The Bone Houses: Emily Lloyd-Jones

Product Information

I'm not sure if I missed it, or if the reason behind the dead crows was washed away, but I'd like to know why they ended up in the lake...., although it was a good creepy beginning. Not even in the span of 2 days, Ellis has developed “the feelings” for Ryn & wants to bare his soul to her!

Thank you to Embla Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. The visual vision of the Bone House is truly chilling, and when an old Priam is pulled from the deep of the lake, with the bones of a baby still inside, it’s the moment that Cora, the new mother, has feared since moving to Slayton. St Cuthbert’s would not have been unique if the dead had to be buried or interred, not quite en masse, but to finally rest the bones within the bone-house.

Historical Background

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention, once again, how much I love Goat. No, the goat doesn’t really have a name beyond “the goat,” and there is a reason for that (Ryn’s logic resembles a quote from a wonderful Pixar movie: “Once you name it, you start getting attached to it!”), but this weirdly loyal zombie goat, smelly and rotting and ferocious and stubborn, is most certainly the best part of this book. No amount of argument will convince me otherwise. Caroline Mitchell is masterful at the underlying malevolence tone throughout the storyline,and her timing as to when the tension builds perfectly until everything bursts to the surface. The Bone House by Caroline Mitchell, which is the third installment in the Slayton Thriller series, is a gripping new thriller with the intrigue of psychological and supernatural elements. I have not read the previous books in the series; however, I do believe this written well enough to be read as a standalone book. I'm not going to rate this & will probably try more books in the series, but this one is not for me. The situation is too real & shitty. A girl's fantasies in a journal on her computer are discovered by her mother & that leads to small town public condemnation of an excellent teacher. He's fired, never convicted, & things go downhill from there as another situation crops up. I’ll even forgive the little bit of romance this story had, because (a) there wasn’t much, so it didn’t overwhelm the plot, and (b) it was mostly about learning to trust someone and care about someone even when you’ve had so much taken away from you, and I kind of liked that angle.

As a perfect complement to Ryn, Ellis is sensitive but no less of a badass. He lives with chronic pain in his left shoulder, supposedly from an injury as a child that was never set right, but he rarely complains and always finds a way to fight through the pain, no matter how bad it is. He’s clever and loves the details and rules of mapmaking, and even though he occupies an odd spot socially, he still has aspirations of becoming something greater than his current station. Plus, I absolutely love his constant banter with Ryn; the two of them are quite funny together. The late Col Hesketh showed me the trapdoor, which led to a tunnel a few feet long, but it had caved in. When hundreds of birds fall from the sky into Slayton's lake in a terrifying freak event, the waters are dredged - revealing a dark, long-held secret.Ellis, is a newcomer, passing through the village. He is a sweet, kind, and loyal mapmaker, on a quest to discover who he truly is. All he has is questions about his origins and can’t seem to find anyone with the answers that he seeks. That is, until he meets Ryn. But Detective Sarah Noble feels that there is more to the investigation and she's proven right when her friend's son Elliott shares that he's having nightmares and visions again. He warns of a darkness coming that wants to bring pain and suffering, and Sarah believes Cora to be in danger. Or, more accurately, in danger again, as she has a tragic past, barely escaping captivity from the notorious Bone House as a child. Now Sarah is investigating thos This was another killer addition in the Slayton Thriller series. This town just seems to attract and create all kinds of deranged and disturbed individuals. I enjoy how Caroline Mitchell creates tension and builds her plots. She also knows how to create both creepy and mentally wounded characters. Just when I thought I knew everything, I was thrown off by a twist and a reveal. I enjoyed the layers in this story and how everything came together.