The Family Remains: the gripping Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller (The Family Upstairs, 2)

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There are a few minor twists that are somewhat predictable, but overall I enjoyed these characters and am glad to have found out what happened next in their lives. Harry Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer team up to exonerate a woman who’s already served five years for killing her ex-husband. Several decades after the three adult bodies were found dead on the kitchen floor of the home at 16 Cheyne Walk, a bag of bones was discovered on the shores on The Thames River. DI Samuel Owusu was alerted about the discovery. He immediately sent the bones, thought to be human, for forensic testing. The examination of these bones led DI Samuel Owusu to reopen a cold case about a missing woman that was last known living at the home on Cheyne Walk. Her family had reported her missing all those years ago but her body or whereabouts were never found. All the new evidence pointed to a connection with the dead bodies found on the kitchen floor all those years ago. There was something else discovered in the bag with the bones that connected that particular house with these bones. DI Samuel Owusu reopened this cold case and was determined to discover what had happened to this person for its bones to be stuffed in a plastic bag and emerge on the bank of The Thames River all these years later. Who had been responsible for committing this crime? Was the bag that contained the bones purposely thrown into the River? DI Samuel Owusu would stop at nothing until he discovered who the murderer was. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this stand-alone sequel to the “brilliantly chilling” ( Ruth Ware , New York Times bestselling author) The Family Upstairs . Apparently, Henry had tried to hurt Phin previously as well, and she was scared that this time too, he would end up doing something that would blow not only their cover, which they have managed to keep all this while, but also land them in prison for something they cannot actually be blamed for. Lucy is the same Lucy who was once married to Michael Rimmer. She, too, flies off to Chicago, taking her kids with her, to find Henry and stop him from doing what he intends to do.

I’m so sorry. But yes. And he appears to have been murdered, with a stab wound, several days ago. He has been dead at least since the weekend.” This is slated as a standalone sequel, but if I hadn’t read The Family Upstairs before this, I’m not sure I would have been as invested in the plot or its characters. Detective Samuel Owusu finds a bag of bones floating in the Thames River. Forensic testing reveals that the bones are connected to a decades-old cold case that left three dead in a Chelsea mansion. At the center is a large house where unspeakable things occurred decades earlier, a house where Birdie was apparently murdered. But someone moved her body in the last year, just before the house was sold. The question is who. MY THOUGHTS: I am so grateful to Lisa Jewell for overcoming her dislike of writing sequels and penning The Family Remains. I admit to being underwhelmed by The Family Upstairs, but The Family Remains has cast it in another light, and I am sorely tempted to reread it to see if I feel any differently about it now.Note: This review contains major spoilers for the first book in the series, The Family Upstairs. Proceed with caution. I'm definitely an outlier here, many people have loved this one. I've been a fan of Jewell's for a long time, but her last two books just haven't been all that great for me. Hopefully I'll like the next one better. 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 30 years ago. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families and deadly obsessions in this stand-alone sequel to the “brilliantly chilling” ( Ruth Ware , New York Times bestselling author) THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS .

Ok I'm cutting myself off lmao. Anyways. I'm obviously an outlier (what's new) but really this book just fell a part in the last 25% and I couldn't in good conscience give it anything higher than a one. Q: We don’t hear from Libby as much in this novel as we did in THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS. Why did you decide to use her less in the narrative?

The story is told from the points of view of several different characters, and we, the readers, are assisted by the inclusion of a list of the major characters and their relationship to one another. Which is just as well as some of the characters have more than one identity.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell weaves a “simply masterful” (Samantha Downing, internationally bestselling author) thriller about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to The Family Upstairs. 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. Do you agree with Justin that Henry is “Poor Henry” and that the Lamb children were “all victims. Whatever happened inside that house, none of them deserves to be punished for it” (340)? Cite examples as to why you do or do not believe Justin’s assessment.

There are multiple timelines that are well defined and I felt such dread with the earlier timelines. As with the other book, there is physical, mental, and emotional abuse that is very distressing to read/hear. It was once we got away from the character of Henry that I really got into this story. I care so much for Lucy and her two clever kids. Marco is just the smartest thing and I loved his scenes. There are also new characters in this story that made an impression on me. At some point, I had to know what was going to happen despite all the disturbing things going on. This story won't appeal to everyone, just like the first book didn't appeal to everyone. But I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind seeing some of these characters again except that I know one of them remains as creepy and disturbing as ever. A: I do not believe that Henry will ever be healed, no, and in the corners of my mind I see a dozen more adventures for Henry to have in various guises. He could be a real Tom Ripley if I were prepared to revisit him. I also do still believe he could kill again, in certain scenarios! But I think I will leave him there, in the corners of my mind. It is time to move on from Henry now.