...(book review) near the bone by christina henry

 Mattie can't remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they're not alone after all.

There's something in the woods that wasn't there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws. 

When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for a creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

NEAR THE BONE by Christina Henry

PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Horror > Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Fiction, Fantasy

MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Here's a book that had me gripping the cover tight enough to leave finger-marks, turning pages frantically, and yelling "run!" loud enough to frighten my cat from my lap more than once.

Christina Henry has a way of chilling me with her books. Near The Bone was the perfect cocktail of suspense, horror, blind fear, and atmospheric storytelling that leaves you jumping at every small sound. 

From page one we're led to believe that the cold, Amish-like existence Mattie lives is not by choice, and the flickerings of memory her husband dismisses as dreams may in fact be something more. 

"William said that place isn't real, it's a dream, a dream sent by the devil to tempt you away."

I began to have my suspicions about her past, but never did I expect the extent of what was gradually revealed to us. The truth is critically timed and when it is revealed the tension swells, getting bigger and bigger like a snowball running down a mountain.

Her husband, William, is as much a monster as the one that roams the woods surrounding their cabin, abusive, possessive and controlling to the point where Mattie isn't allowed to roam beyond a certain perimeter of their cabin without his permission - even their food store is off limits. It's a situation made worse by the sudden appearance of a creature that is not only killing the animals in the woods, but stringing them from the trees in a sinisterly deliberate warning. It's clear this is no ordinary creature, and William quickly decides to take the hunting of it into his own hands, not for the glory, but to keep strangers from coming in pursuit of it and drawing too close to their cabin. Mattie isn't meant to engage with people - and the reason soon becomes painfully clear. 

        "He's angry because now I know what he's really afraid of is people. He doesn't 

care about the creature in the woods or what it might do. He just doesn't want 

anyone else to come looking for it and to find us."

I honestly didn't know which monster I wanted her to run from fastest, the creature or her husband. And in this way Christina Henry has created a multi-layered horror story, not exchanging one nightmare for another, but making them overlap into one life-threatening chase! 

Mattie could in so many ways have been presented as a victim, but instead her strength and capacity for endurance is what I admired in her character. It made me will her to survive with greater fervour. 

The ending was a little open ended, but concussive enough to make me realise I'd been holding my breath since page one and could now justify letting it go. I don't know if a follow up book is necessary, but I would run to bookstores to buy it if it was ever written!

Let me know your thoughts if you've read this nerve-wracking book!

If you haven't, happy reading!

Zuzu

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...(book review) the winter ghosts by kate mosse

 

'Do you believe in ghosts?'

It's 1928. Freddie Watson is still grieving for his brother, lost in the Great War. Driving through the foothills of the French Pyrenees, his car spins off the road in snowstorm. Freddie takes refuge in an isolated village and there meets a beautiful, captivating woman. They spend the night talking of love and loss and war. But by daybreak, Fabrissa has vanished and Freddie realises he holds the key to an ancient mystery that leads him deep into the mountains, to a cave that has concealed an appalling secret for 700 years...

THE WINTER GHOSTS by Kate Mosse

Published: 2009

Genre: Historical Fiction, Supernatural > Ghost Story

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a hauntingly endearing tale, perfectly atmospheric, that needs to be read curled in an armchair on a cold winter's night. 

Naturally, as the title suggests, this is a ghost story, but you'll find no spooks or demons to jump out and scare, only the heavy weight of loss hanging like a low veil of cloud over a village, desperate to be dispelled. 

This book's set in France in the years following the first world war, when loss and grief were so commonplace it was almost seen as indulgent to show how it was affecting you. Everyone is doing their best to carry on and maintain normality, but Freddie feels the void of his brothers death acutely, and like a time bomb, it's only a matter of time before he explodes.

We join him on this quest for closure, and along the way he finds a sympathetic ear and someone with a story more devastating and chilling than his own.

There was something about this book that's resonated with me, and I'm finding it hard to articulate just what exactly it was. Perhaps its a sympathy towards a nation grieving loved ones and years lost to anxiety and uncertainty in the war. I think now more than ever, we as readers could understand that following a pandemic. 

Of course, I would never dare compare the pandemic to the war directly, but the years following it are where I think we can relate. There's a sense of lingering grief, of a community trying to catch its breath, or holding it for fear of letting go; not quite recovered, but trying so hard to re-establish normality.

The isolated French village in the snowy mountain-scape was the perfect setting for this story, bleak and beautiful, eerie and entrancing with its ghostly whispers drifting over the mountain paths.

This book kindled a sadness in me, but also brought a feeling of closure from the characters journey.

I'm glad to have plucked it off my shelf at long last. It was a fast paced, haunting and consuming. I recommend!!

Zuzu 🖋

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...2022, don't challenge me

First and foremost, happy new year booklovers! 

Such mixed emotions surround New Year for me, a sense of loss for the year left behind, nostalgia for the memories made, grief over things I didn't get to do, or guilt over people I didn't see. As a performer, I always work through midnight and I suppose what I lack is the sense of closure that comes with the celebratory lead up and seeing out the new year, whether you go out or stay home to do so.

Having said that, I wouldn't change a single thing about this arrangement because I love to work and I love my job - especially after two years of sparse bookings! It's just an odd feeling of not being quite ready for new beginnings.

But I digress. It's January 2022, the time when we set our sights on new achievements and adventures, and hope restrictions won't get in the way. This is the time I usually log onto Goodreads and set myself an impossible reading challenge that I stress through the year to reach. I start planning out posts and blog topics, wondering when I'm going to have time, but wanting to be able to say I put out a daily post across social media and a weekly blog.

And in the meantime, whilst I'm stressing, I could be writing. Isn't that why I started this blog in the first place?  To talk about my love of books and to document my own writing journey. A journey that's been at a standstill since the start of the pandemic.

For the past two years, I've sat on my finished novel, neglecting to send it to publishers or agents, lacking the motivation or inspiration to put pen to paper. I wasted time, and that's okay under the circumstances. But now's the time to hold up my hands and say "enough, get back to work".

Readers, I'm putting this into words so you can hold me accountable: this is not a year for reading challenges or marathon blog posts, this is a year for prioritising my writing and re-implementing a dream. My only goal is to fall back in love with my own book and characters. 

That's not to say that I'm going to vanish of the face of the earth and delete social media. Only that I'm relieving myself of the obligation and the pressure. 

Basically this is your advanced apology that this blog is about to get hella inconsistent ha!

Zuzu 🖋

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