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

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We at Penguin Random House Australia acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Traditional Custodians and the first storytellers of the lands on which we live and work. It had been a while since I read the first book, but I was soon across all of the characters again and wondering how the story would all unfold. I feel sad to say goodbye to this cast of characters, because as dysfunctional as they are, they make for SUCH good reading! Prepare to be hooked by the much-anticipated stand-alone sequel to The Family Upstairs from multi-million bestselling author Lisa Jewel.

In The Family Upstairs, there’s a completely evil cult leader, and then the novel asks dark questions about complicity, as other characters are pushed towards abnormal and then disturbing choices. I read The Family Upstairs in February and I loved it, it was probably one of my favourites from Lisa Jewell so far, so it’s safe to say I was excited about this sequel, and it definitely did not disappoint.Apparently my suspension of disbelief in fiction accepts two ex-wives in the same place on their separate murderous revenge plans, but does not accept a Californian burger in Chicago. We mainly hear from Henry, Lucy, Rachel and DI Samuel Owusu, who is investigating the remains of a young woman that have been found in the River Thames. Upon sending the evidence for forensic testing he discovers the bones belong to a young woman who was killed by a blow to the head many years ago. This was a great thriller where I was able to jump into the action almost immediately because I’d already met the characters in the first one. Small note for other American readers: I absolutely bought all of the cult, the house of horrors, the remains found, the reversals, etc.

This time I wondered if the survivors would be forced to relive their trauma and re-explain themselves, as the police got closer to the truth. The Family Upstairs has gripped audiences around the world, becoming a smash hit with readers everywhere.

This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. This is an unusual sequel, because the story revisits the characters (and Henry’s shocking revelation! I also liked how we got to see more of Henry’s true personality, and discover how obsessive he really is. Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages.

And the way the first novel unfolded was just so complex, there seemed like no way the police could understand the whole story and no way the survivors could get away with all their secrets. The Family Remains is written by Lisa Jewell and will be published by Atria Books on August 9, 2022. I received a copy of this book to review, opinions and reactions on my book blog are my own, as always. A very slow burn of a book, that carries on the story of what happened to the children in the 1st book ‘The Family Upstairs’.

I thought it was very clever, and I especially liked seeing Rachel’s relationship with Michael being portrayed, and us being able to see how that linked into Lucy’s story. I had thoroughly enjoyed the first book, "The Family upstairs" and was a little apprehensive that a sequel might be a tad disappointing as they sometimes don't live up to my expectations, but that was definitely not the case with this book. There was a second storyline between Rachel and Michael, I’m not sure it was really necessary but I do understand how it worked in. This book was a story of adults scarred by childhood trauma, seeking closure, family, extortion, and historical crimes. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

Lucy and Henry want to find another survivor who hasn’t been seen since the night they all escaped the house of horrors. I don’t want to say too much more as I don’t want to spoil the plot, but I was completely enthralled by this story. The book’s atmosphere was entirely different from the first, but the author’s also good at investigation thrillers, so while I was surprised to find such a different feel, I still enjoyed it. She lives in north London with her husband, two daughters, two cats, two guinea pigs and the best dog in the world.Even though the author does a great job of recapping the events of Cheyne Walk, to really understand the characters, especially Henry, you need the full background. Meanwhile, a body has been found that seems to come from the old mansion on Cheyne Walk, but has clearly been moved, sparking an investigation that leads to questions into all the missing people from the first book.