A chilling, suspenseful novel, full of grit, horror and supernatural elements.
Synopsis
'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.'
This is the first novel by Christina Henry I have read, but I now want to read every single one of her other books.
Near The Bone is the perfect horror novel, full of terror and horrific surprises.
The character of Mattie is a shy, downtrodden girl, who's life has been a living hell thanks to William, her husband. The abuse she goes through at the hands of this man is horrendous, I truly have never hated a character more than I hate William.
So when Mattie discovers there's another monster on the mountain with them, I was rooting for it to rip William to shreds.
The monster on the mountain has a lot of mystery surrounding it, the characters only ever see footprints or a huge claw, and we as the reader see it as they do. In some ways, I wanted to know what it was, but the unknown added to the already creepy atmosphere, so it didn't take away from the story at all.
Mattie ends up meeting some strangers on the mountain, after William takes her out hunting for the monster, and one of them recognises her, but we don't find out why until nearer the end of the novel.
The monster slowly starts picking them off, and Mattie starts realising that she not only needs to get off the mountain to escape the possibly supernatural monster, but also, the monster that is her husband.
Every single page kept me hooked, Henry has some seriously good writing skills. I genuinely felt like I was there on that mountain; I felt completely immersed within the story, and I really wanted to see Mattie have a happy ending.
I really enjoyed the internal monologue of Mattie as she battled her demons and the submissive part of herself that told her William would not be happy with the things she was doing.
As always, I'll be sharing no spoilers, but I was pleased with the way this novel ended.
I highly recommend this book, and I cannot wait to read more from Christina.
I am also super happy that I purchased this special edition from Forbidden Planet, signed by the author and with stunning blue sprayed edges.
5/5 stars
