Review: The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger – A haunting, atmospheric thriller
A creepy, haunting thriller with a hint of a ghost story.
The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger: The key details
- Publish date: 5th March 2024 (paperback 27th February 2025)
- Genre: Thriller
- Publisher: Park Row
- Series/standalone: Standalone
- No. of pages: 384
Blurb: A couple inherits an apartment with a spine-tingling past in this unputdownable thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six.
Rosie and Chad Lowan are barely making ends meet in New York City when they receive life-changing news: Chad’s late uncle has left them his luxury apartment at the historic Windermere in glamorous Murray Hill. With its prewar elegance and impeccably uniformed doorman, the building is the epitome of old New York charm. One would almost never suspect the dark history lurking behind its perfectly maintained facade.
At first, the building and its eclectic tenants couldn’t feel more welcoming. But as the Lowans settle into their new home, Rosie starts to suspect that there’s more to the Windermere than meets the eye. Why is the doorman ever-present? Why are there cameras everywhere? And why have so many gruesome crimes occurred there throughout the years? When one of the neighbors turns up dead, Rosie must get to the truth about the Windermere before she, too, falls under its dangerous spell.
The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger: The review
The New Couple in 5B is one of those wonderful, page-turning thrillers that you simply do not want to put down. It’s such a treat to pick up such a book, and is there any better feeling than getting absorbed in pages that don’t want to let you go?
This is the story of Rosie and Chad, a young married couple who are struggling to make ends meet. He’s an actor and she’s an author, and they’re both waiting for their next big break. When they inherit a five-million-dollar NYC apartment from Chad’s uncle who has recently passed away, it seems like a sign their luck is about to change… but the building the apartment is in, The Windermere, might not be quite as glamorous and luxurious as it seems.
Within hours of moving in, Rosie thinks she’s seen a ghost — and with a history of deaths surrounding the building, it’s not surprising. The doorman seems suspicious, too, and with an intrusive security system throughout the building, Rosie doesn’t know who she can trust. The neighbours seem nice to begin with, but with other residents of the building warning Rosie about who she should confide in, she doesn’t know who she can safely turn to. Even Chad is acting strangely…
Every page of The New Couple in 5B will keep you guessing, and at times you’ll even question Rosie: is everything as suspicious as she seems, or is stress simply getting to her? A thriller meets ghost story, Unger has crafted a wonderful, intriguing narrative where The Windermere itself is as fascinating as any character in the book.
The last few chapters of the book are a real roller coaster, and the ending is perfectly paced, doling out the twists at breakneck speed but providing satisfying explanations for everything. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish, and I’ll certainly be picking up more from Lisa Unger ASAP.
Thank you to @RandomThingsTours and @Harper360UK who provided a digital proof of the book for the purposes of reviewing The New Couple in 5B as part of a blog tour. I also purchased my own Kindle copy of the book.
