How Does Lisa Jewell Build Suspense In The Family Upstairs?

On the night of their second wedding anniversary, Adrian Cole publicly declared his love for his wife, Ava, gifting her a rare sapphire pendant that became the talk of the city. To the world, they were the perfect couple envied and admired but behind closed doors, Ava’s reality shattered. A single anonymous message exposed everything, Adrian’s personal assistant, Livia, wearing the same pendant, wrapped in his embrace. While society praised his devotion, Ava sat alone in a house that no longer felt like home, choking on betrayal she had unknowingly endured for years. For too long, she had played the obedient wife, enduring the scorn of her in-laws and Adrian’s cold excuses that his affair meant nothing, just a “momentary indulgence.” Confident she was bound to him by her family’s financial struggles, he believed she would never leave… even if it meant raising another woman’s child. But he was wrong. Quietly, Ava began to dismantle everything. She gathered evidence, secured her freedom, and walked away without a trace of the fragile woman he once knew. The woman who returned was no longer soft or submissive, but a brilliant and popular figure in the world of medical innovation, one whose name commanded respect. By the time Adrian realized what he had lost, it was already too late. Because the woman he once discarded now stood beside a far more powerful man, not just any man but his own UNCLE who looked at him with cold amusement and said, “Be careful with your words… That woman you call your wife now belongs to a world you can’t reach.”

One house. Three irresistible men. No safe way out. Laila’s world shatters when her widowed mother announces her engagement to the very man Laila blames for her father’s death. Worse—he’s moving in. And he’s bringing his three devastatingly handsome sons. Laila refuses to let the wedding happen but revenge has a way of twisting desire into something far more dangerous. And when forbidden touches turn into addictive nights, Laila realizes the most lethal trap might be the one she built herself. Strictly 18+, explicit contents involved.

After years of running from her past, Lissa returns to the one place she never wanted to see again—her childhood home. The town hasn’t changed, but Lissa has. Now a mother, a wife, and a survivor, she’s trying to rebuild a life while standing on the crumbling foundation of her trauma. Just a few months. Just until she finds her footing. But the house doesn’t let go so easily. It smells of mildew and memory. Dust covers more than furniture—it coats every secret Lissa tried to bury. As she navigates motherhood, old friendships, and a strained relationship with her sister, Lissa discovers more than ghosts in the attic. A photograph violently scribbled out. A letter from someone she hoped was lost to time. And a journal that brings her back to the girl she used to be. Her husband, Colt, tries to be her anchor. Her son, Lucas, is her reason to fight. But a single name—just one letter, T—is all it takes to fracture her resolve. The past isn’t dead. It’s waiting in the basement. In a letter tucked behind old receipts. In the quiet corners of her memory where no one else can go. As the days pass, the house begins to feel like a trap.Lissa must decide if she’s strong enough to dig through the wreckage of her past… or if some secrets are better left buried. Told with raw emotion and atmospheric suspense, House of Quiet Screams is a story of trauma, resilience, and the silent strength it takes to confront what once felt un faceable. For Lissa, surviving was never the end of the story—facing what comes after might be the beginning.

On New Year’s Eve, my kidnappers forced me to climb down the inside of a 650-foot industrial chimney with my bare hands. The kidnappers started a live stream on the dark web. They claimed that what I was doing could drive away bad luck and bring blessings for the country. I climbed for a full eight hours in darkness and pain. When my family caught me at the bottom of the chimney, my body was covered in sores, and I was so injured that they barely recognized me. Rachel immediately covered me with a shawl. When she helped me get into the car, she was shaking. My fiancee cried and dared not touch me. That night, she destroyed the whole criminal organization. On that ambulance ride home, I could barely think straight. I heard them whispering to each other. “Rachel, Jason just wanted an unforgettable night! You said it’s not “impressive” enough and insisted on making Yannick climb the chimney!” “Miss Jones, how could an ordinary present leave such a lasting impression on Jason?” “It doesn’t matter if Yannick suffers a little physical pain. Our family will more than make it up to him.” It turned out that the eight hours of agony I endured, which nearly killed me, were just to ensure that another man’s holiday would be “truly unforgettable.”

The small town of Briar Reef is shaken to its core when one of its leading citizens is found dead in the woods with her face missing. Detective Celia Sparks is working her first murder case in the town where she had come to escape but this big city cop has her work cut out for her. The more she uncovers the more questions they are than answers. In a town that’s known for burying its secrets how will she ever find the truth?Briar Reef Murder Mystery is created by Jordan Silver, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The Rowan estate has stood for centuries, its walls bearing witness to generations of triumph, tragedy, and a quiet, inescapable weight. Known for influence and misfortune, the Rowans guard a secret: the house is a memory vessel, absorbing the emotions and events of its inhabitants. Only one child per generation—“the one who carries it”—feels its imprint. For Jace Rowan, that child is him. Haunted by flashes of his brother Elias’s mysterious death in the sealed west wing, Jace lives with hallucination-like memories, déjà vu, and a physical sensitivity to the house’s presence. When Ava arrives at the estate, the house takes notice. Her father’s disappearance connects her unknowingly to the Rowans, and her grief fuels an emotional resonance the house cannot ignore. Objects from her past—her father’s watch, sketches of the west wing, and a brass key—materialize mysteriously before her, drawing Ava deeper into the estate’s labyrinth of memory. Jace knows the danger: the west wing reacts to emotion, and Ava’s connection could awaken truths meant to remain buried. As tension mounts, Ava and Jace confront both the house’s power and their own growing fears. The west wing does not seek to harm but to claim understanding—feeding on memory, fear, and revelation. In the shadows, a presence lingers, one that Jace fears is connected to Ava’s father. Bound by fear, curiosity, and an unspoken attraction, Ava and Jace must navigate a house that remembers, reacts, and judges, uncovering secrets about Elias’s death, Ava’s father, and the legacy of the Rowan family itself. In a world where emotion is power and the past is never truly gone, the house holds its breath—and waits to see who will survive its memory.