing and as such I didn't feel confused at any point.

Overall this is an audiobook in the psychological fiction genre that I wouldn't highly hesitate to highly recommend.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this audiobook in exchange for an advance copy.