Homicide detective Gwen McDaniel is in desperate need of a new start. Her career is over, her marriage is on the brink of collapse, her personal life is in shambles, and her mental health is suffering. On a whim, she buys an old fixer upper in a quaint seaside town in Maine, intending to distract herself with the challenging remodel. A well-respected physician in Baltimore who will now be practicing routine family medicine, Steven McDaniel is not best pleased with the situation, but he's willing to go along with his wife's plan if it will right their upended lives. What happened in Maryland needs to stay in Maryland; if they stay under the radar, not calling attention to themselves, they should be able to put the past behind them and build a satisfying enough life for themselves in their new home. 

From the moment Gwen steps into the house she purchased sight-unseen, however, she knows she's made a terrible mistake. She was aware of some of the home's disturbing history, but not all of it. Now, she's hearing phantom baby cries in the night, smelling scents that aren't real, and seeing things that shouldn't be there. Is her new home haunted by the ghosts of all those who have died there? Or is Gwen experiencing another mental break? Steven believes the latter, but she's convinced what's happening to her is all too real. Something awful happened in the house. Gwen knows it and she won't rest until she finds out what. Even if it costs her everything, which it very well might...

I hadn't heard of Jessica R. Patch until her newest thriller, The Girl Upstairs, was published in April. After that, her name seemed to be everywhere. The book was receiving rave reviews from my favorite Christian fiction bloggers and beyond. I'm very much in favor of the "clean" thriller vibes associated with Patch, so I knew I wanted to give her latest a go. Expecting a novel that was Christian and clean, I was actually quite startled by this book's content. While The Girl Upstairs is clean in that it has no profanity (not even Bible swears) or described sex/spice, it's still a dark and disturbing read. More like a mainstream thriller than a Christian one (although it does have light religious content). I like this explanation by Patch that she published on her Facebook page:

"Confession time: I'm a Christ-follower who writes disturbing, unhinged, dark, twisty suspense...I'm not writing a Bible study with a body count. I am writing stories about light in the darkness, the fight between good and evil, and characters who discover that hope isn't dead—even when everything around them says otherwise."

That's a great description of The Girl Upstairs because while it's definitely gritty and sinister, it's also wildly hopeful in the end.

A big part of the unsettling nature of the book is its atmospheric setting. Its small-town, insular community should feel quaint, but, through Gwen's eyes at least, it comes off as claustrophobic and sinister. The village's obsession with Halloween only adds to the ominous vibe. Add in a creepy old house with a troubling history, ghostly whispers lingering around every corner, and you've got yourself an eerie, hair-raising atmosphere that had me jumping at every sound my own (unhaunted) house made.

Gwen is a complicated heroine. She's obviously hurting, which makes her sympathetic, but she's also prickly and obsessive, which means she's not always likable. Since Patch reveals her back story very slowly, Gwen remains a mystery throughout most of the book. It's difficult to know if the strnage things she is experiencing in her new house are real or imagined, whether she's in her right mind or seeing/hearing things because of mental health issues. I like thrillers that keep me feeling wrong-footed, always guessing, and this one does that well. Gwen did grow on me, even though she's not a warm and fuzzy character. Still, I definitely wanted her to find answers and overcome her many demons.

The plotting in The Girl Upstairs is skilled, with gradual reveals that ensure the story remains tense and suspenseful throughout. While I saw the truth about Tara coming from a mile away, there were other twists that caught me unawares. I had a lot figured out by the end of the book, but definitely not eerything. The final scene surprised me, bringing the story to a very satisfying conclusion. Even though The Girl Upstairs is on the longer side for a thriller, there was enough going on in the tale to keep me riveted. I whipped through the book in a day-ish, always wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Although this book isn't the easiest read, due to its subject matter, I enjoyed it overall. The writing is tight, the plot is propulsive, the characters are interesting, and the light-conquers-darkness theme is hopeful and, ultimately, uplifting. The Christian elements are there, but they're subtle and not at all preachy, which is how I like my religious fiction, especially the edgier kind. 

I 100% want to read more from Patch, although I'm not much for romantic suspense, which is what most of her previous books are. I'll be reading The Other Sister for sure. After that? I could be convinced to give romantic suspense another try. With the right author, maybe it won't be so bad...

Readalikes: Hm, I can't really think of anything. Can you?

To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of The Girl Upstairs with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.