The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell (The Family Upstairs #2)

Hello Beautiful People! Welcome to a new review! For this review I get into the sequel to Lisa Jewell’s series The Family Upstairs, The Family Remains. The Family Remains ties up loose ends from the first book The Family Upstairs bringing the reader on another crazy ride with the Lamb Family.

Main Characters:

• Henry Lamb: His obsession over Phin ramps up knowing that his niece Libby is going to see her father, his first love, for the first time, goes on a wild goose chase trying to find Phin when it seems like he’s avoiding the family, but causes issues for the family along the way for doing this
• Lucy Lamb: Libby’s mother and Henry’s sister, thinks that reconnecting her daughter with her father will solve things for the family but finds it causes more issues for them, is also haunted by the fear of if she is wanted for murdering her ex-husband
• Phin Thomsen: Libby’s biological father who even though Libby is an adult is still avoiding the Lamb family for some reason, most likely his fear of Henry and his obsession with him, finds that no matter how hard he tries Henry will stop at nothing to find him
• Libby: Is not as present in this book and stays back at home after failing to find her father to clean up the messes being created in the UK by her family looking for Phin in the USA
• Birdie Dunlop-Evers: Her dead body from all those years ago is found while Lucy and Henry are looking for Phin, brings the police back into the Lamb family lives digging into the past again
• Michael Rimmer: Lucy’s ex-husband whom she killed before she came to the UK to find Libby, his body is discovered and Lucy and his current wife are placed under suspicion for his death
• Rachel Rimmer: Michael’s current husband who gives us a past perspective as to what life was like with the abusive Michael

My Review

I really enjoyed The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell when I read it a few months ago and I was excited to check out the second book in the series and tie up some loose ends that were left in the first book. The Family Remains dives directly into where the first book left off bringing us back into the drama of the Lamb family. I didn’t enjoy The Family Remains as much as I was hoping to, but I also acknowledge how hard it must be to have made this book full and enjoyable running off of the fast pace and drama of the first. The Family Remains is not a bad book at all, but I felt like it just dragged on in some places that it didn’t need to.

I gave The Family Remains a 7.5/10 rating. I will say that it ties up everything left in the first book satisfyingly, and every question the reader may have does get an answer to it. Something about this book however that I wasn’t expecting was that a lot of it is this back story into Rachel and Michael Rimmer’s lives and relationship after he was with Lucy and before Lucy killed him in the first book. These parts were definitely interesting but if I can be honest it felt like a lot of filler to me. I personally would have just preferred if this was all skipped and the book was just shorter explaining what goes on with the Lambs. I mean it ties in a little bit to what’s going on in the present with Lucy but it just ends up being this sub-story that I just felt we didn’t need. It was already clear from Lucy in the first book that he was a horrifyingly terrible person so I don’t know why we needed Rachel’s experience and perspective on this. It’s not exactly like it explains why he dies or anything because we already know from the first book that he hurts Lucy and she kills him in defence. I guess maybe to explain how Lucy got away with it but I mean that doesn’t really even end up being a major thing in the book so I am really not sure what the purpose was of having this past perspective take up so much of the book. Again these parts weren’t bad but I just didn’t want to hear about it personally given that I was interested in this book for the story of the Lamb family, not the Rimmer’s.

I have to say that I think this is one of those books where you definitely need to read the first one to understand what’s going on in this one. Lisa tried to do her best to drop in little explanations about what went on in the first to explain what was going on in this one, but there was just way too much that you need to know from the first for it to be explained again in the second. I think you could read this book without checking out the first but you would probably be very lost.

The Family Remains as said before directly follows after the first book. Now all reconnected after spending many years apart Libby, Lucy, and Henry are all together again. The only missing piece to the puzzle is Libby’s father Phin, who grew up with her mother and uncle in their home during a dark time for the Lamb family when they were children. Phin’s father was a con man who essentially started a cult to gain control over people and their money. For a while, Libby believed it was Phin’s father who was her biological father until her mother who she thought was her sister revealed the truth. Libby’s boyfriend Miller was able to track down Phin working on a safari in Africa and booked a trip to go see him. When they get there they find that Phin has left before they got there.

Henry who has always been obsessed with Phin since they were children becomes obsessed with the fact he won’t see them and tracks him down in America. Lying to his family about where he was going he plans to try and find Phin to bring him back for his niece, but really to see if maybe deep down Phin really did love him like Henry loved him. Worried that Henry may do something crazy Lucy follows him to America to protect Phin.

There isn’t a ton of thrill or mystery in the book but the questions do come up of why Phin wants to hide from them so bad, whether would Henry really do something to him, and whether is Lucy going to get caught for killing her ex-husband? Given that this is a book though that’s meant to tie up loose ends from the first I wasn’t expecting it to be anything like the first in terms of the drama. I did like how Lisa was still able to try and weave a little bit of questions throughout because it was a tough one to do with.

Overall not a bad read and like I said before I felt like it tied up everything from the first book nicely. I think if you enjoyed the first book this is definitely one to check out even if it’s just to have some of those questions answered. I don’t think you have to read this one though after the first. I kind of assumed how a lot of this book was going to go given some assumptions I had made in the first book, and I was right on a lot of them. I think if you can guess what happens in this one you are probably right and can save yourself some time. I don’t say that though as though it isn’t a worthy read, it just isn’t one I think you have to pick up if you enjoyed the first. You do definitely need to read the first though to check this one out.

Have you read The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell before? What did you think? Did you like it as much as the first?

I hope you enjoyed this review! Feel free to check out my socials @baddiebookreviews to be kept up to date for when I release a new review.