The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

 

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 thirty 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 ..

The latest release by Lisa Jewell, The Family Remains is the sequel to The Family Upstairs. I have just finished this novel as a stand alone as I thought I had read all of Lisa Jewells books but either I read the first years ago and my brain is like a sieve and forgotten or I have in fact missed it but none the less I still managed to follow the storyline of this novel so don’t be put off if you haven’t read the first book.

When bones are found by a mudlark it threatens to expose a family’s dark past and reveal secrets that they each have tried to hide. There is a sinister and gripping feel to this pacey storyline with chapters toing and froing between numerous characters and time frames so you are always on high alert as the picture is being painted and it feels like a rush against time for the truth to come to light. It was a completely unpredictable read that was twisty and made me feel a little bamboozled at times but this just intrigued me all the more.

I was thankful for the Family list at the beginning of the book to be able to revert back to because with so many characters I did need to revert to it on occasions to remind myself of what relation they were to other characters.

I found Henry eerily fascinating, his character was extremely well developed with his obsessive and possessive traits and he always made me feel a little uncomfortable and on edge. I also loved Rachel who was a very strong hardworking woman but who faced such disturbing situations, I was routing for her to find her way and to get her revenge.

This was another gripping read by Lisa Jewell and I am certainly going to go and find the first book now.

Kindle           Hardback