pagesplotsandpints 's review for:

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

4.0

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Read Completed 1/9/23 | THE FAMILY REMAINS is a sequel to THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS but also a touch of a prequel. We get two different timelines following Lucy in the after-events and Rachel's relationship with Michael before the present-day that appears in THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS. While I don't know if this book was really necessary, I still enjoyed it! It did have a different quality than its origin story and I felt like this was more drama than thriller. We already knew how things ended up playing out with Rachel's story for the most part, so that was more tense than a mysterious thriller. Aside from putting together some pieces from both of those worlds and merging them, there wasn't too much that happened in this book, but I enjoyed the ride and spending more time with these characters. I thought it was going to end a little too sweetly and then we got a nice extra jab in the end to keep things consistent with the characters, so that was good. If there were more books written in this world, I'd probably keep reading them even though I don't think there's much more of a story to tell, but I still enjoyed the writing and revisiting this set of characters. Plot-wise, I could knock the rating down a star if I was getting really picky, but since I enjoyed the read, I'll leave it at four stars! But if you're looking for that same sense of twisty mysteries and a sense of dread of the first book, this one probably won't be it for you.