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Hello everyone! Welcome to the Book Nook. Today we are going to be doing a review on Near the Bone by Christina Henry. I picked this book up because the plot seemed really sinister and eerie. However…I wanted more from it. Don’t get me wrong, it was sinister but not as sinister as I was expecting it to be. Before we get started I encourage you all to comment down below and tell me your thoughts. Also, make sure you are following the Book Nook on WordPress, Instagram and Youtube; that way you don’t miss any of my reviews in the future. So, without further ado, lets get into it.

Mattie and William have been living in the mountains for as long as Mattie can remember. One day, Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox near their cabin; which means they are no longer alone. there is a mysterious creature living in the mountains as well. In addition, three strangers are searching for the creature and Mattie cannot allow that because William will get angry; and bad things happens when William gets angry.

*Disclaimer: spoilers ahead*

*Trigger warning: abuse, assault*

As I said before, the plot was giving off a very mysterious and ominous vibe which is what attracted me to this book in the first place; especially the part about William getting angry. In my mind, I was thinking that Mattie was going to try her best to keep the creature and the three strangers a secret from William out of fear; however, that was not the case. Right off the bat, the story starts off with William being abusive to Mattie. So, right then and there the mystery of what happens when William get angry is solved. He was your garden variety, typical abuser who believes that a wife should obey her husband and a husband should physically discipline his wife to keep her in line; very cliché. What’s even more cliché is that he was using the bible to justify his wrongdoings. After a few chapters, you are able to guess Mattie’s situation; at least I did. She was abducted as a child and spent the last twelve years with her kidnapper. He kept her isolated, made her his “wife”, tried to make her have his children, etc. In some ways it reminded me of Abducted in Plain Sight which was…mind-blowing to say the least.

I felt as though Mattie’s memories were coming back too fast. She was with William for so many years he broke her spirit but every so often she did remember something from her past and that prompted her to start thinking for herself and defying William. However, I felt as though her gaining back some of her memories were a little convenient in some ways and I think Henry should’ve held off revealing some of those memories a little longer in order to make the story more suspenseful.

One thing that made little sense to me was that it was revealed that William was a drug dealer. Every so often William would go into town and pick up a few items and after all these years Mattie had no idea how William was able to afford to buy these things. Towards the end, Mattie, along with two of the three strangers, are making a getaway plan and she was able to break the lock on a trunk William had kept for so many years and they discover bags of heroin. With that being said, it’s concluded that William was drug dealer and that’s how he was making money. Um…ok? Like, it’s wasn’t the most important thing in the story but it still made no sense. Even Mattie was confused. The ending was pretty abrupt. Mattie does confront William but it wasn’t a big spectacle of a fight. It lasted for all of two seconds and it ended. I wanted more especially considering the abuse Mattie had endured for some many years. I wanted her angry but, unfortunately, that’s not what we got. After that, Mattie and one of the strangers leaves the mountains and the creature behind. So, it was pretty open-ended.

Honestly, it was a garden-variety, isolation thriller-type book. There was nothing extremely exceptional about it. Because Henry did such a good job with Alice I kind of had high hopes for this book but it fell a little flat. I do like Henry’s simple writing style. It made the pacing pretty even which I appreciated. There were some moments where I gasped out loud but I wasn’t on the edge of my seat the entire time which is kind of what I was hoping for.

Overall, I give the book a 3/5.

Until the time!