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The Girl on the Stairs

3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 · rating details · 166 ratings · 43 reviews

Jane Logan is a stranger to Berlin and she finds the city alive and echoing with the ghosts of its turbulent past. At six months pregnant, she's instructed by her partner Petra to rest and enjoy her new life in Germany. But while Petra is out at work, Jane begins to feel uneasy in their chic apartment. Screams reverberate through the walls, lights flicker in the derelict b...more

Hardcover, 279 pages

Published August 2nd 2012 by John Murray (first published August 1st 2012)

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Jan 13, 2013 Bibliophile rated it 3 of 5 stars

I live in an apartment building. My neighbours are very nice, polite, respectable people. We say hello, I pet their dogs, sometimes somebody mentions the weather. It suits me perfectly. I firmly believe in keeping a healthy distance to your neighbours. Sure, they may seem well meaning with their dinner parties and strange smelling potions, but before you know it you're drugged out of you mind and giving birth to Satan's spawn.

This book has a lot in common with Rosemary's Baby to the point where...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Nicola rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, crime, library, recommended

Pregnant and (mostly) alone in a strange city, protagonist Jane becomes obsessed with her teenage neighbour, The Girl On the Stairs, who she suspects of being abused. Stairs is an atmospheric, well-plotted thriller that hits all the right beats of classic crime fiction, but breaks the mould just enough to feel fresh.

Louise Welsh’s debut, The Cutting Room, was my favourite book of recent times that I hated. By that I mean: it was clear that the raw materials of good writing were there, but as a w...more Pregnant and (mostly) alone in a strange city, protagonist Jane becomes obsessed with her teenage neighbour, The Girl On the Stairs, who she suspects of being abused. Stairs is an atmospheric, well-plotted thriller that hits all the right beats of classic crime fiction, but breaks the mould just enough to feel fresh.

Louise Welsh’s debut, The Cutting Room, was my favourite book of recent times that I hated. By that I mean: it was clear that the raw materials of good writing were there, but as a whole, the novel never came together. It’s heartening, then, to be able to witness Welsh growing into a much-improved writer in Stairs. I still feel like there’s a bit of growing left to do – for instance, Welsh repeatedly uses five images where one would suffice, and all her conversations feel like two people reading off a script – but Stairs is a novel where the good far outweighs the bad.

Welsh takes easily-identifiable situations (waking up in the middle of the night and wondering if there’s someone else in your flat; meeting a new person and wondering if they’re genuine) and uses them to underpin a story where the creepiness is understated but no less scary for it.

I loved the off-hand manner in which Jane’s sexuality (she’s a lesbian) is treated. I loved the little character/relationship details that pepper the narrative. And, most of all, I loved the denouement. It’s always with a fair amount of trepidation that one approaches the final 50 pages of a crime novel, since the ways in which the author can Fuck Up a denouement are myriad. All I’ll say of Stairs’ denouement is that it’s surprising, yet believable.

There are some themes that Welsh doesn’t quite develop all the way. The setting of Berlin seems to stand in for Any City, despite Welsh’s broad attempts to evoke its historical ghoulishness. It’s also hard to accept the idea that absolutely everyone that Jane meets in Berlin speaks good English, even down to using slang. (This felt like a missed opportunity, both in the sense that not speaking the language should contribute to Jane’s feeling of alienation, and also because broken English/malapropisms can be a great source of fun.)

Despite some minor flaws, however, Stairs is a rare crime novel that manages to be interesting and original, while still delivering the old-fashioned chills of a murder-mystery.(less)

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Sep 09, 2012 Nikki-ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: received-for-review

As a pregnant Jane arrives in Berlin to begin a new life with her partner Petra, little does she know how much her life it about to change. Petra leaves for work, almost as soon as Jane arrives. The city is filled with promise and yet Jane feels isolated, struggling to fit in.

A derelict building stands over their backyard, threatening shadows lurking inside. Beyond stands the church and its dark graveyard. Jane hears screams coming from next door, the neighbour’s daughter’s face bruised. Fearing...more As a pregnant Jane arrives in Berlin to begin a new life with her partner Petra, little does she know how much her life it about to change. Petra leaves for work, almost as soon as Jane arrives. The city is filled with promise and yet Jane feels isolated, struggling to fit in.

A derelict building stands over their backyard, threatening shadows lurking inside. Beyond stands the church and its dark graveyard. Jane hears screams coming from next door, the neighbour’s daughter’s face bruised. Fearing the worst, Jane becomes concerned and suspicious… but the worst is yet to come.

The tension builds as the protagonist, Jane, gets more and more suspicious, bordering on obsessive, about Anna and her father, Dr Mann. Is Dr Mann really abusing his daughter, did he really kill the girl’s mother, or is the combination of Jane’s pregnancy and isolation playing tricks on her mind? The author gradually winds the tension and suspense tighter and tighter as Jane’s sanity seemingly unravels as the story goes on, escalating towards the end.

While the narration is in the third-person, the story is still told very much from Jane’s perspective. We only know what she knows, how she feels. I found Jane’s girlfriend, Petra, to be fairly unlikable and didn’t really see what Jane saw in her. But then, looking back, there doesn’t seem to be that many characters who are all that likeable in this story. Even Jane gets a bit irritating at times, but that’s only because you want to tell her to get a grip, even though you’re suspicious yourself!

As you might have already guessed, it’s made clear from the start that Jane and Petra are in a lesbian relationship, with Petra going out to work and Jane being the stay-at-home mum-to-be. I thought they faced typical reactions to their situation – some understanding, others not so much, some assuming they’re sisters.

This is a story of what comes about when you poke your nose into other people’s business… But then, could you stand by and watch when you think a child is being abused?

The Girl on the Stairs is a gritty, psychological thriller with plenty of suspense, tension and mystery. The twists and turns will have you believing Jane one minute and thinking she’s mad the next. A definite page-turner and an excellent read.(less)

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Jan 11, 2013 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jane is seven months pregnant and has just moved to Berlin to live with her long term partner, Petra. Jane speaks little German and is left to her own devices while Petra is at work. She starts to take an interest in the father and daughter living in the apartment next door. After hearing intense arguments through the wall and seeing bruises on the girl (Anna's) face, Jane becomes convinced that Anna is being abused and that she needs to help her.

The story is presented from Jane's point of view...more

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May 24, 2012 Patrick Neylan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Patrick by: Amazon Vine

Shelves: modern, fiction, mystery

If characters did the rational thing, fiction would consist solely of war novels and heroic fantasy. "Don't do it!" you shout as Macbeth approaches Duncan's bedchamber or Peter Rabbit scrambles into Mr MacGregor's garden.

'The Girl On The Stairs' is a psychological mystery in which June gradually descends into paranoia. She is pregnant and ensconced in an unfamiliar flat in Berlin, unable to speak German and with her 'lebenspartner' Petra out at work all day. Cut off from her familiar surrounding...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Yvann S rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jane finds herself heavily pregnant in a new city, unable to communicate effectively, and with a partner who works too hard and isn’t home enough. When a girl in a red coat crosses her path and she hears raised voices next door, she becomes concerned for her young neighbour’s safety; a little too concerned for her own good.

I found the characters in this too extreme, and I suspect the author has a political agenda. The protagonist was both lesbian and pregnant, and consistently putting herself in...more Jane finds herself heavily pregnant in a new city, unable to communicate effectively, and with a partner who works too hard and isn’t home enough. When a girl in a red coat crosses her path and she hears raised voices next door, she becomes concerned for her young neighbour’s safety; a little too concerned for her own good.

I found the characters in this too extreme, and I suspect the author has a political agenda. The protagonist was both lesbian and pregnant, and consistently putting herself in danger with her obsession with the safety of the girl next door. She was in a foreign city; annoyed because her partner’s career had not been curtailed by pregnancy and her partner was travelling off to Vienna; her German is not very good, so she is quite isolated in her new city. Somehow, her vulnerability and difficulties were over-emphasised, and I struggled to believe her willingness to go walking about a creaky, potentially haunted apartment block in a foreign city while very pregnant.

Maybe my reaction is a sheltered one, one of a person who likes characters to fit into certain boxes, and Welsh is trying to provoke a reaction and shock the reader out of their prejudices. Well, that may be, but I don’t think I am a reader who is all that easily shocked, and this felt political. In which case – fine, but advertise it; I felt ambushed, as I did by “Christian fiction” a few times in the past where a book with a strong agenda was dressed up as a middle-of-the-road thriller.

I found all of the characters slightly overdone, like I was watching a film from the perspective of a character on drugs which amplify all the sensory inputs (that took longer to write than I intended; either you will know the cinematographic trick that I mean, or you will not!). Petra is very businessy, very German (I have a strong link to Germany. “Very German” is not a negative comment!), very unemotional. The old neighbour downstairs has hallucinatory Alzheimers. The priest is very judgemental. The girl next door is aggressive. No one is just a person who serves a plot purpose.

Berlin, as a location, is done well. The buildings with facades hiding derelict courtyards and shameful histories, the underground train stations with a slight sense of menace, the openness of residents once you get past the initial aloofness; all are captured well. What is not conveyed is the energy and positivity of the city, but you don’t want that in a horror novel, do you?!

Quite spooky. If you don’t mind the LGBT agenda smacking you over the head every few pages, and you like Gothic horror stories, this might work for you. It was too much for me.

Additional information:
Copy kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher: John Murray, 288 pages (paperback)(less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Elaine O'Brien rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this subtle psychological thriller. A fast-paced read that is very difficult to put down once you start it (I read it in 2 days).

It tells the story of Scottish Jane, who is 7 months pregnant and has just moved to Berlin to be with her partner, a German native. Jane is unfamiliar with this city and it's language, and things become more difficult for our protagonist when she hears shouting in the neighbouring apartment. She quickly becomes concerned about the welfare of her 13...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Edel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, thriller

This story starts with our main character Jane as she leaves Scotland to move to Berlin to be with her lover Petra as they are expecting a baby. Jane is about seven and a half months pregnant at the time.
As Jane is getting settled in the building she noticies a young girl outside , something about the young girl intrigues her. Later on Jane hears an argument next door and shouts and curses and the next time Jane sees the young girl she has a bruise on her face.
Anna is the young girl, and she li...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, arc-review-copy, mystery, read-in-2012

This book wasn't what I was expecting. The blurb on the back was a lot more vague than the summary on Book Depository. I was expecting some sort of horror/mystery but what I got was a very dull mystery. It got 3 stars mostly because the characters were interesting and well developed and also the writing was great.

Jane and Petra's relationship was very believable. I knew they were very much in love. I didn't find any element of their relationship to be false or forged. Many people found their rel...more This book wasn't what I was expecting. The blurb on the back was a lot more vague than the summary on Book Depository. I was expecting some sort of horror/mystery but what I got was a very dull mystery. It got 3 stars mostly because the characters were interesting and well developed and also the writing was great.

Jane and Petra's relationship was very believable. I knew they were very much in love. I didn't find any element of their relationship to be false or forged. Many people found their relationship to be odd and/or presumed they were sisters so that was realistic to today's society's general regards to lesbian/gay/transgender relationships.

It was very clear of the roles in this lesbian relationship. Petra was out working, gaining income for Jane and the soon to be born child whilst Jane was staying at home which she conveniently found time to 'investigate'. That was one thing I found a little annoying and also stereotypical of the male/female roles in the typical, heterosexual household.

There was a good balance of humor and the dynamics between the main characters and side characters. Overall the characters were very interesting and believable. I found myself engaged with the characters and connecting to them from the beginning.

The character development was great. I liked both Jane and Petra from the beginning but nearing the end I found myself slightly annoyed with Petra. Anna and her father also developed well.

From the beginning it was all very ominous and the suspense and mystery was built up gradually in a very well done manner. Though, I was a bit let down when I found out what the mystery was. I don't understand why Jane would care so much about a seemingly rude and ignorant thirteen year old girl so much! But that aside, the mystery was written appropriately for a mystery novel.

The writing was great. There was a lot of nice descriptions and metaphors which I love. Though, sometimes the metaphors were slightly exaggerated which irked me a little: "She pulled the pink scarf from a drawer and twisted it into a complicated knot." Since when do scarves have complicated knots? Generally it's a simple knot (if you would even call it a knot). I know I'm being picky but there was many more examples I found which I failed to take note of/remember.

The suspense and mystery did not drop for a second in this book. There was always questions being asked and answers but yet there was still more unanswered questions. It kept me guessing throughout.

The ending (the last 20 or so pages) was very fast paced and engaging. I found myself not wanting to put the book down for a second. There was also a great twist at the end too.

Overall I thought this was a decent mystery but it was far too short and lacking in depth. It was too straightforward. Also I found it a little tedious; why was Jane so obsessed with finding the answer to this mystery? Why should she care?

Anyone who likes basic mystery novels should definitely pick this up. (Though, it's no Agatha Christie!)

Thanks to John Murray Publishers (imprint of Hodder) for supplying me this book for review. (less)

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May 17, 2012 Kari rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the kind of book that doesn't mess around. There are no extensive back stories, flowery descriptions and slowly setting the scene. Instead Welsh throws you straight into the story and the action begins! It gives the book the immediacy it needs. Your focus is solely with Jane and the air of paranoia that builds as she encounters neighbours and involves herself too deeply in their secrets. You pivot back and forth from believing and doubting her suspicions which keeps the tension running h...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Jane Fenn rated it 4 of 5 stars

The perfect book to read in late October, with dull, dark misty nights drawing in and that sense of impending Halloween doom. I've heard this described as a very 'dark' book, but what I found surprising, looking back, was how gradually the 'darkness' descended. Small increments of 'darkness' so that nothing seems, in isolation, too shocking, until, by the end, when you understand the astonishing truth, you also realise how dreaful a situation has been cunningly exposed. At times, whilst I was re...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jane has relocated to Berlin from London to join Petra, her German partner. She misses her former flat but as she is in her last months of pregnancy, she realises her old lifestyle can no longer be sustained. She met her partner at a restaurant where city banker Petra was having a dinner with colleagues and Jane was working as a waitress. You get a sense of the imbalance of their relationship from the early days; Jane who was drifting through life and enjoying her small London flat and ambitious...more Jane has relocated to Berlin from London to join Petra, her German partner. She misses her former flat but as she is in her last months of pregnancy, she realises her old lifestyle can no longer be sustained. She met her partner at a restaurant where city banker Petra was having a dinner with colleagues and Jane was working as a waitress. You get a sense of the imbalance of their relationship from the early days; Jane who was drifting through life and enjoying her small London flat and ambitious Petra was has taken in Berlin a sleek apartment in an old building. Jane becomes obsessed with Anna, a teenage girl who lives in the same apartment block. She believes that the girl is being abused by her father, Doktor Alban Mann. She also becomes obsessed by a derelict building that can be viewed from the back of the apartment and the strange lights that appear in the tenement at night.

Despite the thriller element, this was a book of surprising depth and subtlety. We come to see Jane as an unreliable narrator and we are never sure if her perceptions have been skewed by her disorientation at her new setting, her advanced stage of pregnancy which heightens her senses and makes her fearful about the people around her, or by a genuine fear of the situation in the building. Welsh is very good at subtlety giving details about the dynamics of a relationship and characters seen even fleetingly are brought to life on the page.

Berlin, seen through the eyes of Jane, comes across as provincial city that could be found anywhere in Europe. The effects of the Second World War are still present though and are woven into the narrative with a light touch to increase the sense of menace. As readers, in a few places we are led to believe that we are one step in front of Jane, although again our perceptions are skewed by the impression of malevolence bubbling under the surface. The denouement when it comes is slightly over the top and it is only here I think we have to suspend disbelief a little. The book was an excellent read and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an engrossing thriller with an unusual setting.

Review also on my blog: http://crimepieces.wordpress.com (less)

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Apr 08, 2013 Sandra rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I never expected to be using words such as 'tedious' and 'unconvincing' about anything Louise Welsh has written but Jane, the heroine of this tale, was definitely both. While the gradually-revealed reasons for her over-intrusive interest in Anna's doings were probably justified, what surely had to be a similarly-acquired instinct for self-preservation was completely lacking. Her total passivity towards Petra and lack of involvement in becoming pregnant - not even contemplating what must surely h...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Beth Kemp rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-crime, review-books

Intelligent and absorbing thriller for fans of literary crime with a psychological focus.

This thriller ratchets up the tension in a relatively quiet and subtle way. There are no gunshots, no trail of dead bodies and no race-against-the-clock chases. This novel thrives on the almost-said, the hinted-at and the careful creation of atmosphere, making it easy to get lost in the world that Louise Welsh has created and to wonder what is really going on.

This is a classic psychological thriller with Jan...more Intelligent and absorbing thriller for fans of literary crime with a psychological focus.

This thriller ratchets up the tension in a relatively quiet and subtle way. There are no gunshots, no trail of dead bodies and no race-against-the-clock chases. This novel thrives on the almost-said, the hinted-at and the careful creation of atmosphere, making it easy to get lost in the world that Louise Welsh has created and to wonder what is really going on.

This is a classic psychological thriller with Jane, our focus character, isolated physically, culturally and socially. For British Jane, living in Berlin with her partner Petra is isolating as her German isn't strong and her late stage pregnancy limits her physically. Alone during the day and alone with her wakefulness at night, she sees and hears things that no-one else does. The book's big question is whether Jane has woven a fantasy around her neighbours, or whether she is in fact the only one to realise the violence going on next door.

Using third person narrative, we see Jane's experience close-up but are also uncertain of exactly what is happening and I'm sure many readers would, like me, vacillate between thinking Jane was losing it slightly, and wondering why no-one believed her. To my mind at least, there is no point as you go through the story at which it is definitively clear what the author wants you to believe. Clearly, Louise Welsh has effectively set up and welcomed us into a shadowy, threatening version of Berlin.

I was pleased to see a lesbian main character, but perhaps a little disappointed to see them inhabiting fairly traditional roles with Jane destined to be a housewife and full time mother and Petra away on business and sometimes taking Jane for granted. But then, our access is heavily filtered through Jane's experience and, although not a first-person narrator, she is still a potentially unreliable one.

All in all, I enjoyed this as a complex and often gripping thriller. This isn't one for those who like their crime/thriller novels neatly tied with a bow - there is no 'gathered in the drawing room' exposition at the end. I'd say it's more literary than blockbuster - gently tense yet still gripping.(less)

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Mar 19, 2013 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, review-books, united-kingdom

One of the things that makes Louise Welsh one of my favourite authors is the way you just never know what to expect when a new novel arrives.

In THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS Jane Logan moves to Berlin to be with her partner Petra, in the lead up to the birth of their first child. From the moment she arrives there's something wrong. Jane is uneasy in their chic, upmarket apartment, where amongst lots of other oddities, there are shadows on the stairs and a neighbour's daughter who Jane is sure is in dan...more One of the things that makes Louise Welsh one of my favourite authors is the way you just never know what to expect when a new novel arrives.

In THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS Jane Logan moves to Berlin to be with her partner Petra, in the lead up to the birth of their first child. From the moment she arrives there's something wrong. Jane is uneasy in their chic, upmarket apartment, where amongst lots of other oddities, there are shadows on the stairs and a neighbour's daughter who Jane is sure is in danger.

A psychological mystery, the book is chilling and discomforting. There's something about the fears that Jane develops that don't quite ring true. Of course the world is seen through Jane's eyes, so small events are major and Jane is extremely isolated. By the move to a foreign country, by her partner's work commitments which seem to keep her distant and in an apartment, and neighbourhood that also somehow seems isolated and claustrophobic. Yet, at the same time, the reader can't help but wonder, is Petra really so distant, are things quite that gothic, and dark, is there really something behind Anna, the next door neighbour's daughter hostility, or is Jane imagining things.

As this doubt started to grow there were points where loyalties were compromised. We're supposed to be seeing things from Jane's point of view, yet somehow, Jane doesn't seem to be getting it, is possibly constructing mountains out of molehills. Is she the classic unreliable narrator?

The concentration on the book is very much on a woman whose mind may be playing tricks on her. The physical setting of Berlin contributes little to the narrative other than a feeling of the other, "somewhere foreign", providing isolation. Her pregnancy, her partner's pre-occupation outside the home, all provide a vehicle for pulling the focus back to Jane, back into Jane's head, back into Jane's overwhelming imagination.

As I'd expect from this author, I'd no idea how THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS would evolve when I started it, and it did take quite a while to twig what was going on. I didn't particularly warm to Jane, found her viewpoint unsympathetic and a bit offputting. The introspection was uncomfortable, the isolation palpable. Despite all that, there was something very compelling about the story that dragged me into it. Right to the sort of ending that I love - subtle, unexpected, unsettling, challenging.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...(less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Blair rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, mystery-thriller-etc, to-buy-physical-copy, 2012-release

Set in contemporary Berlin - a city alive with history like no other - The Girl on the Stairs is the story of Jane, heavily pregnant and new to the city, where she has come to live with her German partner Petra. Lonely and paranoid from the moment of her arrival, Jane's state of mind is exacerbated by the fact that she speaks little German and is often alone in the clinical flat she shares with Petra. When she begins to suspect that her next-door-neighbour Alban Mann is abusing his teenage daugh...more Set in contemporary Berlin - a city alive with history like no other - The Girl on the Stairs is the story of Jane, heavily pregnant and new to the city, where she has come to live with her German partner Petra. Lonely and paranoid from the moment of her arrival, Jane's state of mind is exacerbated by the fact that she speaks little German and is often alone in the clinical flat she shares with Petra. When she begins to suspect that her next-door-neighbour Alban Mann is abusing his teenage daughter, she becomes fixated on trying to help the troubled girl, Anna - an obsession that leads to further isolation. She remains convinced of Mann's guilt, even though nobody will believe her apart from an elderly neighbour with an addled memory, and progresses further into danger as she strives to prove her suspicions.

Welsh's narrative conjures up an exceptional sense of atmosphere that permeates everything and really holds your attention, making it a quick, compulsive read. I could picture Jane's claustrophobic, minimalist flat and its bleak surroundings (an abandoned apartment building, a sinister churchyard) in perfect detail, and her constant sense of being watched is palpable. Jane's own history looms large in the plot, influencing the way she reacts to almost everyone she meets and particularly the way she approaches Anna, as does the history of the city itself. The narrative sticks close to Jane's point of view, making her plight easy to sympathise with and her anxieties understandable, yet offers enough perspective that it's easy to understand how irrational her behaviour would seem to an outsider. There is also a clever but subtle feminist slant to the plot - Jane's arguments about the typical behaviour of abusers and their victims contain a lot of good points, intelligently made, but they fit very naturally within the narrative, and it doesn't feel like the author is preaching to the reader.

I have to admit that after all the tension that had been created throughout the book, I found the ending a little anticlimatic. Maybe that was because the rest of the book was so subtle, more about ideas and perception than actions, and the last few chapters became quite melodramatic: I felt like the cascade of revelations didn't really fit with how creepily effective the story had been up until that point. I did, however, love that there's a real sting right at the end... and the title ends up being rather ironic. Don't worry, that isn't a spoiler, but if you've read the book then you'll know what I mean!

I've been meaning to check out Louise Welsh's work for quite a long time now, and though I get the impression that The Girl on the Stairs is more conventional than her earlier novels, I'm glad I started with this. Despite a slight sense of disappointment about the ending, it was absolutely my kind of story - wintery Berlin, 'ghosts' everywhere, unreliable narrator! - and has stoked my interest in her writing. It took me a while to get hold of a copy of this book - I eventually found it at the library, after many fruitless checks - but it was well worth it.(less)

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Sep 20, 2012 Jean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Brilliantly atmospheric thriller set in Berlin, where the very walls have a history. Jane, the central character, is pregnant with her female partner's baby and has come to live with Petra in Berlin, where they will bring the child up together. Louise Welsh keeps you deliberately unsure whether the abuses which Jane sees happening in a neighbouring family are real or the result of her anxiety over the impending birth and the new life she will have. The book is unsettling and compulsive!

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Aug 19, 2012 JB rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jane has moved to Germany with her partner Petra. They are expecting a baby together. However, not long after moving into the apartment, Jane notices strange things about her neighbours and soon begins to fear for the safety of the daughter of the family. Is everything all it seems?

This book is a tense Psychological thriller full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing right to the end. A great read. Highly recomended.
Full review to be possted on my blog later this week.

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Aug 20, 2012 Vanessa Wild rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this quite a creepy, atmospheric and disturbing book. It's quite a short and uncomplicated psychological thriller, but it's full of suspense and has you on the edge of your seat. There are sinister and gothic under and overtones throughout the story and the reader never quite knows what's really going on. Even the ending is fairly ambiguous - well, I thought so - and leaves you thinking.

An easy and quick read where the slow build up of tension makes you want to turn the pages!

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May 15, 2013 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 17, 2013 Katy Derbyshire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nice little quick read if you can suspend your disbelief about a few Berlin details. Which is probably worth the bother, because the details aren't all that important in the novel's dense atmosphere.

Looking at other reviews, I wanted to add that the ending is actually top, and makes up for a few irritatingly familiar elements (birds as pathetic fallacy, anyone?). A likeable book.

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Jan 15, 2013 Jeanette rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: whats-the-fuss-about

Cannot see how this book gets more than two stars - bought this book after searching for a scary book ( was in that kind of mood !) but this wasnt. It was slightly interesting, very right on, and the main character was confusing.
Having finished this book today, already the ending is receding from my mind, so unsubstantial that it was.
Disappointing, in my view

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Oct 21, 2012 Tara Cunnane Niland rated it 2 of 5 stars

I hate when you are really looking forward to reading a book and then it ends up been a big disappointment. How can I describe this book best? A psychological thriller that was very confusing & I mean very confusing, even at the end I was still wondering !!!! I had figured out most of it before the ending but it was still a bit twisted at the end x

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May 01, 2013 Kristy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fast-paced read, not quite the ending I had expected, but perhaps that's the point! I enjoyed the fact that there wasn't too much back-story on the characters, so as a reader, you are able to come to your own conclusions as to why the characters are who they are.

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May 05, 2013 Vivienne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: four-and-a-half-stars, suspence, glbt, crime

This is my third book by Louise Welsh and each one has been quite different yet all brilliant reads in their own way. This one was highly claustrophobic in terms of how its lead, Jane, was experiencing life in Berlin and some highly disturbing neighbours.

Jane drove me wild with her passive-aggression and I am still sorting out my feelings about her and what took place in the novel especially in its highly ambiguous ending.

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Jan 10, 2013 Helen rated it 1 of 5 stars

I didn't like this. I kept reading because I wanted to know what would happen at the end but I didn't enjoy the story or style and I didn't like the ending. As for Jane, the main character, I couldn't stand her!!

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Oct 29, 2012 Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction-and-thrillers

Pregnant Jane moves to Germany to be with her lover Petra. In the apartment where they live is a doctor and his teenage daughter. Jane soon becomes suspicious that the father is abusive but is he or is it just her hormones making her see things that aren't real. Enjoyable quick read although I wouldn't say it was amazing.

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Mar 28, 2013 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Characters and story line a bit disappointing. Not as good as her earlier books.

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Aug 14, 2012 CookieDemon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, crime, lovereading-early-reads

I have reviewed this book at my new blog: www.mygoodbookshelf.wordpress.com

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Jan 20, 2013 Joe rated it 1 of 5 stars

Disappointing, lost interest half way through. Silly ending

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About Louise Welsh

After studying history at Glasgow University, Louise Welsh established a second-hand bookshop, where she worked for many years. Her first novel, The Cutting Room, won several awards, including the 2002 Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger, and was jointly awarded the 2002 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award. Louise was granted a Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial...more

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BBCode	[url=http://gr-assets.com/book/show/13625941-the-girl-on-the-stairs?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335654670l/13625941.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://gr-assets.com/book/show/13625941-the-girl-on-the-stairs?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Girl on the Stairs by Louise Welsh[/url]

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