Book Review: "Bone Harvest" by James Brogden

I've been reading a bit of this author lately since he was recommended to me on Amazon. The first book I read entitled Plague Stones wasn't great but Hekla's Children was brilliant. I have to say though Bone Harvest is perhaps my favourite so far - a brilliantly dark folk horror completely with its own mythos. Ambitious and dark, this book is awesome and, as I got engrossed into the novel I also became more immersed into the folkish nature of the text. The atmosphere was heavy and the mythos was complete with cannibalism, sacrifices and a boar-man rising out of the ground. This book definitely needs to be made into a film or TV show, that would be incredible!

This book starts with the First World War and we have a deserter in our midst. He finds a bunch of people who take care of him but it's clear he has tuberculosis and won't live very long. But, here's the catch: after being looked after by these other soldiers, he is able to return to the post-war world. The problem is that he goes to the family of a fellow soldier he had met in these dying times to tell them he lost his life on the battlefield. The family are odd to say the least, there is a man who clearly isn't just a man and, after a while, our protagonist's tuberculosis begins to disappear bit by bit. And yes, he admits to committing an act of horrific cannibalism whilst away at war. James Bogden leaves many things open to us: our questions about this odd family are rattling but the lack of surprise to where this man has come from and what he has done is something to pay attention to. He starts doing the work of the dead man. The author allows us to think and unfold our thoughts about what might be happening. Ultimately, our protagonist begins to notice that he has joined a cult (or maybe it's not a cult?) dedicated to a wild boar who 'eats the moon'. When his war-friend told him to seek it out, our protagonist had no idea what to expect. But he who eats the moon is getting weaker and so, it must be our main character's job to find a solution to this or perish. A complex question of morality rises from a blackened grave-like hole in the ground.

In another timeline, another place, another time - the 2020s to be exact - Dennie is thinking about how her best friend killed her own abusive husband and hid his body in an allotment. The police dug it up, arrested the friend and the friend hanged herself in prison. It's been some time but Dennie is seeing the ghost of her friend everywhere - even when it comes to a childhood doll of some real importance to Dennie. One day, a bunch of strange people turn up on the allotment and one looks like he may have been a soldier in a past life. Once settled in, they start turning people to their own way. When a volunteer's daughter has leukaemia, there is very little he and his wife can do to make her better. However, this man is brought into the possibilities for the little girl and, behind the mother's back - the man states he will do everything he can to keep his daughter healthy and alive. He must do this is a way his wife will not expect.

As I have been saying, this book was incredible, definitely this author's best work. I was initially concerned about the way it could go, seeing as so many authors like to follow tropes so much when it comes to folk horror that it can become itself, a cliché - but I was pleasantly surprised. If you're new to folk horror then I would definitely recommend this one to you purely because it is a perfect blend of atmosphere, character and it even establishes its own mythos (yes it may be based on something Celtic, but isn't everything about folk horror!). I love the whole idea around he who eats the moon and, if you begin to read this novel I can guarantee that you will disappear down it very quickly.

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