A great read, but predictable. I find a lot of Jewell’s books to be slow at the beginning, but the answer can be found early on.

If you are looking for a great mystery, suspense, or thriller don’t look here. However, if you are looking for closer to The Family Upstairs, this is exactly where you should look and you will not be disappointed.

Thank you Netgalley, Lisa Jewell, and the publishers for the ARC. #Netgalley #LisaJewell
#thefamilyremains

Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.

Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.

After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.

As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Family Remains is a sequel to Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs. The first book left be feeling very underwhelmed. The Family Remains was a redemption. Several pieces of the story were the same, but the storytelling and angle was a lot better.

This book was wonderfully written. Jewell does a great job sharing clues for the conclusion of the story.

4 stars

The author takes you right back to the story of a clearly dysfunctional family. Libby, Lucy, Henry and Phil revisit old history and try to reckon with the past. When we read and follow each member of the family we can see the desperate need for closure and healing. It is a book unlike any other and provides an immense needed closure.

Propulsive thriller that is the rare sequel to surpass the first book in quality and depth of character.

The Family Remains is a sequel to The Family Upstairs so I'm not going to spoil anything, but in my opinion the first one was alright up until the end when stuff starting happening. Basically this one has all the good parts of the first one with an added character (who I loved) and drama I didn't see coming. We get rich people drama, women's revenge, and family secrets allll the best parts of the thriller genre.

Definitely recommend but you have to read The Family Upstairs first. **Also sexual assault trigger warning**

LISA JEWELL. A great sequel to the original, The Family Upstair.s I recommend reading the first book and then jumping into this one!

Although this says it is a stand alone book, I think a reader would be lost without having read The Family Upstairs. I had a hard time following the storyline since it had been a long time since I read the first book. I was able to finish the book but I found it a disappointing read. However, I will anxiously await the next Lisa Jewell book.

Lisa Jewell has written her first sequel to The Family Upstairs. The Family Remains is an intricately plotted mystery with multiple plot lines woven together. Two women are connected through a 30 year old cold case that resulted in three murders.

When a pile of bones are discovered by the side of the river, Detective Samuel Osuwu must discover new leads for a decades old case. Lucy Lamb and her brother, Henry, are now grown children in their 30s and 40s but they’re still trying to deal with the trauma of their childhood (covered in the first book The Family Upstairs). After surviving years of poverty and reconnecting with the daughter she had at 14, Lucy is about to move into her own home. Henry Lamb is still obsessed with Phin Thomsen and won’t rest until he has reconnected with him. Meanwhile, Rachel Rimmer has just learned of her husband’s death. Police suspect his criminal connections may be the cause but Rachel is convinced her first wife, Lucy is to blame.

Jewell’s psychological thriller is gritty and suspenseful. The novel works as a stand alone but I believe it’s stronger if you have read the first in the series. The trauma, domestic abuse and family secrets will have you cringing but the twists will keep you reading to the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for ARC in return for an honest review.

Honestly, I DNFed this title. I read the first book and was looking forward to the second. But no where did I get the same edge of your seat feeling the last book provided. I just didn't get into it at all.

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!