Book Review: "Little Bones" by N.V Peacock

As you probably know by now, I am a huge fan of crime fiction. It teaches us a lot about the different writings of crime. Some are written in chronological order from start to finish. Some are written in flashbacks and some are written from multiple points of view. But, one thing that they all have in common is not just the fact that there is a crime at the heart of them that people are running out of time to solve, but that there is also some misdirection going on. When you read the book, you normally realise you were wrong about the whole thing and your main question is: Why didn't I see this earlier? It was right there the whole time.

Cherrie Forrester is a woman who lives with her boyfriend Leo and their son, Robin. A boy called Thomas has gone missing in their area. She has a pretty normal life until she hears a podcast referencing the fact that a woman changed her name as she was the daughter of a serial killer who is now in prison for murdering over ten young boys. She changed her name to Cherrie Forrester and to this day, Cherrie has told nobody about this - not even Leo. Feeling violated, she seeks to send a message to the man responsible for 'outing' her as this man's daughter - a killer known as Mr. Bones. Before she can go any further in her want to sue this man, she is made aware by a psychic that Robin may be in danger. As her past catches up with her and her fear becomes her dread, it turns into abject terror as the next step takes place: Robin goes missing.

The themes in this book are many, one main one being truth and lies. There are several things that the reader connects together in their minds and we must be completely aware of who is telling the truth and who is telling a lie if we are to help Cherrie find her missing child. The other thing we look to is love and hate. When the news about Cherrie's past comes out, there are people who hate her and people who stand with her to find her son. These people also need great attention to be paid to them. Once you are aware of who is who and who stands where, you would think it would be easy to work out what actually happened. But no, you have completely missed it.

The plot is crafted brilliantly. It is generally in chronological order except a few flashbacks but the misdirection of the plot is excellent because the writer only proves that you have not seen the whole story. This prompts you to go back and see where you went wrong on your sleuthing. It's one of those things that you did not think you were going to miss, but then again you had literally no idea it was going to be this way.

I think that this is the perfect novel to cover your dark nights in. It is haunting, it is fearsome and it attacks the very soul of a human being. It compiles our general worst fear: harm to a child, with a general strangest encounter: the child of a serial killer. It brings them together in a shattering explosion of identity, monstrosity and rage. The build up and climax are absolutely worth a one-sitting read and honestly, I say that out of experience. I read this entire book not only in one sitting, but I did not look up from my book until the whole thing was finished. It was captivating.