The Family Remains

By: Lisa Jewell

Narrated by: Eleanor Tomlinson, Dominic Thorburn, Bea Holland, Hugh Quarshie, Josh Dylan, Thomas Judd

Brought to you by Penguin.

London. Early morning, June 2019: on the foreshore of the river Thames, a bag of bones is discovered. Human bones.

DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene and quickly sends the bag for forensic examination. The bones are those of a young woman, killed by a blow to the head many years ago.

Also inside the bag is a trail of clues, in particular the seeds of a rare tree which lead DCI Owusu back to a mansion in Chelsea where, nearly 30 years previously, three people lay dead in a kitchen, and a baby waited upstairs for someone to pick her up.

The clues point forward too to a brother and sister in Chicago searching for the only person who can make sense of their pasts.

Four deaths. An unsolved mystery. A family whose secrets can't stay buried for ever....

Prepare to be hooked.

The sequel to million-copy best-seller The Family Upstairs.

©2021 Lisa Jewell (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Enthralling." (Ruth Ware)

"Gripping." (Olivia Colman)

"Twisty." (Clare Mackintosh)

Great performances, good family drama suspense

This casts itself as a standalone follow up to The Family Upstairs but I feel it is more engaging if you’ve read/heard the first book as you are likely to be more invested in the story arc of the old characters and deeply intrigued with how the new ones will play out. Having said that, I feel this is still a very satisfying drama-suspense novel with great audio performances. The multiple POV style is back and Jewel deploys it well here – the excellent audio performances also really underscore each character. This is more of an investigative uncovering of a family drama vs the slightly macabre tones of the first book but the pace is still very good and Jewel does a great job of weaving enough twists to keep you hooked.

What a delightful book!

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. My favorite mystery of the year! It was different to the run of the mill thrillers I usually listen to and I absolutely loved it!

Absolutely Brilliant

Lisa Jewell has done it again. With different interesting characters and their stories all connected. Well written, excellent narration and kept me riveted till the end.

Nothing

Utter Rubbish, couldn’t even finish it. Wish I could get a credit refund. Don’t normally review, but this was all over the place. Waste of time