jensenart 's review for:

Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Quick very high level summary. 

A girl goes missing, bringing up old memories about Mal’s sister who went missing 20 years prior. As Mal investigates, she experiences vivid visions of a local legend. But these vision begin to blur the line between reality and a devastating nightmare. Themes of family secrets and environmental devastation dripping with beautiful supernatural darkness. 

 

My Take. 

Right away I noticed the amazing character development. I immediately felt immersed in the story and connected with the characters. There are moments in the book that I could actually feel the panic and anxiety that the characters are going through. The author also does an amazing job of creating an atmosphere of overwhelming dread. The author vividly focuses on the details of the unsettling environment and psychological elements that coincide with one another. Often written so poetically. On top of some amazing writing we have some heavy themes being tackled. Themes like environmental crisis, racism, generational trauma and family secrets. Overall a dark and haunting, well written read with amazing social commentary nicely tucked into an intriguing thriller with moments of poetic horror.