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

This was the second book about this family. The family upstairs being the preceding title.
I read this as a stand alone book and found it intriguing. There were many twists and turns to it and it reached a satisfactory and fulfilling conclusion. I loved it. It was a page turner.

The Family Remains

This book continues on from The Family Upstairs. A bag of Bones are found in the River Thames. A body in a cellar and where is Phin Thomsen and how are they all connected.

I am so glad Lisa Jewell decided to write this sequel I loved the first book and although that did tie up at the end (mostly) I still wanted more ! I Reread The Family Upstairs before this and i Recommend doing that as i had forgotten so much. The twists in this book just kept coming. I was hooked from the start and could not put this book down.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK and Lisa Jewell for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest Review

I read The Family Upstairs when it came out in 2019 and loved all the creepy/suspense vibes so I had high hopes for the sequel, The Family Remains which has just come out. I have been obsessed with Lisa’s books for years! Big fan. Big fan 😅

The book is once again has mystery, secrets and murder. It has to have some murder, come on! It focuses on the family that remains following the tragic and chilling events in the first book. This family has a a lot of secrets 🤪 The author does give some background to the characters but yes, in my opinion you need to read the first book 👍🏻

The story is told from a variety of characters, probably my favourite is Henry (from the first book) as he is the most disturbing. Lol 😂 The chapters are short and pacy which is what I want from a thriller and what I expect from Lisa Jewell. Her writing is engaging and clever, pulling the reader in and then switching things up to keep us on our toes. Events from the first book play a key part in this story and I enjoyed revisiting these characters, with a couple of new additions such as Rachel and Michael. Urgh Michael…let’s not talk about him as he is a massive red flag 😑 The author sure knows how to write a complex character and shocking storylines! I didn’t find The Family Remains as menacing as The Family Upstairs. It was gripping, entertaining and a satisfying sequel.

As always I am in awe of the way Lisa Jewell constructs her stories. The fact that this picks up so many different threads from The Family Upstairs and ties them all together just adds to the complexity of this writing and the impressive nature of both plots. Whilst you don’t need to have read The Family Upstairs before reading this sequel I would highly recommend doing so. The Family Upstairs is definitely Lisa’s creepiest and scairest novel yet and so its a great read but also you will get to know the characters featured in this novel, get inside their heads and just understand them on a deeper level as you embark on this new journey with them.
This is such a great follow up novel to The Family upstairs because you have a lightness about the characters having been through what they went through in the previous book, they don;t have that to worry about any longer and yet it was such a huge part of their past and who they are today it is still always around. I found the previous novel very claustrophobic and so the fact that we don;t have to be inside that house any longer with the inhabitants meant that this book felt different but it also opened up a whole world of possibilities in terms of what could happen and what could go wrong!
I listened to the audiobook for the second part of this novel and I’m glad in some ways that I made the choice to switch between ebook and audio because this audiobook is a whole cast production and so it meant it was easy to discern whose story we were following even if I had stopped in the middle of a chapter. However this book does jump around in time so it means you have to listen carefully to which time period you’re in and I sometimes got a little confused with which timeline I was following as I was listening.
I loved getting back inside the head of Henry in this book because he is an extremely complex character and just so unpredictable he must have been great fun to write. It was also great to touch base with Lucy again. We opened the previous book with her and so I felt a really strong connection with her. Then we have a new character Rachel. It was so interesting to see how Rachel fitted into the plot and watch her story grow and develop. There are definite care warnings for sexual assault when it comes to Rachel’s story but I really connected with her as a character just as I did with Lucy in the first book.
Then we have the mystery of the bones in the water and how they came to be. I was driven to find out who they were and how they came to be there but there were so many other threads being woven together, tied and untied that I almost forgot about them from time to time just trying to work out what was going on with Lucy, Henry and Rachel. I love the way Lisa Jewell does this to me. She has never failed to write a book that doesn’t keep me guessing and keeps me turning the pages and The Family Remains is no exception. I’m just sorry that I can’t go back in time and read the 2 books back to back not knowing what happens for the first time!

Now I can hold my hands up as I did not like the first instalment of this at all but this was brilliant. It was fast paced with the stories weaving together and it really kept me gripped all the way through. Lisa Jewell back to her best! Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed the sequel to Jerwell's forst book. I was intrigued trhoughout and could not pit the book down. I found it top be really well written.

Having read the first book I was looking forward to reading what happened next and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the characters except for Henry who I hated which shows how well the book is written to make you feel that way. Very addictive, I couldn’t wait to pick it up again it when I had to put it down. Loved the ending too. Lisa Jewell is a great storyteller.