After reading The Family Upstairs, I was excited to get this sequel! I was confused through the majority of it with name changes from the first one to hide their identity after fleeing their home 3 decades ago. The Lamb family suffered the influence of a drifter David moving into their mansion and taking over their household and abusing the children. He was a cult leader and brainwashed the parents. Later, the parents would be found dead with the leader of apparent suicide. The children escaped, but had lingering scars physically and psychologically.

Thirty years later, bones were found in the Thames tied to the Lamb family. The detective in revolving chapters tries to connect the dots to solve this case. The other chapters involve what happened to the children Lucy, Henry and Phinn when they grew up and how their situation is dark and grim. Some of them have made bad choices and are dealing with guilt and obsession.

Rachel has married Lucy's ex and has been told he has been found murdered in his basement. This is an interesting take on the book with these new characters introduced.
*Trigger warnings for spousal abuse.
I enjoyed it and feel like Lisa Jewell did a great job creating a sequel to The Family Upstairs. I'm not sure I would read it as a stand alone even though I did read it and was still confused. I wish I had refreshed my memory of the book before starting this one. I could not put it down and read it one day. It is very fast paced and intriguing.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

want to start by saying this is not a standalone!! To really get the story you must read The Family Upstairs first.

I think Lisa Jewell is a fabulous writer and has a way of hooking you in with each story she writes. I love how this book was clever and dark, had dual timelines, multiple POVs and followed an investigation. She does a great job reminding you of the events in the first book and adding in the necessary details when relevant. Also, some of the book takes place in the US, which is definitely a fun change. However, I will say that the story did not read like a thriller as much as Jewell's previous books and at times, parts of the plot were a bit over-dramatic/ unrealistic. I was waiting for a big twist and “wow” moment, but it never came. Still a worthwhile read if you read and enjoyed The Family Upstairs!

Thank you Atria for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: 8/9/22

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review. #NetGalley #TheFamilyRemains

*instagram post to be linked shortly

This is the LONG AWAITED sequel to The Family Upstairs. The family dynamics in this book are even more *chefs kiss* than the first one. I don’t want to give too much away and give spoilers but you are going to want to read this if you like: multi-POVs, multi-timeline, family dynamics, family drama, domestic thrillers… the list goes on. Basically… just read this!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 🍃

𝓟𝓾𝓫 𝓓𝓪𝓽𝓮: August 9th 2022

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
This is the sequel to Lisa Jewell's The Family Upstairs, an intricate and complex psychological thriller with some old and new characters. Jewell uses her magic with her disturbed and unsettling storytelling.

The Family Remains will definitely give the reader some closure on what happens next and lets the reader see how the survivors are coping.

Once again Jewell delivered — chilling, disturbing, and unsettling in the best way!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙑𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩: 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 & 𝙁𝙪𝙣

Thank you @netgalley & @atriabooks @simonandschuster for my ARC of #TheFamilyRemains #LisaJewell #Netgalley #SimonandSchuster #AtriaBooks

This is the sequel that you didn't know you were waiting for! For this book, you will enjoy it more if you read book one, The Family Upstairs first. Book two is the aftermath and it's important to understand who is left and why they are there and if they have anything to prove.

There are mysteries and multiple timelines and pov running simultaneously. Everything does fall into place at the end in a real way, neither forced, nor false. If you enjoyed book one, love stories about cults, children who survive them or just one to jump on an English mystery, this is a book for you! #Atriabooks # netgalley #Netgalleybooks #TheFamilyRemains

Unlike others apparently, I was perfectly happy with the ending of 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗨𝗣𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗦. A sequel to it never crossed my mind as needed, but I knew I had to read it once it was available.

Perfectly titled, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦 follows Henry on his obsession to find Phin, Lucy to now find Henry, and a detective deadset on finding out what happened years ago while trying to find the murderer of a bag of bones found in the Thames River. Rachel's story, who happens to be Lucy's ex-husband's wife, is also revealed. The author does a great job, refreshing the reader's memory on the first book, but I wouldn't recommend starting this book until you have finished 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗨𝗣𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗦.

Overall, I am not sure what I expected. It wasn't as twisty and page turning as her other books. It does accomplish its purpose of providing the closure that others wanted. I was content before and remain content after.

🏡𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐔𝐏𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒.
𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 - 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐟𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭!

I was thrilled to receive a NetGalley e-ARC of The Family Remains - one of my most anticipated sumner reads!
I decided to start with a reread of The Family Upstairs, as it has been a few years since I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing it the first time. I’m so glad I did!! To go from reading the very last page of The Family Upstairs to immediately beginning The Family Remains is a delicious treat - highly recommend doing so! You’ll be delighted! They are both absolutely awesome!

Massive gratitude to NetGalley, the brilliant Lisa Jewell, and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this gem of a sequel in exchange for my honest and wholly independent opinion.

4.5 stars!

This was the perfect sequel for The Family Upstairs. I read this in one sitting. I loved how everything tied together, with the new investigation, tracking down Phin, everything that happened in France. The multiple POVs worked so well and love that in this book, Henry's POV was in first person, while most of the others were not, as it was in The Family Upstairs. Everything tied together so so well. And that ending was SO unexpected but really perfect!

Huge thank you to NetGalley & Atria Books for an advance copy in exchange for

If you enjoyed The Family Upstairs, you will love this sequel! Filled with all the answers you craved from the first one, this book ties up loose ends and reveals new levels of insight for each of the characters. I particularly like how much time we as readers get to spend with the adult characters in this story, after learning so much about their traumatic childhoods in the first book. The storylines line up well in this, and propel the narrative forward. I don’t recommend reading this as a stand-alone—I think it would be way too confusing, and you’d miss too much. But that’s great news if you were planning on it, because now you can add not one but TWO great reads to your TBR!

** Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. **

In the anticipated sequel to The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell brings us back to the world of the Lamb's and their twisted history.

I absolutely LOVED The Family Upstairs. Jewell kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, making me question every thing I thought was happening. So, when she announced that she was writing a sequel I was beyond thrilled. However, as is usually the case when it comes to sequels, The Family Remains did not live up to its predecessor.

I found it extremely hard to follow as we switched between the past and present, numerous POVs (some in first person and some in third), and so many plot points that I needed a police murder board to keep track of everything.

It wasn't until the last third of the book that all the threads started coming together, but I still couldn't find myself caring about what happened.

Jewell is a talented writer and I love everything that she writes. The Family Remains was a decent book, but it did not live up to her previous works.

It is simply brilliant, full of suspense, twisty and an absolutely engaging thriller. The readers will get to follow three different sub-plots that are actually connected and at the end, they all explode into one twisty ending. It is both a standalone and satisfying sequel to know more about the edgy characters from the previous gothic book. I enjoyed this one, but not quite as much as the first as it does slow down a bit in the middle but there are twists galore at the ending.

The Family Remains is a stand alone sequel to Jewell's novel The Family Upstairs. Set in London and France,
this book has three protagonists. The detective, Samuel, who is charged with solving the murder of bones found from many years prior - in what was a cold case.

Rachel is the wife whose husbands dead body is found in their French home and must follow a trail - including a forced visit to the police . When it is revealed that her husband was murdered she is forced to delve into the secrets that belonged to her husband.

A third person., Lucy, returns to England 30 years after the city was bombed. She is about to buy a house when her brother decided to seek out someone from their past that is impacting their present.

This web of mysteries keep one reading - as Jewell's book always do

Well, let me start by saying that I love Lisa Jewell's novels. They are always tautly written, suspenseful, surprising, and twisty. The Family Remains, while well written and intriguing, was also confusing to me. Even though it is described as a standalone sequel and that it is not necessary to have read the first one to follow the storyline, I think that I will need to circle back to that one in this case. The central issue for me was that most of the characters seemed to have more than one name so that I was always needing to refresh my memory as to whom I was reading about. The other puzzling part was the back and forth among the summer months of 2016, 2018, 2019 as well as 30 years ago in 1994. I'm afraid I lost the thread(s) along the way. And the many references to all that occurred in the house all those many years ago made me think that I really needed to read the previous title. I give it 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this advance copy.

I have read all of Lisa Jewells novels and normally enjoy them greatly. The family remains was a miss for me, the whole story line of Rachel didn’t seem to connect to the plot at all, and I had a hard time keeping up with the storyline. I appreciate the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

A British detective is called to where a body has been found. The person has been deceased for some time, but the body has been moved only recently. The deceased is none other than Birdie who is connected to a cold case from many years ago. He will try his best to crack that case wide open, but as he notes several times throughout the book, that isn't likely with cases of this age. A jump away in France, Rachel Rimmer has received news that her deplorable husband, Michael was murdered in his home -- likely the victim of an intruder...or was there some other motive? The core of the book, however, deals with Lucy Lamb and her brother, Henry, who is obsessed with Phin -- or is it Finn now? Phin has eluded Henry for years now, but is that about to come to an end? If Henry does find Phin, what is he doing to do? These mysteries and questions will be unraveled in the followup to The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell.

I really enjoyed this book and found myself racing through it to get to the answers behind the twisted characters in this sequel. I do find it a bit odd that it's being marketed as a standalone novel when my whole reason for reading it was to build off of the first book. I think readers will WANT to know what happened to Lucy and Henry and Phin. Can they ever be a normal family? (Doubtful!) A fun, quick read for those wanting to pickup where we left off in The Family UpStairs.

I found this a satisfying sequel to The Family Upstairs. I would recommend to readers who love multiple POV stories and dark and twisty storylines. This a compulsively readable thriller that I finished in one sitting.

Lisa Jewell does it again. Loved the intensity and emotion of the story. So many relationships tested and so much intrigue and drama. I had a hard time putting this down. Every page pushed me deeper into the lives woven through various character narrative and I needed to know the outcome. The ending was a chef kiss …a sure bestseller.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

THE FAMILY REMAINS is the sequel to Lisa Jewell’s beloved THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS. Admittedly, I thought The Family Upstairs was fine but I wasn’t as entertained as other readers seemed to be. Based on where the original story left off, I was expecting a riveting search for a missing man in a lush safari setting. Unfortunately, there was no safari backdrop to get immersed in.

While there are multiple mysteries to solve, I kept waiting for a big twist that didn’t come. Rather, this is a slow burn mystery and an in-depth character study that explores the motivations behind many of the original characters. I’m not a publisher/marketer but I personally would not classify The Family Remains as a thriller. I didn’t feel the suspense or narrative drive that a propulsive thriller has.

In Jewell’s author note she mentioned that she doesn’t typically write sequels but her readers kept begging for one and she was happy to be back in Henry Lamb’s mind. In my opinion, this sequel may offer readers some closure but I don’t feel like it was a necessary addition. The story felt too lengthy and slow-paced for a breezy summer read.

Readers who loved THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS will likely welcome this sequel with anticipation and be more invested than I was. I’ll continue to read whatever Jewell writes, but this one wasn’t a personal favorite.

RATING: 3/5
PUB DATE: August 9, 2022

A big thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review. Review will be posted to www.instagram.com/kellyhook.readsbooks in advance of publication date

I have read Lisa Jewell’s books in the past. And this is exactly what I was looking for. I was entranced in the book, the mystery and slowly putting things together. I was excited and exhausted throughout but I couldn’t have asked for anything better! 5/5 stars!