Book Review: The Bone House by Brian Freeman
First, let me say I’m a big Freeman fan. Second, that there are a whole lot of people who obviously loved this book, giving it outstanding ratings. I just wasn’t one of them.
One of the biggest issues I had with this novel was the fact that we see things through the husband’s perspective so KNOW that he A) didn’t commit adultery with the girl in question and B) didn’t kill her sister.
… And we wave goodbye to any amount of suspense the story could have held.
This could have been such a tighter novel if we revolved only around his wife, the kids and the detectives perspective instead. The doubt the wife feels would have been intensified, as would her resolve to back her husband up. It would have caused the reader to constantly question what really happened.
Instead I felt like I was eating ice cream that consisted of ice, hold the cream. The novel was bland, many of the metaphors continually throwing me out of the story. There were some good ideas in here and some characters I enjoyed, hence the 3 stars, but this felt like it could have used one last major rewrite to put this into the “amazing” category rather than the “just another thriller” where it ended up.
I’m still a fan and will continue to read more of Freeman’s work, but if you’re unfamiliar with him, start with another novel.