None of the Above Books in Order

None of the Above takes Jane Thornley out of the world of stolen artifacts and into a tighter, more immediate kind of danger. These books center on Jenna Elson, a woman pulled back to London and to the rooftops of her childhood, where looking into other people's lives used to feel like a game. Now it feels like evidence.

In Downside Up, Jenna returns home after her uncle's death and finds her aunt Clair refusing to accept the official version of events. Clair is wheelchair-bound, sharp, demanding, and one of the best things about the series. She pushes Jenna to revive their old rooftop game and start looking again. That setup gives the book its signature mood. London is not sprawling here. It is close, vertical, and full of blind corners. Skylights, chimneys, back windows, and dark drop-offs turn the city into a nervous system of secrets.

Up there, everything looks exposed, and almost nothing is.

The second book, DownPlay, widens the focus just enough to bring younger characters into the mix. When a girl falls from a roof during a vampire play, Jenna goes undercover as a chaperone and supposed roofing expert. Teen performances, dodged questions, threatening texts, and adults behaving badly give the story a different energy, but the core stays the same. Jenna is always trying to see clearly while everyone around her is performing some version of a lie.

What makes this series distinctive is the way Thornley uses watching as both skill and risk. Jenna notices things. She remembers odd angles, private habits, changes in routine. But observation can become obsession, and the books know that. Jenna is not a detached sleuth. She is a woman with old damage, unreliable ground beneath her, and strong reasons not to trust easy explanations. Memory loss, head injury, family strain, and emotional inheritance all matter here.

The tone is psychological suspense more than thriller spectacle. The danger feels close to home, because it is close to home. These books care about children, vulnerable people, and the ways adults fail them. They also have a good sense of place. The rooftops are not a gimmick. They are the series' central image, risky, exhilarating, and never as private as they seem.

If you like London suspense with a strong female lead, a memorable older aunt, and mysteries built from what people see from the margins, None of the Above is a smart place to start. It is tense, intimate, and just a little bit voyeuristic in the best possible way.