The Woman Downstairs: The psychological suspense thriller that will have you gripped

Written by Elisabeth Carpenter

Narrated by Helen Keeley

'Carpenter emerges as an addictive new talent' Helen Fields

Can you ever really know your neighbours?

When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years.

Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building.

Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on.

As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it's clear that someone isn't telling the truth about what went on all those years ago...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orion
• Release date: Feb 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781409184782

Elisabeth Carpenter

Libby Carpenter lives in Preston with her family. She completed a BA in English Literature and Language with the Open University in 2011.Libby was awarded a Northern Writers’ New Fiction award, and was longlisted for Yeovil Literary Prize (2015 and 2016) and the MsLexia Women’s Novel award (2015). She loves living in the north of England and sets most of her stories in the area, including the novel she is writing at the moment. She currently works as a book keeper.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Random library selection. I don't usually go for 'read and discard' crime mysteries, but I was intrigued by the blurb. A body is found in a downstairs flat on a Preston estate, and the woman living upstairs, a journalism student, decides to investigate. The chapters flip between Sarah the neighbour, told in third person, and Laura the victim, told in first (and in flashback, although the author leaves out the date for the first few chapters, so 'Laura' seems to be in the here and now).

I was really intrigued at first, and this is a quick, fast-paced book so the plot never really loses momentum, but I was disappointed when I realised where the story was going. And I wasn't really convinced by all the connections between Sarah and Laura's life either - small world, yes, but this was verging on the incestuous!

Good for passing an afternoon!