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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? Do you think Rachel and Lucy will continue to be friends, or do you think their bond in common is too painful for them to maintain a relationship? Were you surprised that Lucy helped the police find Henry in Chicago. Why do you think she helped them? Would Henry have done the same, if their roles were reversed? An above average read, which I think fans of The Family Upstairs will appreciate, but I preferred The Family Upstairs.
I absolutely loved The Family Upstairs, unfortunately this sequel didn’t have quite the same tension and atmosphere that I loved so much in the first book. The pacing felt slower, more of a police procedural than an edge of your seat thriller. It became a little repetitive after a while, I just wanted everything to hurry up. That being said, it was always going to be difficult to live up to the first book for me! Apparently, the three people who were found dead had made some sort of suicide pact, and though there were reports of three to six teenagers missing, no one knew where they had gone. The child who was found in the crib, Libby Jones, inherited the house when she turned 25 last year, which she sold to a couple after that. On another timeline, we find Rachel Gold, a jewelry designer, waking up to a call from the French police stating that her husband, Michael Rimmer, has been found dead in the basement of his own house in Antibes. She isn’t much surprised, and she takes us on a ride through the events in her past—the first time when she met Michael and what followed. Michael was a rich businessman, owning an apartment in Fulham, a house in Antibes, and a few other properties here and there. He was charming, above 40, quite a bit older than Rachel, and had been married once before to a woman named Lucy, which had ended mysteriously with Lucy never allowing him to meet their child Marco. A: They certainly did! Especially Phin. I really had no handle on Phin at all. He was an absolutely enigma in the first book. In particular, I had no set idea about his sexuality. I had always sort of assumed that he was gay, but it wasn’t until I started to write the scenes in Chicago that I found my way to who he really was, and by the end he had surprised me. I think he needed to be less ambiguous than Henry, to balance out that slipperiness of his nemesis. He needed to be solid and absolutely at one with himself. I was excited to get to the last scene which I knew I would write from his point of view, and to be inside his head for the first and only time. I liked him very much, more than I expected to. Henry surprised me too, by not being as malevolent as I’d imagined he was going to be. But as I say, there's still potential for him to go darker! The Family Upstairs left me with some unanswered questions. I had hoped (Lesson Learned: Be careful what you wish for!) that the sequel would answer those questions and redeem the previous book in my eyes. Were my questions answered? Yes! But to be honest, I think living with those questions would have been more satisfying than having to endure The Family Remains. I try not to DNF books out of respect for the author’s hard work, but this book really tried my patience. My buddy read with SabiReads (you can read her review here) was what helped me read through to the end. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
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Well, turns out Jewell had quite a bit left to say about the now-grown occupants of 16 Cheyne Walk. Expanding on #4... This was officially one star when Henry and Lucy reentered the UK with their fake passports AFTER Interpol had located them and they were questioned by the police. BRUH. You're telling me that Interpol wouldn't be waiting for you on the tarmac as soon as you landed to confiscate your fake documents and put you in jail? Instead Henry is like well they need us here so duh they still work! No... Just no. Once again, I'd let this slide in the 2 hot 2 handle cozy, but not in a book that's aiming for something more serious. This is just nonsense. You committed a serious crime and you're just in the streets because some small town Detective wants to keep an eye on you?? PLZ SIR!!! Although I know nothing of mudlarking rules, I throw the young boy a reassuring look and he appears relieved. In "The Family Remains," that is exactly what readersget – more. More storylines, more characters and more suspense. Lisa Jewell's "The Family Remains" (Atria, 384 pp., ★★★½out of four) does double duty – it's not just a satisfying sequel to the author's bestselling 2019 novel " The Family Upstairs," buta solid stand-alone tale of mystery and suspense.
Other authors are at a ten out of ten, for me, and Lisa is a solid hundred.” —Gillian McAllister, The Sunday Times (London) bestselling author of Wrong Place Wrong Time There are multiple sex scenes, some of them graphic. The theme at the heart of the stories is disturbing. This sequel started with a dead body, as these thrillers often do, and the opening of a twenty year old mystery. But what this leads into is more and more family drama, multiple twisting subplots that eventually, over the course of time, wind together and paint a bigger picture. I’d like to thank Netgalley UK, Random House UK – Cornerstone, Century, and Lisa Jewell for the e-ARC.Mrs. Rimmer. I am afraid I am calling you with some very distressing news. Please, tell me. Are you alone?”
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. Good morning,” I say. “I’m Detective Inspector Samuel Owusu. This is Saffron Brown from our forensics team.” I see Jason Mott trying very hard not to look as if he is excited to be in the presence of two real-life detectives—and failing. “I hear you have found something. Maybe you could explain?” 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. Can this domestic suspense thriller be read as a stand-alone? No. I was confused even with a vague memory of what happened previously. The plot unfolds through multiple perspectives and timelines which flowed brilliantly. Each perspective added the perfect layer of tension, mystery and intrigue. I really enjoyed the police investigation sections and thought those new characters were a fantastic addition.In Jewell fashion, she keeps her chapters short. She adds tension with dual timelines and the Police Inspector’s investigation uprooting Lucy’s goal of reuniting her family. It’s been a few years since I read the first book, so I skimmed it to help refresh my memory. But, it turns out that was unnecessary because the author seamlessly summarizes it in the first few chapters.
The book wasn't terrible until the last 25% or so. I was going to give it a generous three stars because I was caught up in the drama of it all, but then Lisa Jewell said HOLD MY BEER and this story nosedived into one-star territory at the speed of light. In this sequel to The Family Upstairs (2019), two siblings continue to deal with the fallout of their traumatic childhoods. 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! At the end of the novel, Henry takes on characteristics of the man he met in Chicago, Kris Doll. Why do you think Henry, despite his previous moment of clarity about his self-worth, begins to take on this new identity? Do you think his obsession with Kris is ominous, or simply due to the trauma he experienced as a child? Henry. Oh Henry. What was he supposed to be? A protagonist? An antagonist? An antagonistic hero? He was wilding to the max and then his lil redemption was connecting Finn with his daughter. Okay???? And what about his full-fledged stalking with the initial intent to make luv in da club to him (without consent most likely)? We just gonna blow right past that??The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. 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.
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