I liked the final and satisfactory ending of the two books in the thriller series, The Family Upstairs and The Family Remains.

The beginning of The Family Remains, however, was at first very confusing and hard to follow, because of the stories switching from character to character and in different time periods. Everything came together eventually, but if I had not read the prequel, then The Family Remains would have been almost impossible to follow and make sense of it.

I recommend this new book to anyone who has read the first book, the prequel.

This book is a perfect Lisa Jewell novel with all the things that has been missing for me from her more recent novels. This story however works. The overlapping, intertwining stories and timelines fit together for a final picture of the survivors of the house of horrors from The Family Upstairs; Henry is much more layered and complex (but there's def still something SO off about him) in this story and you think it's going in one direction but it doesn't. And ofcourse the epilogue is pure Jewell. I think I enjoyed this one more bc it's dark but there's light, finally, and villains get their due (mostly). I kind of needed that as opposed to just girls being locked in basements and tortured. 3.5 stars rounded up just for that alone.

The sequel I didn’t know I needed! Don’t worry if you didn’t read The Family Upstairs….this could be a standalone. But if you did read it, you will be eagerly anticipating what comes next in The Family Remains!

Heck Yeah!

Did y'all hear me scream when The Family Remains, e-mail hit my inbox? No? I think Canada heard me the way I was hollering! The Family Remains, has been my most anticipated read of the year. When I read The Family Upstairs, I was completely hooked on Lisa Jewell. I became utterly obsessed with her writing style, and just her as an author. Lisa Jewell, is the queen of the thriller world and I will forever be a huge fan of hers.

Ok, back to this incredible book. WOW WOW WOW. I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to read and review The Family Remains before it hits the self on August 9. I think I am still in just complete awe of what I have just read. As I stated above, The Family Upstairs is one of my most treasured books and I never believed I would come across a better book until I read the Family Remains. This book is an insane, unputdownable, fast paced, keep you on the edge of your seat, kind of read.

I was completely consumed with this book from the first page. I could not get enough. I skipped meals and showers (ew) , I just could not put it down. I had to call out of work this morning being as though I was up until 3am reading last night and it was well worth it!

To give this book only 5 stars would be an injustice, The Family Remains exceeds any type of "star rating" . If you want your mind blown, make sure to head on over to your favorite book store and pre-order The Family Remains.

OKAY HENRY, wow. His character is such a minefield, I still don’t know quite how I feel about him!

Alright let me back up a bit. This is a sequel to “The Family Upstairs” — in which we first meet Henry, Lucy, Phin, Libby, and several other characters that form the backbone of the narrative. Those four recur in this book, and we have the additional POV of Rachel, current wife to Lucy’s abusive ex-husband Michael. This story starts approximately a year after the first one ends, and the continuity is pretty seamless.

Lisa Jewell is an extremely gifted writer. Whenever I pick up one of her books, I either finish it same-day or the day after. They are fast paced and quickly draw you into the story, but I would definitely classify her books as “light” thrillers. There is suspense, there are some twists, but nothing crazy mind-blowing or unforeseen happens. So don’t expect that here.

Let me get back to Henry. He is a MESS for real. He was a train wreck in book one, and he carries that torch throughout book two as well. He’s hot then cold, manic then depressed, lonely then craving solitude. He’s an odd one. Lucy and Libby are pleasant in this book, but sort of a side story. Rachel is the main female, and WOW her story is rough in some parts. I won’t give anything away but there was one experience she had that was a total gut punch. The night she comes home late. ROUGH.

To sum up, this is an excellent follow-up to a book that didn’t necessarily need a sequel. Very pleased to have read it, and would recommend to anyone!

Thank you to Lisa Jewell, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

I read and loved the first novel The Family Upstairs by Jewell and always considered it to be a stand alone. When I heard about this follow up novel, I was a little skeptical but also intrigued. The fates of the characters were always questions I would love to have answered and that is exactly what Jewell does. I was lucky to receive this ARC from NetGalley and all I can say is “wow”! This was such an amazing novel. Reacquainting the reader with Lucy, Henry and Phin and carrying on their separate stories. Another character, Rachel, is introduced and all of their stories twist together and combine for a very satisfying ending. I gave this novel 5 perfect stars. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4332004378

Lisa Jewell does it again with another great thriller! Facebook at me on the edge of my seat until the last page. I was immediately engrossed in the plot and couldn’t wait to find out what happened!

I have been so excited to read this book, since I finished reading the Family Upstairs. I am so glad Lisa Jewell decided to write this story. I needed to know what happened to the children they left that terrifying house. I was not disappointed. There was an undercurrent of creepiness through out the story. I couldn't stop reading, I needed to know how the pieces of the puzzle would fit together.

It states in the description of the book that it is a standalone sequel, but I disagree with that. If you have no knowledge of the Family Upstairs, I feel you would be lost and not really care about the characters you are reading about.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF’d at 30%. Extraordinarily confusing, even for a domestic thriller — I couldn’t keep things straight or see much of a point in any of the storylines. There wasn’t enough of a connection to draw me in and invest me in figuring out how all of these characters and events were interrelated.

So, when I read the first one I won’t lie, I didn’t love it. It was a 3 star for me. With that being said, I was a little apprehensive to read this one considering I thought the first one fell flat. But I am so glad I decided to give this one a shot because it blew the first one out of the water.

I didn’t necessarily love this one either but I overall enjoyed it which is a big step up from the first one.

Things I did LOVE about this one:

-It’s much darker and sinister than the first one. 😍
-I loved Rachel as a new addition to the storyline because quite frankly I never cared much for the other characters

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It's been a little while since I've fallen asleep at night wondering what x, y, or z fictional character was up to in that moment, as though I could just call them up and see if they had anything interesting to report or tell them about the trivial oddities of my own day. Yet, Lisa Jewell has a real talent for making these fully formed people show up in my head, and they have so many adventures to tell me about.

Wow! I was so thrilled to read this book! Because that creepy, intense, extremely eerie, spin tingling “Family Upstairs” book rocked my world! When I learned there was sequel, I screamed “yes, please, I need this!”

I have to advise you to read or reread the first book again to get into this story because this is not a standalone and without knowing the characters’ back stories and things happened that haunted mansion that invaded by parasites who act like cult members, you find yourself left in the dark!

Actually : this book is not a mystery or thriller. Of course there’s a crime investigation conducting by DI Samuel Owosu after a mud larking professional found bones of 25 years old ballerina thrown at Thames River.

And Michael Raimes found murdered brutally at his house in France , the very same man was married with Lucy Lamb: one of the victims who has been raped and abused at the mad house!
But those mysteries unfolded so slowly! The reason you’re so drawn into this sequel: your desire to find out what happened to those characters! This book is a CLOSURE! In my opinion, the way how things conclude is so fair!

I have to remind you how the story ended at the first book:
Innocent, famished, tortured, psychically and psychologically abused kids accomplished to escape from the mad house and that evil couple David and Birdie: scarier than Natural Born Killers’ Mickey and Mallory got what they deserved. The little baby Serenity is raised by foster parents, becoming very nice, gold hearted young lady called Libby inherited the mad house and learned the traumatic truth about her parents, having a fulfilled relationship with her journalist boyfriend Miller who wrote an article about mad house!

And as I told, the bones of a young woman found in Thames and another murder case in France may be linked to the Lamb siblings!
What happened to them exactly?

Lucy moves Henry’s house with her two teenage children, reconnecting with her daughter Libby, looking for her own house with the help of inheritance money her daughter kindly shared with her and uncle Henry.

They also found traces of Phineas, living in Botswana. They even plan a family reunion but Lucy finds out Phin already hit the road as soon as he found out their intention.

Henry who is not only using Phineas’ name, but his looks with his bleached hair and reconstructed face, whitened teeth has no intention to give up so easily. We know how obsessed with Phin and his obsession grew throughout the years. But what will he do when he finds him? In the past things got escalated between them. Henry already chained him to the radiator and forced him drink love position that poisoned, didn’t he?

I tried to give a quick recap of the events from the first book and extra information about new storyline.

My last conclusions:
Don’t read this book as a mystery, just read it to find out the closures of the characters. It was perfectly and honestly written. Henry was the most interesting, complex, dark and broken character of the book and I absolutely loved his POVs. His character reminded me of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho ( especially his future life, his extra meticulousness, his obsessions, his luxurious life style, his troubled emotional state) I easily connected with him and in my opinion he definitely deserved a second chance after what he’s been through like all the others.

Quick note: As a big fan who devours Double Double burgers weekly , I found a FALSE INFORMATION in the chapter 45! There’s no In&Out Burger store in Chicago. The spokesman of In&Out already told that they don’t have any plans to do so. That information has to be corrected.

Overall: I love the conclusion and I enjoyed to revisit the characters of the book who are middle aged in the new book and I am so happy Michael got what he deserved.

Lisa Jewell is my all time favorite authors! I read anything she writes with full contentment by canceling everything in my life.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

THERE IS NO IN N OUT BURGER IN CHICAGO MISS JEWELL
but I forgive you queen, bc this book was fantastic as always. I think I enjoyed it even more than The Family Upstairs. Jewell’s books usually focus more of character dynamics as opposed to trying to solve a mystery (usually she gives us the answers within the first half) but this one had many twists and turns and family drama…top tier Lisa Jewell

When I finished The Family Upstairs I needed the sequel immediately. This was exactly what I wanted from this book! Suspensful and exciting. Another gem from Lisa Newell.

(Please check CWs if you plan to read this.) The Family Remains is a sequel to The Family Upstairs and while it isn't fully necessary to have read the first book, it definitely helps to get a fuller picture of the trauma that the Lamb/Thomsen/Jones family have endured. This sequel takes a really interesting turn, picking up right where the previous book left off to give us more insight into the loose ends. The first book was really very dark and grim, and this one gives us that same experience. I liked that we got a chance to follow several different characters and I thought the way the stories were intertwined was cleverly done. I also think Lisa Jewell did a great job of knowing when to hold information back from the audience; this was done at one point in particular and I felt it made the payoff stronger. Overall, I enjoyed this book more than the first because I was already filled in on the content of the first and this book felt more tense and true to the thriller genre!

I do want to note that I saw another reviewer mention this and I have to agree, that the description of this book makes it out to be something different than what I experienced reading it. The blurb makes it seem like we are solely following Rachel's quest to finding her husband's murderer, when in actuality that is only 1/3 of the different stories we follow.

*Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for a review!

Lisa Jewell' s sequel to The Family Upstairs is remarkable and an extraordinary continuation and completion of the saga. Of course, being the novelist she is, the twists and turns and new cases for the detectives kept me guessing until the amazing conclusion. Once again, it was mystery at its best.

A mudlarker finds human remains on the bank of the Thames and as the police try to identify the victim they are led into the twisted family history that has survived The Family Upstairs. The Family Remains was a page turner that visited old friends and left the reader wondering "what is Henry going to do next???".

Lisa is one of my favorite authors and I have read everything she has written. I’ve never been disappointed in any of her books though some are definitely more suspenseful than others. The Family Upstairs was one such one. It is a stand out and I still think about it. I was over the moon to find out there would be a standalone sequel. You will find some of the memorable characters you loved from the previous book. I will say that the blurb for this is a little misleading and even just going in blind will work for you.

I want to say I may love this one more than the other! The book is based on two mysteries which are where is Phin and who killed Birdie. You will lose yourself as you jump into the story with the characters and feel as if you are experiencing their fast beating hearts when things get scary. Hold onto your seat for all the twists and turns you will,be taken on. Even the characters you may not like you will find yourself rooting for.

Whether this is your first Lisa book or your 5th this is one that you don’t want to miss out on,.