Chelsea | thrillerbookbabe's Reviews > The Family Upstairs

So I started a thriller book club (Thrillers by the Book Club on Facebook) and this was our first month’s pick! It also happened to be a Book of the Month pick so it worked out great for everyone. I didn’t really read the review before, but word of mouth told me that it was a book about a cult mystery.

As a lifelong true crime fan, I’ve always been interested in cults and so I was very excited for this book. I will say this isn’t really a thriller, but more like a slow-burn mystery. The story jumps from the past to the current time, and you learn a lot about Libby and her past.

Libby just had her birthday and found out she inherited a mansion that belonged to her parents. She starts to learn about who her parents were and the story behind the old house and everything that went on there. 25 years previous, a room full of dead cult members were found, with the family’s children nowhere to be seen. Libby was left in a crib alone, while everyone was dead around her.

Libby begins to meet people who help her learn more about herself and her past. There are two other points of view that give background detail, but there really aren’t many thriller aspects to this story. It’s more of a family drama and there isn’t a huge twist or reveal at the end. There are definitely some trigger warnings though: sexual abuse, child abuse, animal abuse, rape, and termination of pregnancy.

I did like this book and loved the premise. It was written to lead you from place to place and Lisa Jewell is a fantastic writer. I want to read some of Jewell’s other books to see if there is more of a connection for me, but it was definitely a good first book club pick!