The New Couple in 5B

• Author: Lisa Unger
• Genre: Mystery/Thriller
• Publication Date: March 5, 2024
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio

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Thank you to libro.fm and Harlequin Audio for providing me with an ALC of this audiobook. I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.

A couple inherits an apartment with a spine-tingling past in this binge-worthy thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six.

Rosie and Chad Lowan are barely making ends meet in New York City when they receive life-changing news: Chad’s late uncle has left them his luxury apartment at the historic Windermere in glamorous Murray Hill. With its prewar elegance and impeccably uniformed doorman, the building is the epitome of old New York charm. One would almost never suspect the dark history lurking behind its perfectly maintained facade.

At first, the building and its eclectic tenants couldn’t feel more welcoming. But as the Lowans settle into their new home, Rosie starts to suspect that there’s more to the Windermere than meets the eye. Why is the doorman ever-present? Why are there cameras everywhere? And why have so many gruesome crimes occurred there throughout the years? When one of the neighbors turns up dead, Rosie must get to the truth about the Windermere before she, too, falls under its dangerous spell.

This was a tougher book for me to rate, for a few reasons. This was my first time reading a Lisa Unger book, but one of my trusted sources for thrillers (Susan @ Novel Lives) is a huge fan, so I went into this with high expectations, and was prepared to love the story. I’ll explain the rest of my rating dilemma as I go.

To start with, Vivienne Leheny was the narrator, and she did a fantastic job. There were so many characters that she had to voice, and she did it seamlessly, demonstrating a range of vocal tones and accents. 

There’s a great cast of characters in the story. Rosie is the main character, and she’s dealing with a host of issues — financial concerns, her ongoing attempts to get pregnant, working through trauma from her past, her worries about her friend-zoned bestie, and once she and her husband move into their new apartment, they have a whole new set of problems. The side characters are so vividly created that they all feel realistic, giving this story a cast like I loved seeing in Only Murders in the Building. However, in this case, the Windermere itself becomes a character in the story, and a pretty big character at that. 

As for the setting, the Windermere offers a creepy and claustrophobic locale right in the middle of busy Manhattan. The plot is one that builds slowly throughout the story, keeping me invested as the tension and spooky atmosphere continues to build. I’m normally a fan of the faster-paced stories, but in this case, it just wouldn’t have worked well as a faster-paced book, and the slower pacing allows us to really absorb all the nuance of the plot. 

When I read the blurb, I was expecting this to be just a regular mystery. Although Rosie has some visions of the future, I accepted that easily while she struggles with it. We get to see a lot of insight into the work that Rosie does in therapy, which I appreciated being shown. However, as the story went on, paranormal elements featured in a bit more, and I wasn’t originally planning to rate this book so highly. But once I realized that this was more of a paranormal mystery, it was easier for me to suspend disbelief the way I would in a fantasy novel or a paranormal romance. This allowed me to relax and enjoy the story for what it was, in all its brilliance.