Helen Cooper (The Downstairs Neighbor) Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Helen Cooper is an English author of fiction and academic writing. She hails from Derby, England but lives in Leicester.

Hailing originally from Derby, Cooper has been an educator and an instructor on writing for many years. She has worked in further education as well as higher education in the United Kingdom, teaching academic writing as well as English. She has also been employed as the Head of Learning Enhancement by the University of Birmingham.

The author attended Nottingham Trent University, graduating in the field of creative writing with an M.A. degree. She has been writing for some time, and has had success with her works being featured and published in such places as Writers’ Forum, Mslexia, the 2014 Bath Short Story Prize Anthology, and the 2018 Leicester Writes Short Story Prize Anthology. Her stories have also been published in Derbyshire Life and the Lincolnshire Echo.

When Helen Cooper is not busy writing another story, she’s usually pursuing one of her hobbies. This includes eating pasta, having a glass of wine, hanging out in her pajamas, going for a run, and picking up a book to read. She resides in Leicester with her chosen partner and shares her life with her partner and his daughter.

Cooper has also written two books focusing on the subject of academic writing and written for university students specifically. She has been the co-author of the book Where’s Your Argument? as well as the book Using Feedback to Boost Your Grades, which was co-written with Michael Shoolbred and published by the Red Globe Press.

The author first made her debut as a published author of fiction with the release of her first book, The Downstairs Neighbour. The psychological thriller is exactly the type of fast paced dramatic story that Helen Cooper loves to write and that fans of thrillers love to read! This novel was first released in 2021 and is available from Putnam in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom.

The book has been featured by Publisher’s Weekly, by Library Journal, in the “Crime Club” feature of The Sunday Times, in Biblio Lifestyle as one of their most anticipated thrillers for readers to pick up in Winter 2021, is listed as one of the top twenty books that readers will not want to miss for the spring by Country Living, and one of the most anticipated books of 2021 by Hello Magazine. The book relays how three different families that all live in a converted townhouse in London find their lives falling apart when a 17 year old girl goes missing from the apartment at the very top.

The Downstairs Neighbour is precisely the type of story that is going to have you turning the pages and reading just one more chapter as you try to get to the end to find out what happens! This debut is not only going to introduce you to the unique literary voice of Helen Cooper but start you out on an amazing fictional journey that ends with the last page but certainly is only the beginning for this creative author.

Pick up a copy of this book and immediately dive into all of the drama. This is the tale of three families, a house, and the secrets that come along with all of it.

Every apartment building is different and has its own quirks. Some of the residents in some buildings are close and know each other on a first name basis, while others tend to keep to themselves and barely speak. This is the story of the residents of one apartment in particular and what they do and how they feel when a teen girl goes missing from the building.

The girl lived on the top floor of the building and was so young, and everyone is devastated when they find out that she has disappeared. Then, of course, there are all of the secrets that they cannot entirely keep from escaping. As the vanishing of this girl continues, the secrets kept hidden by the residents of this building may start coming out as a light is shining on all of their deeds.

Emma lives in the suburban area of London in an apartment downstairs. She mostly keeps to her own devices and doesn’t bother anyone. However, due to the nature of her building, she’s always been able to hear tidbits of the family living upstairs. They all seem fairly perfect, an ideal family unit. Emma only knows them from their sounds, the voices, the things they choose to speak about. That is the only way that she is acquainted with Paul, Steph, and Freya, their daughter.

Emma’s been keeping a distance from all of her neighbors simply because she doesn’t know them that well, since there was never really a moment where they familiarized themselves with each other. But now that Freya has gone completely, the authorities have shown up and they’re now asking the tough questions of her parents.

Questions like whether the two of them have foes, or people out there looking to harm them. Questions about their lives, their individual lives and their family life. There are starting to be ripple effects happening thanks to the disappearance of the teen girl, and it’s not just limited to Paul and Steph.

All of the residents in the building are starting to feel the effects of this one simple situation. Chris is a resident of the building who works as a diving instructor locally. Since he was the last individual to get a glimpse of Freya before she vanished, he’s not only guilty but a prime suspect.

Every person in this story feels the after effects of this girl’s disappearance and have their own mistakes and life put into a clearer focus. Can they deal with the resurfacing of the past, or will they discover that the disappearance of Freya could mean that the past is coming back whether they are ready or not? Will it change everything? What other crimes will be unearthed by this case? Read this thriller to find out!