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The Girl Upstairs by Georgina Lees


Rating:

3 Stars


Themes:

Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Psychological Thriller, Suspense


Thoughts:

This was a weird book for me. I really struggled to get in to it as the basic premise is a nosey downstairs neighbor inserting herself into a missing persons case convinced she knows more than anyone else because she can hear daily habits from below. It gave very stalker vibes but at the same time Suzie seemed somewhat unstable and an unreliable narrator. 

It also conveyed the police as completely incompetent and useless which we not only know is often not the case, especially not in the case of missing middle class white women. The officer contantly hitting on Suzie and disregarding protocol for the woman he has only just met also rang as unrealistic to me. 

The book gave us backstory from Emily’s POV as to what led her to London and in some aspects why she acts the way she does which isn't of much use to the story or solving the mystery. It then fails to use her POV to tell what actually happened to lead to her death so aside from knowing what happened to Suzie and knowing where the body ended up, we don't actually get any answers as to how Emily died. 


Favourite Quote:

"Memories bite like this occasionally and I know I should smile, laugh at them, but they are little pockets of time that we’ll never have again and that’s what makes them so painful, not just the moments when it was good, but the moments I can never change. They make me feel helpless."

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