Rachel’s story was interesting and the most vivid to me. Libby’s viewpoint is not really introduced in this book. She shared her windfall inheritance with her mother, Lucy, and her uncle, Henry. Libby Jones is now a wealthy woman due to the sale of the Chelsea mansion she inherited in the last book. Rachel, Lucy, and Henry each add a viewpoint that fully rounds out the narrative. Told via several timelines, and from several different perspectives, the story came alive. Let me reassure you though that if you haven’t read “ The Family Upstairs” the author has written enough backstory in this book that it does read as a stand-alone – but I feel I had a richer reading experience for having read the first one.

Once I got the characters straight in my head it was pure enjoyment from then on. “ The Family Remains” was an engrossing psychological thriller.Īs with the previous book “ The Family Upstairs“, the first chapters of this book were a tad confusing as there were a lot of different characters introduced. When I open a book by Lisa Jewell I know that I’m in for a rewarding reading experience. He finds that the bones are those of musician Birdie Dunlop-Evers, and are linked to the tragic house on 16 Cheyne Walk. He is emotionally damaged, lonely, obsessive, and possibly dangerous?ĭCI Samuel Owusu is the policeman in charge of an investigation into the discovery of a woman’s bones found in the Thames. Henry Lamb (aka Phinn Thomsen) is a wealthy man who has sought completeness his entire life. A hasty marriage to Michael Rimmer has seen her emotionally and physically abused so she beat a hasty retreat from the husband she thought she knew… Now her jewelry design business is booming, but she hasn’t left her marriage behind completely… Rachel Gold has learned the hard way that the old adage “ Marry in haste, repent in leisure” is all too true. Libby (whom she gave birth to at the age of only fourteen), Marco (aged eleven), and Stella (aged six). Lucy Lamb (aka Marie Caron) is now living in London once again. Now, some twenty-six years later, they’ve built lives for themselves with fake backstories and assumed names. With a sordid family history which originated in a desirable Chelsea neighbourhood of London, the children of the house featured in the author’s “ The Family Upstairs” have reinvented themselves.

The family remains paperback