The Stranger Upstairs: A Novel

"A social media influencer buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this deeply psychological gothic debut thriller. Sarah Slade is starting over. She and her husband just bought a beautiful though crumbling Victorian house in a charming and lush community. The fixer-upper is a perfect opportunity to reach a new audience on her highly successful lifestyle blog, and it also serves as a distraction from her failing marriage. But Black Wood House has a grisly history - one involving a gruesome murder-suicide. And even as Sarah wallpapers over the house's horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can't conceal every secret. The renovations are a challenge: The workers coming by to inspect and fix the house are acting erratically and experiencing strange accidents - and there's only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic. When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her - her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The more she remodels Black Wood House, the angrier it seems to become. With every passing moment, Sarah's life spirals further out of control - and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she's crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade must wonder... was it all worth it? Or will this house be her unraveling?"--