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Book Rec

I had a great time with Lisa Jewell's "The Family Upstairs," and it's because the characters are unusual:

*A young woman who murders her partner/rapist and also has a child from (possibly) a brief period of assaults she endured in her teens.
*A cult leader who steals from his followers and slowly starves them--actually starves them close to death.
*A teen herbalist who (maybe) hopes to kill some neighbors with the plants he is tending to.

A Jewell story moves quickly; it has secrets and lies; it's wildly implausible, and you don't care, because it is narrated with conviction. I really like this writer. I recommend "Watching You"--another Gothic Lisa Jewell tale--just as enthusiastically.

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