Rachel, a thirty-something jewelry designer living in London, finds out that her husband was murdered in his home in France. In another timeline but told in a parallel manner, a bag of bones that are concluded to belong to a young woman dead some twenty years are discovered along the banks of the river Thames. Two stories subsequently unfold and eventually intersect which lead to the conclusion of this riveting novel.
This book is a follow up to The Family Upstairs by this same author. One doesn't need to read that first although I can see where it would be helpful. Also, it's an excellent story so I recommend it! In The Family Upstairs four teenagers escape from a house of horrors where a cult leader and two of his followers are found dead in an apparent suicide pact. When the bodies are discovered, a baby is also found in an upstairs crib.
Now in The Family Remains those teens who escaped are adults: Henry and Lucy who are siblings and Phin and Clemency, also siblings. Henry sets off to find Phin who now seems to be somewhere in Chicago. Lucy is concerned about this because Henry shows signs of stalker-like behavior, and she decides to go after Henry in Chicago. Henry's obsession with Phin started when they were teens and living under the thumb of cult leader David Thomsen, Phin and Clemency's father. The tension ramps up as Henry becomes closer and closer to finding Phin. Also, the story bounces back to the narrative following Rachel and how her husband, who is revealed to be the father of one of Lucy's children, ends up dead. Lisa Jewell writes a top-notch thriller, and this is no exception!
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