What can I say. I have read all of Lisa Jewell’s books and loved them all.

This was the sequel to the family upstairs and it follows on perfectly. Well written, Page turning great book.

Lisa does it again I was hooked

Brilliant. Followed on with no gap from the last book. Well written. Cleared questions from previous. Just perfect

I'm always hesitant to read sequels of thrillers especially when I loved the first book The Family Upstairs so much but Lisa Jewell has done it again! Yet another book that I read pretty much in one sitting because it was completely compelling and I couldn't put it down!
Following the now grown up occupants of 16 Cheyne Walk this is just as creepy as the first book! More family secrets, more twists and turns. I absolutely devoured it!

In this sequel to her previous novel The Family Upstairs, Jewell reintroduces us to her character Lucy Lamb who is just to become a house owner. At the same time, Lucy's brother disappears to locate a childhood friend. Elsewhere, a character called Rachel Rimmer takes the disturbing call that her husband appears to have been murdered in their French home and London DCI Samuel Owusu is compelled to deal with some bones that have washed up on the bank of the River Thames. How all these cases and individuals are connected slowly becomes clear. Not only does this novel knit together different timelines and mysteries, but it also introduces some age-old disturbing themes such as conflict, abuse and the desire for revenge. The end effect is a complex, multi-layered thriller that should garner Jewell many new fans. Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free ARC I was granted in exchange for this honest and unbiased book review.

I loved The Family Upstairs and I loved The Family Remains. I was in the story right away, and read this super quickly. Found myself emotional at the end. I want a third one from The Family, please!

It’s June 2019 in London. A mudlarker on the banks of the River Thames discovers a bag containing human bones, which forensics prove to be those of a young woman, killed by a blow to the head.
Also found in the bag are seeds from a rare tree, which lead the police to a mansion in Chelsea, where,30 years previously, the bodies of three people were found in the kitchen, and a baby alive upstairs.
Other clues lead to a brother and sister in Chicago, who are searching for the one person who can make sense of their past.
For me, The Family Remains needs to be read as a sequel to The Family Upstairs. Lisa Jewell is a talented and skilled author who provides refreshers to the original story, but I wish I’d re-read “Upstairs “ before I read “Remains” - I feel I would have benefited.
An excellent conclusion, as always a well paced and plotted book. Recommended.
As always, my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

A gripping thriller from start to finish, I blasted through this book in one sitting! I enjoyed the multiple narratives, flipping between past and present to gradually build the story as all the pieces began to fit together. However I realised at the end of this book that this is a sequel, so now I will have to read the first book!

This book had me stumped. Sitting smug and thinking I had it all thought out, the author put me in my place. Finally we have a thriller that will keep you your toes.

When does a story really end? The Family Upstairs, a Lisa Jewell thriller, ended with many of the strands neatly tied up. Jewell, though, felt there was more to explore with this particular bunch of characters, and has broken a personal rule-of-thumb to produce this sequel, The Family Remains. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too pleased with the news: I had remembered much of Upstairs being ‘almost unremittingly bleak’, but I enjoyed it far more on a second reading a month or so ago in preparation for Remains. Remains itself has an relentless pace, a startlingly improbable plot, two – count them – two cold cases, and a multi-continental wild goose chase. And that’s just for starters.

In Upstairs, teenage Henry was obsessed with teenage Phin. Twenty-five years since they last saw each other, Henry hasn’t moved on. Libby, Phin’s daughter, is going to Botswana to meet Phin (for the first time), and Henry’s invited himself along. But when Phin flees Africa rather than meet, Henry develops a hunch that the object of his obsession is now in Chicago. How hard can it be to find a man hiding in a city the size of Chicago? Meanwhile, the skeleton of Birdie, a truly appalling character from Upstairs, has washed up in the Thames. Although Birdie died 25 years ago, her skeleton has been moved relatively recently, which points to murder. And if one unsolved murder wasn’t enough, Lucy’s ex-husband Michael (also killed in Upstairs) is back, in a subplot with a slightly different timeline. I wrote last time that Michael was a bit of a cardboard character. Here he is fully fleshed out in disgusting detail.

There’s a lot going on here, but it’s not hard to follow: as is usual with Lisa Jewell, we have the range of tiny details that provide a kind of shorthand for us to relate to most of the characters. We always know where we are in the story. What I mean by that is that Jewell doesn’t overcomplicate what is already a fast-moving plot with little games. We hear directly from many of the characters (assuming they are telling the truth) and understand their dilemmas. We are rooting for almost all of them. Not Michael, obviously, and we’re not 100% about Henry either. All of the characters react to the cold case differently, and in Chicago the hunter becomes the hunted. All good fun.

This isn’t a light thriller though: no book involving a relationship based on deceit, or on the heartbreaking consequences of blackmail could be. In addition, there are examples of sacrifice and sadness, to balance the abuse that we saw in Upstairs. There’s a lot of justice being meted out in this novel, some of it by the police but none of it by the courts. DI Owusu is an interesting creation: an instinctive detective but one who’s able to understand the ambiguities of his remit. There’s retribution, punishment and forgiveness, actions with long term consequences and actions with none. And then, wrapped round the book as a whole, much more deeply explored than in Upstairs, is the theme of belonging. The Lambs and the Thomsens form a sprawling, blended family, one borne in the terrible actions of 25 years ago. Can they, now, pull together?

I wrote in 2019 that I couldn’t recommend Upstairs for everyone thanks to its sheer grimness at times. But I am happy to suggest the Upstairs/Remains double bill, for those who like their thrillers human, fast, improbable and cinematic.

Thanks to Century for the review copy.

Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The sequel to The family upstairs.

A body is discovered floating in the River Thames and uncovers a 20 year old mystery that leads into more drama and a twisting plot. Covered a lot of topics including rape and domestic abuse.

Good follow on from the family upstairs..

I really enjoyed this follow up to The Family Upstairs as it was so satisfying to revisit the characters that you thought you'd never see again! The book is just as good and a real page-turner, and though I think you'd appreciate it most if you read the first book, I do think it works as a stand alone as well. I actually wish I'd re-read the first book before reading this, but it mostly all came back to me!

First of all, this is a sequel to The Family Upstairs and I strongly recommend that this is read first. The story continues with what happened after the children from the first story, escaped the house.
A bag of bones is found on the bank of the Thames and the police.ce discover they are Birdie, a young woman who lived at the house at Cheyne Walk. And so police try to piece together exactly what happened all those years ago. Told from various points of view, the story is a bit muddy unless you have read book 1. The is enough references to the previous story, however, to make sense.
Having said this, there are lots of twists and turns to navigate and Lisa tells a complex tale.

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I would like to suggest anyone who wants to read this boom reads the first in the series because this is no way (in my opinion) be read as a stand-alone. I did read the first and started the second in quick succession.

I am often wary of sequels, especially from writers whose work I enjoy however ‘The Family Remains’ is a stellar follow up to the fantastic ‘The Family upstairs’ equally creepy, dark and harrowing even if the events of 16 Cheyne Walk seem to have been put in the past.

The characters of Henry, Lucy, Libby and Miller (even if some of them are less active in this book) remain interesting and none of the plot choices seem out of character. I thoroughly enjoyed the new(ish) character of Rachel and found the Michael Rimmer Storyline and Birdie storyline great parallèles to each other.

This book is a must read for all Lisa Jewell fans, and content warning especially for sexual assault. I definitely enjoyed this book, but ever slightly less so than the first.

The sequel to the excellent The Family Upstairs, The Family Remains naturally contains mystery, secrets and murder. It focuses on the family that remains following the tragic and chilling events in the first book. A dark and intense read it is thrilling and at the very least it's immensely compelling. Trauma, blackmail, abuse and murder all feature and the narrative is superior. I especially appreciated the tension stemming from DI Samuel Owusu. The author gives some background to the characters but in my opinion, you really need to read the first book before reading The Family Remains.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Century via NetGalley and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Lisa Jewell and I have read all her books twice over. This sequel did not disappoint. Full of the expected twists and turns. Most definitely a recommended read.

Lisa Jewell can do no wrong. But to have a follow up to the Family Upstairs is just awesome. The story continues and we learn where everyone currently is based but when family remains are unearthed so sets in motion a train of events that cannot be undone

Amazing book - absolute rollercoaster, it was a 2 sitting book and only because I couldn’t push through to finish in one, it was (in my opinion) probably better than the first installement of the story!

Just brilliant suspense and compassion!

Although I had not read the earlier book, I still found this to be a very enjoyable story once I got into it. There was enough from the earlier book spread throughout this book to be able to piece together and understand the back story.. The book was well written and well plotted if at times a little unbelievable. and followed the further lives of characters from the earlier book and finally ties up a few loose ends. I would happily read other books by this author.

I read this as a stand alone, but will now read the preceding book - The Family Upstairs - as I feel it would give more depth to the characters and storyline. Having said that, it was a thrilling read and one that I would highly recommend.

This was a fast paced thriller with numerous storylines weaving their way through it. It was gripping and one that I really couldn't put down.

Many thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the review copy.

A clever, intriguing and dark story from crime queen Lisa Jewell.
If you loved The Family Upstairs then you will devour it’s haunting sequel
Well written, always keeping you questioning. This is a must read