by Jessica R. Patch
Release Date: April 28, 2026
2026 Love Inspired Trade
Ebook ARC; 384 Pages
ISBN: 978-1335001368
ASIN: B0F54BB4P3
Audiobook: B0FR66LZRV
Genre: Fiction / Suspense
Source: Review copy from publisher
3.5 / 5 Stars
Summary
Gwen McDaniel’s life is broken. But she knows
the perfect place to fix it. Cold Harbor, Maine, an idyllic small town
with views of Acadia National Park, is where she used to vacation with
her parents as a child.
Except from the moment they arrive, Gwen sees and hears things, and it’s more than just the drafts and shadows that are part of any old house. Steven downplays her fears, warning her not to fixate on problems as she has in the past. But Gwen spent years as a homicide detective, and her instincts don’t lie. Something happened here. Proof comes when she rips up the attic’s carpet to discover a chilling message carved into the wood underneath.
As Gwen delves into the history of the house and the Cold Harbor community, she begins to piece the fragments together. And gradually, a terrifying picture A missing girl. A house of horrors. And a dark, decades-old nightmare that is more haunting than Gwen ever imagined…
Verdict
The Girl Upstairs was a half-decent take on the unreliable narrator thriller that seems to be quite popular lately. But while it was interesting, if you read enough of these you can figure out the twists and turns quite easily. One of the twists was so obvious, but it got dragged on for quite a while and I did get distracted by wondering when it would finally be revealed and how.
Gwen is the main character of the story and most of the story is told through her eyes. I wasn't a big fan of Gwen in the beginning of the book. I don't typically mind unreliable/unlikeable narrators, but I did find it very difficult to root for her as she was quite self-centered and whiny, and as a result, I found it quite difficult to connect with her character. The amount of times she mentioned she was a detective whenever anyone questioned what she was doing was annoying, as if that would answer why she was asking questions or being difficult. I get that things were suspicious, but the author relied on telling rather than letting the reader figure things out as they went through the story. I would have liked the secondary characters to have more development as well as certain actions from Steven didn't seem to fit and seemed to be used to only further the story.
The plot moved along rather quickly and I didn't mind the writing style although I could have done with a little less tell me how to think versus let me figure it out on my own. There were a lot of twists and turns, but I'll be honest, there was very little that surprised me in this book, especially the Tara situation. Sorry, that was just kind of creepy, to be honest. I did like the creepiness of the house and the things that were found, and there were moments when I was second-guessing my guesses, but as soon as something happened, it would give all the secrets away. I wish I wasn't so cryptic, but I don't want to give away any secrets if you haven't read the book. I also wasn't a fan of the way grief was portrayed in this book as it seemed like it was something that could be compared to someone else's grief and there was one sentence that kind of stunned me. Sorry, comparison of grief is never a good thing and it turned me right off, especially when you perceive yours as being worse than someone else's. I do think the exploration of this theme as well as how miscarriage is portrayed in this book would make for some interesting book club discussions though.
Verdict
The Girl Upstairs is a fairly predictable thriller, but it does have some darker themes to it as well such as child abuse, miscarriage, trauma, and infertility. I don't think it dealt with the theme of grief in a very beneficial way, but it does make for a very good discussion tool. I am also not a fan of the trope when nobody believes the main character because they have had mental issues in the past or are grieving; personally, I think this trope is weak and is very overused, something that does appear in this book quite a bit. However, the book was moody and overall, I did enjoy it as it was a fast read and the writing style did keep me engaged, but there was nothing that was surprising and I thought the twists and turns were easy to figure out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment