Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Near the Bone

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Near the Bone by Christina Henry

28 reviews

mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

All in all this reading experience was disappointing, especially because BooksandLala recommended the book in one of her videos. The most annoying part of this book were the characters. They felt so unrealistic and one-dimensional. William is your typical abusive and religious lunatic that wants his wive all to himself and beats her up for disrespecting him/not being a good wife. I honestly didn‘t buy it. There was not depth to his character. He is just an archetype. Kiran Millwood Hargrave did a much better job at depicting an abusive and religious husband in The Mercies. On a different note, what were those reactions and dialogs in the most terrifying moments?

A monster throws a human heart through the window? You know what, let's make grilled cheese. Your best friend gets strung up on a tree by his organs? I suddenly feel hungry and want some eggs. Like what?

No human would react like that. Also what was the point of the whole scene with Mattie and C.P. in the cabin?

There is a creature and a kidnapper out there and they are having these chill conversations without paying attention to the very obvious threat outside. And what was William doing outside all the time? Were did he go? Why didn't the creature hunt him too when he was already injured and that creature supposedly only attacks weak/injured humans? It doesn't make any sense.

The ending was just the cherry on top. It was so rushed and we don't even find out what exactly the monster is. During some parts I felt like the monster was just some metaphor for William which would have made the story that much more interesting.

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cmdiaz004's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This played out like a movie! Heart-pumping, action-packed, scary, thrilling, and even quite humorous in some places! I thoroughly enjoyed this. Trigger warnings: emotional/physical abuse towards a woman. If you can get past that, it’s well worth it, in my opinion.

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zakcebulski's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book was a random pickup at a Barnes and Noble. I was perusing the horror section when I found this book. I am a bit of a fiend for books having a setting wherein there is a snowbound isolation like setting and this book does that well!

I was initially surprised by the setup of this book. I originally thought that it was going to be a bit of a "The Thing" but in book form, when in reality, this was a nice mix of Misery mixed with any monster flick.
The story starts off with Mattie and her abusive husband William. They reside on a snow covered mountain in a cabin with no running water, and a setup that is reminiscent of an old school homestead. No running water, no electricity, the woman (Mattie) is forced to do tasks that are beset upon her by her husband, William. If she wavers, or does not do them to his preference, she is beaten and abused.
At one instance, Mattie is checking traps in the forest when she finds tracks to an animal she cannot believe the size of- this introduces us to the part of the book that is least compelling.

I thought that the storyline between William and Mattie was exceptionally well done. I loved how Christina Henry starts off by explaining their relationship in a way that we just seem to be witnessing an (abhorrent) abusive marriage. However, I gradually got to notice that so much more was wrong in this relationship. It eventually comes to light that William actually abducted and gaslit Mattie, real name Samantha, to be his wife due to his rampant religious mania. At the time he also killed her mother, as he was the mother's boyfriend. He truly believes himself to be owed a wife and sons given to him by God. If this book would have been more focused on this, I think that it would have been even more scary and unnerving that it was when it was sharing the pages with a monster.
William abducted Samantha (Mattie), re-Christened her, raped her and killed her mother while also regularly beating her. It was so amazing to watch her transform and take back her life from the broken state she was in at the beginning of the book. When she eventually kills William, it does feel like a bit of a hollow victory as we know the amount of trauma that she endured, but, she truly killed the demon that was plaguing her life and I thought that this was fantastic. It was absolutely upsetting to read, and I got a chill down my spine when I realized the true extent of William's abuse toward Samantha, but, seeing her overcome this was a huge triumph.
I thought that this was the most compelling part of the story by far, as we learn more and more about Samantha and her life by the introduction of three additional characters- C.P., Griffin and Jen. These are three cryptozoologists who are looking for the exact mystery monster that Mattie and William bear witness to.
I thought that these three characters were not my favorite. These characters were so goddamn boring to read. I felt that they were extremely inconsistent and very shoe-horned in. There are two instances wherein these characters are killed and C.P. the last of the hiker trio is very upset at one second and then is cracking jokes and making funny remarks a second later. It just felt very odd to me, as if the characters were introduced just to give the monster a kill count.

Speaking of the monster, I found this part to be a very boring part to read. I never felt like the monster reached full fruition, and in fact, it came to be sort of annoying to read. Every time that I read that it roared, I thought "oh okay?". It just wasn't scary to me, and it felt very convenience based for the characters. Some times they are being attacked because they are a threat, and then other times they're not a threat? C'mon, I get it is a scary monster, but, just have it be a scary monster without this whole deal of having it be more than that. It doesn't need to be complex by organizing bones and hanging kills from trees- just have it be something like a goddamn evil spirit like a wendigo or something. The whole plot point of it can move silently didn't build up any suspense for me, it felt like a cheap inclusion to attempt to build suspense that never worked out. The monster always roars to announce itself, except these specific times when it is silent- why? PLOT CONVINIENCE. I think that this was my least favorite part of the book because it truly did feel like Henry wanted the monster and William to be equally as scary to create a feeling of claustrophobia, but, it didn't. It created a huge imbalance between the truly scary William who is fueled by religious mania, and who is shown to be a murderer, rapist and child abductor, and a fake monster that can pop up whenever it wants.

Overall, I thought that this was a good story. I found myself wanting more from it, and I felt that there were aspects of it that were not handled greatly- in my opinion, of course. But, I still found this to be an absolutely compelling page-turner that read like a damn movie.

#FuckWilliam

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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely love myself a good creature feature, especially one so well written! In this winter horror novel, Mattie finds herself prey to not only her “husband” who has held her captive and abused her for years, but she is also suddenly the prey of a strange and vicious creature that has made the caves near her cabin it’s home. When some cryptozoologists stumble across Mattie and William’s cabin they also stumble across the creature, and Mattie’s struggle to survive takes another turn.

I loved Mattie as a character as well as the cryptozoologists she meets. You want them to survive! This was a great blend of creature feature and survival horror that I could not put down. Highly recommend reading Near the Bone for the perfect winter horror vibes!

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