thrilledtoread's profile picture

thrilledtoread 's review for:

Near the Bone by Christina Henry
3.0

The synopsis of Near The Bone is what really intrigued me and made me want to read this book. The first few pages were very promising; the scene - a snowy mountain top where no one else but Mattie and her husband William lived. Then the immediate hint that William wasn’t a typical loving husband and is very abusive and controlling. And also finding paw prints of a mysterious, giant creature in the snow close to their cabin. The beginning was definitely quick to set the atmosphere.

But after reading more chapters, the story felt to be dragged out. There wasn’t much action, even after the creature resurfaced a couple times. This is supposedly a supernatural horror novel, I did not find anything horror-like in this book. The only supernatural thing is the mysterious creature, but sadly, not even the end reveals or explains what it is. The relationship between Mattie and her husband turned the book into a domestic mystery/thriller and the creature was just thrown into the story.

I felt the story to be weak and not well executed, and the synopsis seemed misleading. This one had a lot of potential. But there weren’t any explanations, the ending was very unsatisfactory, and frankly, most of the story just didn’t add up.