Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Family Remains

** spoiler alert ** I was told by someone that this wasn't very good, and boy, were they right.
It was truely awful and so disappointing, as so many people rave about Lisa Jewell.
I borrowed this one from the library and saved my money, and I'm glad I did.
I read in the 'Acknowledgements' that she wasn't going to write a sequel, but she gave in to pressure from her fans. Well, she needs to develop a back-bone.

I gave the book 2 stars, just for the fact that I am sure LJ can write. I'm just not sure that this is her best work.

The first book was 'good'. A bit over-hyped, as all books are these days, with pages and pages of adulation from other famous authors and social media people.
I was mildly underwhelmed though, but thought it was 'ok.' A different type of story, but it went on a bit.

This book is so much worse.
Nothing actually happens in it.
It's so BORING.
So many plot holes.
Interpol are a bit 'pants', aren't they? Knowing all about Lucy and Henry etc but letting them travel back to the UK on false passports, and doing nothing.
Rachel's character was a waste of good paper.
I only read the book really, because her most intriguing character in the first book, Phin, might make an appearance. Except he doesn't. Not till the last 2 chapters or so. And he does nothing. What a wasted opportunity.
LJ introduces a new character, with the Detective investigating the case, but even he can't save the story. He's so under-written.
There's one suicide from a secondary character, who does it to save another character.
There is a character who rapes someone, but this isn't new. He did it in the last book.
And.........nothing else.

I can't believe anyone gave this 4 or 5 stars, but then again there no accounting for taste, as they say.
My recommendation is, give it a miss. It's awful.

Content Warnings

kernowme's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

laurennicole98's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kelseyr713's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I came to the realization after finishing that ultimately this sequel doesn’t contain any big mysteries or twists; it’s a character study. Everything big was revealed in the first novel, and this deals with the aftermath of that trauma through the eyes of a few different characters.

I felt that Rachel’s plotline (which mostly took place in the past) was a bit of filler, but was really well done and I absolutely found myself cheering her on.

My stomach was in knots at points from needing to know what happened next! Very difficult to put down. I was very satisfied with the conclusion and it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger this time.

Content warning: rape (specifically spousal rape)

Content Warnings

paisleypetty's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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librariangeorgia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I honestly feel honoured to have gotten a copy of this arc - it’s one of the few 2022 titles I was highly looking forward to reading.

I’ll be honest, it took me a few chapters to get into this one. But that is purely because it’s been so long since I read the first book, that I’d forgotten what had happened and ended up rereading the last couple of chapters of THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS.

After that, I absolutely flew through this. I found it gripping and it really kept me guessing, especially with there being multiple perspectives from different time periods that haven’t been made clear as to how they are linked.

There were a lot of references in the first quarter to the previous book which really helped to refresh my memory as to who all the characters were (and there’s quite a few!) and what had happened to them but it wasn’t too obvious what was being done.

I am so glad to get the full story as to what happened in THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS and to see how their lives progressed after it. Getting to know the new characters was really interesting as you think you know it all after the chaotically toxic family reveals in the previous book but apparently that wasn’t enough. I really liked how all the storylines were linked together and I am especially curious about that ending. I do wonder if there is a third book in the works - I certainly wouldn’t complain if there was!!

Content Warnings

pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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