A review by startjpw23
A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This books stars Sam (short for Samantha). She is a 32-year-old archaeoentomologist. She studies insect remains in digs. During the latest dig that Samantha was working on, human remains were discovered. The dig was stopped while the issue was sorted out. As this could take months, and Sam only had one other small source of income, she moved in with her mother. Her mother owns the house that was previously owned by Sam's grandmother. Sam lived in this house with her grandmother and mother while she was growing up. At the beginning of the story, as Sam arrives at the house, there is a vulture on the mailbox. Sam quickly becomes concerned that her mother is behaving strangely. She has lost a lot of weight. She is skittish. She has made changes to the house that Sam doesn't understand. Strange things start to happen. Sam's grandmother was a strict, not very nice person. Sam has some not so fond memories of her time growing up there. As does her brother, who also is concerned about the behavior of their mother. There are a bunch of rose bushes of different varieties in the backyard. They are flourishing. Sam notices that there are hardly any bugs on the rose bushes. There should be a lot of them. The book talks about the family drama between Sam's grandmother and Sam's mother and between her grandmother, herself, and her brother. I thought the book did a great job gradually revealing what is going on. Sam has an amusing sense of humor. As a scientist, Sam is resistant that what she is seeing is actually real. The latter part of the book was thrilling and very tense. Sam is a great, realistic heroine. I found the supporting cast interesting. I recommend this to anyone who wants to read a horror novel with an appealing heroine, an interesting supporting cast, some family drama, horror aspects that are gradually revealed, and a tense, thrilling exciting conclusion.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings