It’s a bit of a reviewing cliché to say “this book kept me up all night!,” especially for horror. So instead let me say: this book didn’t keep me up all night—because I didn’t dare let it get darker than it already was. Because it’s so good that all night was too long a time to go without finishing it. I read Near the Bone with such gleeful, white-knuckle terror that “all night” was too much and too little time. So, what’s the right amount of time for Christina Henry’s latest novel? Well, it’s one sitting, with a blanket and lights on, and maybe someone to hold your hand as long as they don’t interrupt you.
This is my favourite kind of horror, which is to say, no-frills horror. Much like Stephen King, Henry knows both her story and her writing are good enough to stand on their own, and she doesn’t belabour either the build-up (things get going very quickly) or play coy the mystery. She doesn’t withhold for the sake of withholding—she lays it all as plain as can be, and it’s terrifying.
Mattie lives on the mountain, if you can call what she does “life.” She cooks, cleans, and otherwise serves William, her husband, who does nothing but berate and abuse her in return. She holds fast to what little solace she can eke out, but even that is jeopardised by intruders on the mountain: one, a creature who behaves like no predator she’s ever seen, and the others college students in search of such a creature, bumbling into dangers they can’t even understand. Mattie will have to risk all these dangers, plus the doubts gnawing at her mind and the cold descending on the mountain, to have a chance at an actual life.
What’s always nice about reading Henry’s horror is that every risk and every choice has consequences. Every decision matters, and every character has to make them. There are no passive observers, and no extraneous asides. Everyone drives the plot; the plot doesn’t drive them. Bad things happen to the protagonists and the antagonists in keeping with their choices, which makes every decision meaningful—and dire. And as their situations become increasingly precarious, no one is safe from more and more brutal consequences.
And yes, the book is brutal. It’s not overly gory; just very honest about how unforgiving nature can be, and how men can be even worse. But it has moments of respite and of true goodness, too, and a long, honest look at both how difficult and how rewarding surviving can be. The balance of tones is perfect, never completely overwhelming but never letting up, either.
Henry really leans into what she does best in this novel, which is a brief timeline so dense with plot and suspense that there’s barely room to breathe. The entire book takes place over the course of only a few days, and most of that over the course of a single day and night. Three threads—Mattie’s survival, William’s defense of his territory, and the search for a cryptid by three naïve college students—braid together into a single tight, breathless tale of survival.
Also, if you’re a fan of the podcast My Favorite Murder, this book basically has everything. There’s murder, kidnapping, things hidden in floors, cryptids, insanity, and of course, treasure. And it’s a badass survivor story that warns everyone: don’t go into the forest! I don’t know if Henry is a fan, but I think it’s safe to say she could be.
But you don’t have to know either MFM or Henry to enjoy scaring yourself silly with this novel. It’s a standalone, a complete tale of one woman’s harrowing journey. This does mean that it’s not a full history or profile on either a killer or a cryptid, which may frustrate some readers. I found it refreshing, though, not to have the focus on a killer or a monster, but on a survivor.
Near the Bone is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of April 13th 2021.
Will you be picking up Near the Bone? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A woman trapped on a mountain attempts to survive more than one kind of monster, in a dread-inducing horror novel from the national bestselling author Christina Henry.
Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all.
There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws.
When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.
