Near the Bone

3.5 but i feel generous today so rounding up to 4

wish I read this faster than in a week but job ruins my life so I couldn't, I think this should be read in a day or two. it was fun even tho I hate survival stories in a book form but this just worked idk. also this is literally man or bear discourse in a book and I'd still choose the bear/creature bc what the hell

This book was so hyped, and my favourite horror trope ever is isolation horror, especially if it's cold/wintery vibes. It ticked isolation, cold, abduction, survival, slasher, creature feature.

So how did it have so many awesome elements and still ended up just being a little meh to me? I'm really not sure. The audiobook was good, so I don't think that's at fault, I can't exactly pinpoint it. It was still good, but I feel like I was really disappointed that the creature felt really one note and wasn't as involved as I thought it would be. I was REALLY hoping that there would be some metaphor about her being the monster and she needed to turn into it to get away from her husband or something, but nope, it was just a big furry thing in the woods :p

If you're a thriller fan looking to get into horror, this is a great book to get you started, since it kind of read like horror disguised as a thriller. There was nothing I disliked about the book other than the monster never being described/explained (sometimes that works really well, but it worked against it in this case, it just felt kinda like a cop out), but it's still an interesting combo of tropes.

4.5 this was really good and i felt the suspense the whole entire time. and i love the atmosphere a lot. the only thing i have was i wished we would've gotten a little more detail about the monsters but other than that i loved it.

This story was sold to me as a creature feature, and it very much is, but the creature is not the forefront of this story by any means and is more of a metaphorical device than something that is dived into in detail. The story centers a lot more on our main character and the abuse she suffers at her “husband”. 
We learn later that this was actually her mother's boyfriend, and he kidnapped her when she was eight years old in order to groom her.

All in all, I feel like this was a beautifully done story. I've never suffered abuse myself, but it seemed like a liberating story to me about an abuse victim who finally manages to break free of her situation and find something better. I would hope that, if an abuse victim read this story, they would have the same hope for something better that I finished the story with. Fair warning that the emotional and physical abuse in this story is explicit, and I'd imagine that this would be an incredibly hard read for somebody who's been through abuse like this before. Take care if you intend on reading this story.

3.5 ⭐️

Extremely basic by the numbers trauma horror trying to disguise itself with some cryptid/supernatural thriller. I don't think Christina Henry's style is for me, as this is the second book of hers I did not enjoy. Granted I DNFd Horseman earlier this year, but of the first few chapters I read, I was not having a good time. The same can be said with Near the Bone, as by chapter 6, I was strongly considering putting it down. None of the characters are likable, the prose and style is extremely formulaic, mundane, and predictable to the point where the fake twist can be called out very very early. You're better off with The Shuddering, or The Butcher and the Wren—despite me not strongly liking either of those as well.

3.5 Stars

It was kind of slow in the beginning, but picked up at about 40%. The first 40% was a lot of abuse and what Mattie/Samantha has been going through.

Mattie/Samantha doesn't know how long she has been living with William in the woods in a small cabin but she is starting to remember some of her past. While all the abuse is going on inside the cabin, something is outside with sharp claws and teeth.

A good winter read filled with blood, ice cold snow, creepy noises, domestic abuse, and survivalist adventure. I wish there would of been an epilogue or more to the ending.

Wow. I definitely DID NOT put this down once I started it. Listened to about 30% and think the narrator did a good job with the voices, but I wanted to read through faster and switched to ebook and time flew as I read it. A pretty quick read, intense. Feels so hopeless at first because of all the abuse (all done off page) she endures and for how long.
I'm a wee bit sad about some things, but this isn't a romance, it's a horror and my mind just has to accept that.

Really well done and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This book very solidly delivers on a very simple promise: if you want a slowly unfolding mystery, set in a very cold place, dealing with domestic violence and a creature feature, you'll get it. And you know what, good, fine. It's not amazing, but it delivers on its promises very defly. The ending is obvious once you get into the meat of the plot– which is fine, really, except it's treated like a shocker throughout. The pacing gets a little stuck in the middle with the introduction of a character who feels like they're from an entirely different genre, and this isn't helped by the main character loosing the ability to speak for far too long during this period, but ultimately, I was satisfied? Ish.

This feels very damning with faint praise, which is a shame because the novel has a lot going for it in terms of character depth and atmosphere. However, the following (big spoilers!) knocked it down several stars for me, and really took the shine off the novel as a whole. But, yeah, the following really bugged me:

Extremely weird, though, that a horror novel that made the abduction, kidnapping and assault of a woman its centerpiece couldn't bring itself to use the word 'rape', though. It's kind of brought up and menaced throughout, but the book doesn't really have the engine power required to deal with that in full, and it seems to know. At the midpoint the book just kind of shies away from it, which makes it especially weird given the final revelation about the monster. Overall the novel really twists itself into a lot of weird shapes in order to let itself bring up the spectre of, and simultaneously avoid, the main character's long term traumatic sexual abuse and assault.

A great read that shows humans can be as scary as literal monsters.

This book has a cryptid and somehow that's not the scary part.

I think more like 2.5 stars. I really wanted to like this because I'd heard so much about it but it just really didn't do it for me.

This book was scary as hell. I felt like I didn't breathe for the three hours it took me to read it – in one sitting, since I literally could not bring myself to put it down. I found Mattie to be an incredibly compelling main character and loved rooting for her. I will say that at times William felt almost cartoonish in his evil and I wish he were a bit more three dimensional, but that's really my only complaint. The tension in this was so thick, and I truly didn't know what would befall any of the characters. I'm really excited to pick up more by Christina Henry and think this is going to end up being one of my top books of the year.

3.5 rounded up to 4

Loved the atmosphere and the internal monologue of the MC. Felt the paranormal aspects of the book could've been fleshed out (pardon the pun) a bit more or even left out completely since the psychological nature and the creepy atmosphere was well enough. Still applaud the author for intertwining both aspects seamlessly. If anything, the dialogue, especially from one of the characters, could have been better. Had my eyes rolling a couple of times. Overall a quick read, may not be the best book out there but an entertaining one nonetheless.

I really love the commentary and comparison of the monstrous actions of the man abusing the main character to those of the actual creature. The overall story was great but just like Marcy Reads I also for some reason feel slightly disappointed and I'm not sure why exactly. I just don't love it like how I thought I would and there's nothing wrong with the book, I just wanted more.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry is harrowing novel of survival, fear, and fight. Part wilderness/survival horror, part creature feature, and part crime, this book has a lot going on. Mattie lives in a cabin on a mountain with her husband William. One day they discover some disturbing animal remains and the mysterious creature responsible. Yet this creature quickly proves not to be the only monster in this story. There were some really scary parts in this book, and I found the protagonist's story to be very emotionally impactful. There were so many times when I was angry and sad. Other parts of the book were genuinely suspenseful. Unfortunately there were other instances when the plot felt a little too unfocused and events and information seemed like Diabolus ex Machina. In my opinion there wasn't enough focus on some elements of the plot, especially the monster, throughout the book. Henry choose to leave a lot about the monster mysterious, and while this can sometimes be an effective means of triggering fear, in this case I kind of just found it vague. I'm tempted to say this could have been a short story or a novella, but I do think the more suspenseful sections were well done. Overall I rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Super excited about this book because I heard Gabby rave about it. Honestly, in my opinion, I was really into it the beginning of the book. It was fast paced and you kept just wanting to turn the pages.

I fell off the wagon with it a little over half way because I felt like there was no progression in the plot. It was just kind of saying the same things over and over again.
You did certainly root for the main character and I did enjoy her character development.

Over all it was good, nothing that excited me too much but the end.