The Girl Upstairs by Georgina Lees Book Review

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…

Georgina studied creative writing and film at university and has since pursued a career in videogames 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.

I chose this from a list of exciting upcoming releases on NetGalley, and the blurb looked interesting. I have never read a book by Georgine Lees before and am trying to expand the authors I read, so it was a great choice.

At first, I am unsure if I like the main character Suzie much. She appears to be a bit of an annoying, moany neighbour I wouldn’t want to live near. She doesn’t seem to be very warm, caring or even tolerant of living in a ground floor flat.

This book has a great plot and builds to a superb climax. There are two main things to focus on; what’s going on with Suzie, especially her mental health and what’s happened to Emily. For some reason, Suzie, who has barely even spoken to Emily, thinks she knows her better than anyone else. So you would imagine that she might be somewhat relieved that she has moved on and that it’s now more peaceful. But, ultimately, we see that she was right to be concerned and that she probably does know Emily and care for her more than most of her family or friends do. This is quite a sad, depressing read with plenty of insights into Suzie’s struggling and confused mind.

The characters are well written. I can feel Suzie’s irritation t Emily’s noise, even if it does feel a little unreasonable. Emily appears to be fun and carefree, perhaps a bit of a loose cannon. However, Suzie’s determination and dedication to finding Emily are admirable and help develop a great plot. It was a nice change to read a book with so few characters and was straightforward to follow and know who is who.

I enjoyed the superb ending, which had a great twist I genuinely didn’t see coming.

While my first impressions weren’t great, to be honest, Suzie comes across as petty and annoying. But, of course, you will hear your neighbours; you live in a downstairs flat! However, she grew on me and was quite sweet. She has been through a lot, and it was nice to learn more about this as the book progresses.

Plenty of twists and moments make you stop and think, making for an exciting and thoughtful read. However, it was deplorable to see that although Emily has friends and family, none of them appears overly concerned when she goes missing. I wonder if this is a sign of the times with superficial friendships or whether the opposite would be true, especially with social media and people jumping on the bandwagon when something terrible happens.

Thanks to the Author, Publisher and Netgalley for an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.

Title	The Girl Upstairs
Author	Georgina Lees
Series	N/A
Format	eARC
Page Count	384 Pages
Genre	Mystery and Thriller
Publisher	One More Chapter
Release Date	9th December 2021