A Man Downstairs

What if the childhood you remember isn’t really what happened at all?

When Molly Wynters, a therapist and mom to teenage son Alex, returns home to care for her ailing father in the hometown where she grew up, memories from her past begin to surface. These include the violent death of her mother when she was three years old and the ensuing court case where Molly testified and helped put a man in jail. Soon doubts about what really happened the night her mother died creep into Molly's mind when an unknown caller on the mental health hotline where she's volunteering reveals that Molly's account of things may not be what really happened.

This was a slow-burn small-town mystery with a cast of complex and flawed characters that centres around family, secrets, and the impact of lies. The story is told by multiple POVs in the past and present with readers not knowing the identity of the unknown and creepy 'Him' who lurks around the Wynters family. 

The story takes a bit to get going, but I enjoyed trying to figure out the identity of the sinister 'Him'. Lundrigan gives readers a few culprits and I suspected each of them at some point. And while I guessed the big reveal, I enjoyed seeing the story unfold, understanding the reasoning behind the characters' actions and seeing the pieces fall into place. The ending was very satisfying after the slow burn build-up and Lundrigan gives her readers one final twist, a dollop of eeriness and a jaw-dropping final reveal.

Don't miss this engaging slow-burn mystery with a delightfully sinister vibe. I enjoyed Lundrigan's exploration of family dysfunction, mental health, the reliability of memory and love's darker side - obsession.  

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Viking Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Nicole Lundrigan

Genre: Suspense, Canadian

Type and Source: ebook and Trade Paperback from publisher

Publisher: Viking (Penguin Random House Canada)

First Published: March 5, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: What if the childhood you remember isn’t really what happened at all?

From the acclaimed author of An Unthinkable Thing and Hideaway, a breath-stopping novel of suspense about a woman tormented by memories of the past and threatened by long-held secrets in the present.

Molly Wynters has moved back to her small hometown to care for her father, recently felled by a stroke and no longer able to communicate. She is ready to make a fresh start with her son after her divorce, but is haunted by both old events and new realities in her childhood home.

What Molly recalls of her young life with her father is full of love and care, even though a violent trauma defined her when she was a young girl, she witnessed her mother’s murder, and her testimony – “There was a man downstairs” – sent a teenager to prison. This tragic episode is still very much alive in the culture of the town, and the more Molly remembers, the more she fears that what she said on the stand all those years ago might not have been the whole truth.

After Molly, a trained therapist, volunteers for a local helpline, the threats begin. At first they seem random, but soon Molly realizes that she is a target, and even those closest to her seem suspicious, especially as unsuspected links between them emerge. More than one life was destroyed on that horrific long-ago day, and now someone intends to hold Molly accountable.

With its gripping descent into the shadowy corners of the human psyche A Man Downstairs is both an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride and a masterful exploration of the fragile nature of memory.