The Devil Upstairs by Anthony O'Neill

The Devil Upstairs by Anthony O'Neill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 2 days

Pages - 304

Publisher - Black & White Publishing

Source - from the book group for discussion

Blurb from Goodreads

In a quiet corner of Edinburgh, Cat Thomas is going through hell.
She’s tried everything. He respects nothing.

If your neighbour was making your life hell ...
Would you call upon the devil?

Cat Thomas, a brilliant fraud investigator, has just relocated from Florida to a dreamy flat in historic Edinburgh. Everything seems perfect. Everything seems serene. Except for the unbelievably noisy wannabe rockstar upstairs.

Soon Cat’s blissful new life is in ruins. Desperate, she's willing to try anything. When all else fails, she makes an appeal ... to Satan.

And suddenly everything is eerily quiet. But her nightmare has only just begun ...



My Review

Cat Thomas has already had her fingers burned, she is a fraud investigator and her last case saw her safety being threatened by some big wig criminals. Moving to Scotland, Edinburgh is perfect for her, new job, new flat at a bargain price she is ready for good things. However she moves underneath a singer, the flooring between the two is almost non existent and she can hear EVERYTHING. When polite attempts to get him to stop become hostile, Cat is losing sleep, it is impacting her new job, her health and she can take no more. Desperate she goes to an "event" with new work colleague Agnes, where Satan is worshipped because when you are desperate you will try anything and straight laced no nonsense Cat knows it isn't real anyway, it is?

So the book kind of breaks down into a few parts, the sensible lady with the absolute nightmare neighbour and the passive aggressive battle. You feel her anxiety as she becomes more sleep deprived and the war upstairs has really just began. But when it seems to have worked and Cat no longer has to worry about the musician she starts to worry about the cost. Everywhere she turns there seems to be a thread, the good stuff doesn't seem to come without strings and on top of all that she is investigating a potential fraud case that will see her in even bigger trouble than her last one.

Satanism, murder, friendship, sex, lust, devil worship, witches - there is a lot going on in this book. I think I liked it so much because Cat stays so grounded, a realist that even when things start to go a bit spooky she comes at it with a realist attitude. Often in books like this that can be missing so it was a refreshing change, I thought, and I liked how she was drawn into everything. A book that keeps you guessing is always a good shout, there was one or two things I was left a bit hanging with but that is going to be grand for the book chat discussion, reader speculation!

This was my first time reading this author and I would absolutely read them again, creepy vibes weaved in and out an "ordinary" every day person facing an every day issue, nightmare neighbour and the old actions and consequences scenario, I do like that. 3.5/5 for me this time, I would have liked a bit more insight into a few things within the story and I wonder if the author will ever revisit any of these characters, I certainly would like to read more on them!

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