The New Couple in 5B is an exciting thriller by Lisa Unger with a few paranormal elements.
Rosie and her husband Chad, have just unexpectedly inherited an apartment in a historic, and reputedly haunted, building in New York. It’s reputation isn’t the only thing that is creepy about this building though. From the ever present mysterious elevator operator slash doorman, to the residents themselves, something about this building is just not right.
Written mostly in first person, present tense, from Rosie’s point of view, we follow her as she researches the building’s history and reputation in order to write a book about it. Occasionally the story is also told from the point of view of Ella, a dancer living in the same apartment in the 1960s, and her story gives us a better understanding of some of the strange occurrences in Rosie’s timeline.
From the shocking opening scene to the very end of the book, the author kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next. Some of the mysteries were pretty obvious early on, but that did not ruin my enjoyment of the story, because there were so many other, unexpected reveals.
This was a good read, I would recommend it to lovers of thrillers, or light horror due to the paranormal elements.
The New Couple in 5B publishes on March 5 2024.
Life, Tea, and Everything 