Near the Bone by Christina Henry

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

Christina Henry is back in full form! After being a little disappointed by The Ghost Tree, I am pleased to report that Near the Bone is a truly fantastic creepy tale.

It tells the story of Mattie, a young woman who lives with her husband William in a remote forest cabin on a mountainside. A strange creature appears on the mountain one day, something which is like a bear and not. It soon becomes clear though that things have not been right long before that. William is a very controlling person and he doesn't like that the arrival of the creature appears to be affecting his tenuous hold on Mattie.

I was utterly mesmerised by this story. Henry knows how to build tension and there were absolute piles of it in this book. The relationship between William and Mattie is one of the main driving forces and it was harrowing to see the unpleasant reality of it slowly unfurl as I read on. As with many of Henry's books, Near the Bone has a strong focus on feminism and gender roles and this is handled extremely well. I felt such a strong connection to Mattie and everything she goes through broke my heart a million times. Every character was so real to me and they all had depth which made you either love or hate them.

So I have covered the characters and relationships side but what about the horror? Well rest assured, this book has plenty of that. There are some particularly gruesome scenes here and also a lot of the slower, more tension-based horror that I mentioned earlier. I think this book is particularly effective because it has both domestic horror (from the threat of William) and the horror that comes from being hunted by a supernatural creature. It provides a variety in the kind of fear you feel as a reader and as a bonus it appeals to all tastes.

Christina Henry is one of my favourite authors and with books like this, it isn't hard to see why. If you want a tense, absorbing horror with brilliant characters and a heartbreaking plot, I urge you to check this book out. You will not be disappointed.

Overall Rating:

 .5