Review: Near The Bone by Christina Henry

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.

Christina Henry never disappoints and this book was no exception. This was a great, quick read and I really loved the combination of a supernatural threat and a very real, human threat. It was expertly done and told a great story. 

I will say the first quarter or so of the book was a little slow and hard for me to really get into, but it really picked up later on. Mattie lives with her husband William in a secluded cabin up on a snowy mountain. He’s an abusive monster who beats her and doesn’t allow her to leave the cabin. A strange creature/monster arrives on the mountain and disrupts their routine and William decides he has to hunt and kill it as a test from God. Some cryptid hunters soon arrive on the mountain as well and discover Mattie and William too. Everything snowballs and escalates from here and it was so hard to put down! 

Once I got past the initial slower pacing at the beginning of the book things really picked up, the combination of William, a terrible abusive human, and the monster I thought was great. There were threats coming for the characters from all sides, it was super tense having to worry about both! We also uncover some super shocking twists about Mattie’s past and her time on the mountain up until this point, when I say that I was NOT expecting any of that I really mean it. It was such a good element to add to the suspense of the story and very shocking. I couldn’t help but feel so frustrated for Mattie and heartbroken but trust me when I say the ending makes it a worth it. 

My only complaints as far as the story goes is that we don’t really find out anything in detail about the monster at all. I understand and also respect that this keeps the mystery of it all and makes it even scarier because we don’t know anything but I’m also a person that needs details because I like knowing everything. I appreciate it but at the same time it drives me crazy that we didn’t get more info. On top of that we also never find out what happens to a character named Heather, I wont go into details on that but I thought it was a bit odd that that was never answered. 

The ending was also fantastic, I was feeling a TON of emotions but overall I was very satisfied with the ending even though as previously mentioned there were a few things that I wanted to know more about. Still a great ending though, I’ll give credit where credit is due! 

The characters in this story were actually really great, very three dimensional, and I cared a lot about what would happen to each one. Mattie I had a lot of respect for how smart and resilient she is, she’s stronger than she thinks. Griffin I also admired a lot because of how he refused to give up on Mattie, loved him, and his friends C.P. and Jen were funny and willing to do whatever it took to keep everyone safe too. Seriously, very admirable and great characters it was easy to root for them all the entire time! Griffin is a POC and C.P. is of Asian descent as well, not sure about Jen or even Mattie though. 

What I Liked:

• Supernatural/human threat combo
• Great characters
• Plenty of action and fast pacing after the beginning
• Super tense and suspenseful
• Shocking twists with Mattie’s past

What I Didn’t Like:

• I would have liked more details on the monster 
• Never found out what happened with one character mentioned

Overall a really great, quick read I cant recommend anything by Christina Henry enough though! 

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****Spoilers Ahead For Trigger Warnings****

Trigger Warnings: Strong Depictions of Abuse and Sexual Assault, Miscarriage Mentioned, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore.

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