by Lesley Kara
SYNOPSIS
Scarlett's aunt lived - and was brutally murdered - in the apartment upstairs. But Scarlett is determined that life should return to some kind of normal, even if that means living with just a ceiling between her and the scene of such a devastating crime.
After all, this is her home. She's safe here. Isn't she?
Dee is busy balancing her job as a funeral director with organising an event to mark the disappearance of her best friend, ten years ago. She's got enough on her plate without worrying about the threatening messages that are appearing on her company's Facebook page.
When Scarlett approaches Dee about planning her aunt's funeral, an unexpected link emerges between them. Together, the two women could uncover secrets that have long been buried. Even while someone wants to stop them digging . . .
REVIEW
Despite the reservations of her father and brother, Scarlett decides to move back into her apartment. It has been perfectly adapted for her medical needs but at the same time she has to deal with the devastating murder of her aunt who lived in the apartment upstairs.
Trying to get back to some kind of normality, Scarlett begins to plan her aunt's funeral and calls in Dee who runs an alternative funeral services business. As the pair start planning, Dee mentions that she and her two best friends were actually taught by Scarlett's aunt years earlier when she was a substitute teacher at their school. Later, when Scarlett is searching through her aunt's summer house, she finds a card from Dee's friend Gina who has been missing for the last 10 years. Confused by this surprising connection, Scarlett begins to investigate any other links between the pair, unaware that what she uncovers may put her own life in danger.
Scarlett was the standout for me while reading The Apartment Upstairs. I thought it was really interesting that one of the lead characters was dealing with the chronic medical conditions CFS and ME, and certainly not something I have seen before in this type of mystery/thriller. I often read books where the main character is a civilian who gets pulled into an investigation for some reason (rather than an investigator or someone from the police force), but the fact that Scarlett had to work around obstacles created by her condition made her more believable. Lots of people have medical issues so it would be unrealistic to have every character be the picture of health and it was great to see these conditions highlighted.
As a result of Scarlett's health issues, this was more of a slow-burn mystery than a non-stop action thriller but the link between the murder of Scarlett's aunt and Gina's disappearance was cleverly plotted and there were some interesting developments and twists throughout the story that I honestly didn't see coming.
The Apartment Upstairs is an engaging psychological thriller with unique characters and a tense family mystery to solve - perfect for fans of The Hiding Place by Jenny Quintana and The Fall by Rachael Blok.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LESLEY KARA is the author of Sunday Times bestsellers The Rumour and Who Did You Tell? Her debut,The Rumour, was also a Kindle No.1 bestseller. She is an alumna of the Faber Academy 'Writing a Novel' course. She lives on theNorth Essex coast.You can follow Lesley on Twitter @LesleyKara or visit her website at www.lesleykara.com
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Transworld Books @TransworldBooks and Lesley Kara - @LesleyKara for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Thriller / Mystery / Psychological Thriller
ISBN: 978-1787633261
Pages: 304pp
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