A review by corrint
Island of Bones by Gaby Triana

3.0

was mostly a fun read, though it was uneven, making it difficult to rate. The middle is pretty good; the author raised a decent bit of suspense and created an entertaining mystery. However, the book was difficult to get into, with a shift in narrator, point of view, and style near the beginning.

Toward the end, as the mystery was solved, the book took a hard turn toward horror. Typically, that wouldn't be a problem for me; I'm more of a horror fan than a mystery/suspense fan. But the author did not do as well with the horror aspects, and at times the events became unbelievable enough to seem almost absurd, and they completely broke my suspension of disbelief.

I also noticed a few strange grammatical/stylistic choices, such as the use of "lied" as the past tense of "lie" in the sense of "lie down," outside dialogue and not in keeping with the general narrative voice. They pulled me out of the story and made me focus on the language.

Overall, for me the book averages out to about a three, maybe a little less.