Reviews

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

sam1888's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

jgrady93's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

thejessiejoy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

betsybuttons's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was enjoyable, if not kind of unbelievable. 

athomehangel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

etarr23's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.75

andrew23825's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

burningupasun's review against another edition

4.0

I'm waffling between a 3.5 and a 4, but since I can't give a half star on here I'll go with four I guess. This book has very, very intense scenes of domestic abuse (with religious fanaticism mixed in) as a result of childhood kidnapping and murder so (though they thankfully only allude to it rather than straight up writing scenes with it) there is also pedophilia, child-bride stuff, and rape. It's... rough. I don't normally read stuff like this but the other half of the premise drew me in. And honestly, the book does a good job of balancing the horrible things that the main character goes through against her own strength. This book is really about Mattie fighting demons—not just her abusive "husband," or even the actual monster in the woods, but the demons inside of her too; shame, guilt, the meek person she's been forced into being. The book is about Mattie fighting to get free and those aspects of it are really good. Very suspenseful, very creepy. Unfortunately, the ending was very abrupt and that really knocked me down a star. It was frustrating because I wanted to see what happened next, but nope, denied.

Spoiler

Did she ever find Heather? Did they reunite? If not, what happened to Heather? What exactly were the monsters? Where did they come from? What sightings led the others up the mountain?

Still, if you can handle reading very intense abuse scenes (I mean seriously, intense) and like a good story about a woman fighting for freedom and also a big creepy monster, you would probably enjoy this.

averyannett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

3.75

stwdscrwdntat2d's review against another edition

5.0

Near the Bone was one of my favorite books of 2022.
This was my first read by Christina Henry and man, she can tell a story.