Member Reviews
DI Samuel Owusu stands on the banks of the Thames and watches as his forensic team sorts through a bag of bones. They definitely are human and the individual was tiny, either a child or a small adult. There is some fabric and detritus with the bones so Samuel has hopes it will lead him to the identity of the person.
A short time later, Samuel learns the bones are of a small woman. Utilizing the evidence from the disposal bag, his team has identified her blood type, hair color, and a possible career as a dancer based on the damage to her feet. Now he feels he has enough information for them to review missing person reports to find her name. It is not long before they learn her name, Birdie Dunlop-Evers. A call to the family reveals she disappeared twenty-some years ago. Birdie’s brother gives him a clue to where Birdie may have gone when she left home.
Another murder occurs, this time in France. Are they related? Read and find out!
I can see why this book hit the NYT list. It was wonderfully written and Lisa Jewell doles out the clues at a pace that keeps the reader guessing throughout the entire book. This is my first book by Lisa Jewell. I plan to add her to my favorite author’s club. This is for people who like the suspense/thrillers from writer Lucy Foley.
First of all I have to say a HUGE thank you to NetGalley for this ARC of Lisa Jewell's newest thriller! Let me tell you, this one will NOT disappoint.
The Family Remains is the sequel to The Family Upstairs....a story of trauma, deceit, family ties, and plenty of secrets.
After selling their family home, Lucy is finally to settle down and make a life of her own with her two children. Lucy's happily after doesn't last for long when a murder case opens up from 30 years ago that involves her family home. Meanwhile, her brother is jetting off to find a boy from his past who he has based his whole life on since he was 16 years old.
A twisty thriller with some trigger warnings ⚠️ I would fully recommend reading The Family Upstairs prior to this one, however, if you are not able to, they do a good job at filling in the gaps and re-telling important information.
Reading Between the Wines book review #69/135 for 2022:
Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: The Family Remains
Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | Women's Fiction
Available now!
Sipping thoughts: I really appreciated the dual meaning of the title. I also enjoyed the storyline of Rachel and Michael. Unfortunately, that is almost all I enjoyed. I felt like The Family Upstairs was a major pull the rug from beneath you, what the heck just happened type of book. This sequel just fell short for me and it seems it was written because readers wanted more. I love Jewell and most of her books but this one was just okay. With that said, I am glad I read it because I would have wanted to know what happened since I loved the original.
Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @AtriaBooks of @TheFamilyRemains.
#TheFamilyRemains #LisaJewell #AtriaBooks #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult #WomensFiction
THE FAMILY REMAINS picks up where THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS left off, but you need not have read the first book to understand the second (though I think it would help). A pile of bones are found by the side of Thames, leading Detective Samuel Owusu to chase down leads connected to a thirty-year-old cold case. Meanwhile, Henry Lamb is determined to track down Phin, a person from his past, and heads to Chicago to do just that.
This book was fine, but it certainly was not a sequel I needed. Remembering all the family dynamics of the Lamb family and their connections is difficult. None of the characters are particularly likeable, except maybe Samuel, but the poor guy always seems a step behind in his investigation. There's a side plot with a woman named Rachel that is unnecessary, especially since a lot of that ground was covered in the first book.
Still, the book picks up a bit with Henry in Chicago, enough to keep me reading and interested. To me, this was more a character-based novel than a true mystery, but there were some interesting twists and turns.
Jewell delivers a fantastic sequel to The Family Upstairs. Different perspectives and timelines are used to create this great story of murder, survival, trauma, and vengeance. I love that it’s character driven and could hardly put it down. You won’t want to miss this one! Thanks to NetGalley for my advanced copy!
I really try to avoid reading the blurbs of novels, particularly mysteries and thrillers as they often give so much away. So I didn't realize this enjoyably creepy novel was a sequel until I got to the end and read the author’s note. Suffice to say, it stands alone nicely, though I wouldn’t go back now and read the previous novel as I know the denouement.
Twenty six years ago, the wealthy Lamb family’s Chelsea home was infiltrated by the Thomsen family (the events of The Family Upstairs), and the children, now in their late 30s/early 40s are still recovering from the trauma. When a skeleton is washed up on the shores of the Thames, it is all ripped open again.
Henry Lamb, a highly successful gay man, is still tortured by his infatuation with Phineas Thomsen to the point of trying to become him. Lucy Lamb has been reunited with the daughter she had when she was 14 and has survived many years of poverty as well as a bad marriage. Though we don’t have details of the time in Cheyne Walk, (I’m assuming this would have been covered in The Family Upstairs, we know enough to feel queasy.
A third and tangentially connected storyline involves Rachel Gold, a jewelry maker who has a whirlwind romance with Michael, a wealthy American. This also keeps the quease-factor high.
And finally there is the police investigation into the cold case led by DI Samuel (not Sam) Owusu.
As with the masterly The Night She Disappeared, the author expertly juggles these different storylines, ending each chapter on a cliff hanger egging the reader on. I romped through the book in a day or so, with many claims of ‘just one more chapter’ being bulldozed over before I knew it.
I didn’t find some of the characters or their actions particularly credible, particularly the broken Henry and Lucy, but they worked within the world the author has created. The police investigation seems remarkably swift with at least a couple of highly fortunate breaks. But my fingers were white-knuckled all the way through the Rachel Gold plot which is cunningly linked to the Lambs to fill the novel out.
I’d rate The Family Remains high on the ‘couldn’t put it down’ scale, medium on the ‘this is maybe just a bit too creepy for me’ scale, and lowish on the ‘believability (but who cares)’ scale. Hope that helps you decide.
Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
Short synopsis: When a bag of bones in found in the Thames, detectives discover the tie to a cold case from 20 years ago. Meanwhile, Henry goes to the USA to find Phin to reunite the family.
My thoughts: Be sure to read The Family Upstairs before picking this one up, and I’d suggest reading them somewhat close together to remember the storyline and what happened in the first book.
Jewell did such a great job of creating a backstory for Rachel and Michael and the way she wrote the other characters into the story was done so well to help refresh the reader from the first book.
I liked how the stories tied in together and we saw lots of resolution at the end of the story. Not very twisty, but definitely a page turner!
Read if you love:
* Sequels
* Multiple POV and time hopping
* Rooting for the good guys
* Unexpected events
Lisa Jewell knows how to captivate you into a great mystery. This one had solid foundations as the sequel to The Family Upstairs. It has its own story line, which was intriguing, but it was not as good as it’s predecessor.
THE FAMILY REMAINS is a standalone novel but a sequel to THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS. When I received the ARC, I ordered the first book as well. I finished this book in about a day. Jewell's characters shine and I have a soft spot for poor Henry.. Thirty years prior to the opening of this book, terrible things have happened in the Lamb household. The discovery of a body in the Thames starts a present day investigation into the past and the murder of skinny, evil, Birdie-she deserved it. Plenty of twists but so many that one loses the thread and the connections of the story. I am already looking for more Lisa Jewel books!
In the acknowledgements to this book, author [author:Lisa Jewell|93504] mentions that she doesn't like to write sequels, but felt compelled to do so in this case due to many requests from readers. I am so glad she did. I really enjoyed this "rest of the story" book that followed up on the characters from [book:The Family Upstairs|43822820]. I enjoyed the original, but this book was even better. [book:The Family Remains|58855185] begins where The Family Upstairs left off, literally. And yet it is a book that could easily stand on it own. Jewell includes just enough details from the first book to give the reader the background that they need to understand where the characters are in the present. She also includes a new story line and a few new characters that keep the reader engaged and give the story a fresh outlook. As opposed to the first book, there are no loose ends at the end of this book, just answers and outcomes which I found profoundly satisfying. It was particularly gratifying to see the resolution of the many questions that were left unanswered at the end of The Family Upstairs. I would highly recommend both books to readers, but if you are only going to read one of them....I recommend it is this one. It will definitely be on my recommendation list for others.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and would like to thank Atria publishers for granting me the copy, Lisa Jewell for putting the book up for review, and Netgalley for the service they provide in getting review copies to readers.
If you read book 1 or the spoiler reviews, you know what happened and it's pretty cut and dry. Told in Multi-POV. I didn't like this one and didn't see a point for it.
Lisa Jewell's mastery of the end-of-chapter cliffhanger knows no bounds--I couldn't put the book down! This was the perfect follow-up to The Family Upstairs. It contained just the right amount of reminder info (woven in seamlessly, of course) for readers who've read the first book, while still being entirely enjoyable as a standalone for those who haven't.
2.5 ⭐️. Ughhhh I don’t even know where to start with this one and quite honestly I don’t even want to talk about the book because I am so disappointed in it. I am clearly in the minority but this was a big NO for me. The only thing I liked about it was the excitement I had for receiving an advanced copy because I really enjoyed The Family Upstairs, and I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. There is nothing else at all positive that I can say about this book. I hated each character (ok not Stella and Marco because those poor kids were stuck with this crazy family and not Rachel’s dad…but I literally did not like anyone else and didn’t even care what happened to any of them). Henry was just gross and before anyone jumps down my throat and calls me homophobic, it had NOTHING to do with his sexual orientation….he was just creepy and gross!
I often go back and read some of the lower reviews after I have finished a book that I didn’t like, not because I need validation that it wasn’t good…just out of curiosity to see if they didn’t like it for the same reasons. One reviewer summed it up perfectly when he said, “My verdict: This book did not have to exist. At least it is a fast read”.
I really don’t know what else to say, this one was just not for me. I have read quite a few of Lisa Jewell’s books and many of them were 4-4.5 stars. The writing style of the author is definitely not the issue and I will continue to read her books as they come out (unless there’s a 3rd in this series…THAT one I will pass on 😂).
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
To see other reviews I have left, check out my Goodreads and Instagram pages:
*Goodreads - Cherihy808
*Instagram - bookworm_traveler808
3.5 Stars!
I really enjoyed The Family Upstairs and was eagerly anticipating The Family Remains. Lisa Jewell never disappoints with her thrillers. Catching back up on Phin, Lucy, Henry & co. was interesting and kept me turning the pages - the reason for my 3.5 stars is that parts were hard to keep track of - with so many different characters, changing perspectives and changing timelines, I had some difficulty following at times, but ultimately I enjoyed and would recommend this one.
Thank you to Atria for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
Lisa Jewell does it again with another spellbinding, captivating tale of mind-trickery. I love these stories because they suck you in and will not let you go until you finish the very last page. This follow-up to The Family Upstairs knocks it out of the part and fills in the gaps of several lingering questions I have had since finishing the previous masterpiece. Though it does pair well with the first book, it can certainly be a standalone as it has endearing merit and magnificence of its own right. This story...or any of Ms. Jewell's novels are not to be missed. They will stay with you long after you have finished and they will entertain and delight you with every twist and unbelievable turn! I cannot recommend this enough!
The Family Remains is the sequel to Lisa Jewel’s The Family Upstairs novel. It’s the continuation of Henry, Lucy, Rachel and Libby’s stories. Like the first novel, this is a highly unusual, unorthodox, disturbing novel, that is rather slow-moving, but oddly compelling. The story is at times, unpalatable and definitely plays with the grey areas of morality, but it’s a thought-provoking novel, to be sure, and it’s definitely aptly titled.
The story unravels the later lives of the key players from the twisted tale of The Family Upstairs. We get multiple perspectives from Henry, who goes on a grand quest to hunt down and find Phin, who clearly doesn’t want to be found. We follow Lucy and her children who go searching for Henry to bring him back, as well as Rachel and her sordid story from long ago that intertwines with Lucy’s, filling in some backstory. We get peaks into CDI Samuel Owusu, who has reopened the cold case of the disappearance of former popstar Birdy Dunlop-Evers when her remains are discovered in the River Thames, and snippets of sweet Libby’s current status within the family and in her own life.
This is not a plot-heavy novel, but it does reflect back on bits of the past, providing necessary backstory. It provides some much appreciated updates on current situations of the main players, where the previous story left the reader wondering, and it rounds out the story as a whole, bringing it to a final, fleshed out conclusion. This is undoubtedly a dark, unsettling story, one that really cannot be read as a stand-alone, in my opinion. But if you’ve read A Family Upstairs, I have no doubt that you will find this a worthwhile, though disquieting story.
4.25/5
I was really excited when I heard that Lisa Jewell was coming out with a sequel to The Family Upstairs, especially considering how that book ended. The Family Remains gives us a past viewpoint with Rachel and I really liked having her story since she was only minimally mentioned in the last book. I was very curious about this second wife of Michaels, and I enjoyed where Jewell decided to take her story. It was hard to read at times since Michael is an abusive and vile man, so I hate to use the word "enjoyed" but I found her POV to be the most interesting, and I loved the twist that was thrown in with her as well. The present time viewpoints were similar to The Family Upstairs with the addition of DCI Samuel Owusu and Lucy. I quite liked every single viewpoint and I really loved having the dash of police procedural thrown in.
I thought the audiobook was done very well, and the best part for me was that it was narrated by a full cast. Dominic Thorburn, Bea Holland, Hugh Quarshie, Josh Dylan, Thomas Judd & Eleanor Tomlinson were all enjoyable to listen to and I thought they were each perfect for their characters. I also appreciated the fact that they decided to bring Thorburn and Holland back, and I love when series/sequel narrators are kept consistent for audiobooks. The Family Remains does contain a multitude of spoilers for The Family Upstairs, so unless you're not planning to read that one you will have to read/listen to them in order. On the other hand, if you wanted to just read this one or know if you should do a reread beforehand, I can tell you that Jewell did a great job restating a lot of what happened in The Family Upstairs, and I don’t see a reread of that being necessary except for maybe the last page. I saw a lot of readers had issues with the way The Family Remains ended, but I was fine with it and thought it was a perfectly acceptable end. If Jewell ever wants to continue this family’s story, I will be here for it.
Thank you to the publishers for my advanced listening and reader copies of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
I always enjoy Lisa Jewel’s books and so I was excited to see she was writing a new book, The Family Remains. I’m not sold on The Family Upstairs needing a sequel, but I was willing to give it a shot. I did reread The Family Upstairs and I think that made the experience more rewarding. I thought the first half went by slowly, and then it picked up. A quick read and fairly enjoyable.
Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Another wonderful read by Lisa Jewell. As always, Lisa Jewell delivers a beautifully written page-turner with well-rounded characters packed with a healthy dose of intrigue. I felt like I was putting together the pieces of a meticulously drawn puzzle. Thank you, Netgalley for this entertaining read.
I love a good psychological thriller and Lisa Jewells’ The Family Upstairs, filled with dark family secrets, mysterious deaths and disappearances, and a super creepy house, was one of my favorite reads back in 2019.
The Family Remains is a follow up to that book and it’s the twisty sequel I didn’t know I needed in my life!
What I love about Jewell’s writing is how she will start with seemingly unrelated people and events, develop them individually to get you completely invested in each of the storylines, and then gradually weave them together to reveal how they are ultimately connected.
In one thread of this book, we have a detective investigating a bag of bones that was found submerged in the Thames River.
In another, we have a woman who has just learned her husband has been murdered in France. This thread hooked me immediately because as soon as she receives the news by phone in the middle of the night, the wife rolls over and goes back to sleep. Wow! 😅
And lastly, we are reintroduced to the Lamb siblings from the first book. You can tell that they are all still haunted by the events from the first book and I of course was invested in seeing how they’re doing now, but more importantly, I was dying to know how exactly they are connected to the dead guy in France and the bones in the Thames.
The Family Remains is a dark, twisty and intense read that will keep you turning the pages long into the night watching all of the pieces of this deadly puzzle come together. It’s advertised as a standalone thriller but I highly recommend reading The Family Upstairs first. Understanding the traumatic events the Lamb siblings have lived through in the past really informs how they behave in this book.
Lisa Jewell is quickly becoming one of my favorite thriller authors and I can’t wait to read more from her!