You will find me gone, to carry on the lonely fight: THE FAMILY REMAINS.

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

THE FAMILY REMAINS picks up where THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS left off, but you need not have read the first book to understand the second (though I think it would help). A pile of bones are found by the side of Thames, leading Detective Samuel Owusu to chase down leads connected to a thirty-year-old cold case. Meanwhile, Henry Lamb is determined to track down Phin, a person from his past, and heads to Chicago to do just that.

This book was fine, but it certainly was not a sequel I needed. Remembering all the family dynamics of the Lamb family and their connections is difficult. None of the characters are particularly likeable, except maybe Samuel, but the poor guy always seems a step behind in his investigation. There's a side plot with a woman named Rachel that is unnecessary, especially since a lot of that ground was covered in the first book.

Still, the book picks up a bit with Henry in Chicago, enough to keep me reading and interested. To me, this was more a character-based novel than a true mystery, but there were some interesting twists and turns. 3 stars.


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