Michael Rimmer is a wealthy businessman and owns quite a few properties both in London and France. Rachel doubts taking a decision so fast but doesn’t ponder much over it, thinking that Michael is, after all, crazy about her. She knew that there was some Lucy to whom Michael was married previously but didn’t know much about the details. Michael’s Lucy is Lucy Lamb, Henry’s sister, who had lived in France for several years, and Marco is Lucy and Michael’s son. Lucy had to leave Michael because of the physical violence. Also, Michael actually worked as a middleman in the illegal drug business, which helped him earn a lot of money. All of this was not known to Rachel, and she saw the dark side of Michael on their honeymoon itself when suddenly, for very petty reasons, he refused to touch her any longer and later turned things around when confronted. In a matter of months, Rachel saw Michael turning into someone whom she had not known before marriage, and one night he ended up raping her while she was sleeping, making her walk out of the apartment at the first chance that she got. 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?? Well, turns out Jewell had quite a bit left to say about the now-grown occupants of 16 Cheyne Walk. 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. 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.

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! The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. 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. Do you think Phin meeting Libby and potentially returning to the lives of the Lamb family will allow them all to heal? Do you see a brighter future for the Lamb family with the re-emergence of Phin?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.” The novel opens in 2019,when a bag of human remains is fished out of the muddy banks of the Thames by a mud-larking guide.Detective Inspector Samuel Owusu goes to investigate. Whose bones are they? How long have they been there? As always, Jewell does a fantastic job with characterization. I flew through this book in three days, as I needed to know more about Phin, Lucy, Libby, Rachel, Henry, and Michael. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Q: You must have felt you knew the characters pretty well when you started writing this follow-up, but as you wrote, did they develop in any ways that surprised you?

I’d like to thank Netgalley UK, Random House UK – Cornerstone, Century, and Lisa Jewell for the e-ARC. I read The Family Upstairs more than three years ago, and unfortunately too much time has gone by. This is the reason why I don’t love reading series…I always forget the previous book by the time that the new one comes out. I did not have time to read the first book again before I got to the sequel, so please keep that in mind when reading my review. Lisa Jewell is my all time favorite authors! I read anything she writes with full contentment by canceling everything in my life.

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.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. Do you think Henry will ever be able to live as his true self, without adopting anybody else’s personality traits? Why or why not? Henry who is not only using Phineas’ name, but his looks with his bleached hair and reconstructed face, whitened teeth has no intention to give up so easily. We know how obsessed with Phin and his obsession grew throughout the years. But what will he do when he finds him? In the past things got escalated between them. Henry already chained him to the radiator and forced him drink love position that poisoned, didn’t he? The book is purposefully convoluted but at times it just felt too disorienting. In the beginning, I debated abandoning this, but wanted to see how Jewel would bring it all together. I was impressed by the ending. I... I honestly can't even describe this. Uhh... Henry Lamb goes full stalker trying to find Finn. Lucy and her kidlets try to stop him. Some bones are found in the House of Horrors that are prob gonna unearth some unsavoury secrets.