BOOK REVIEW: Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh @berkleypub #quietinherbones #bookreview

Riveting, dark, and twisted—Nalini Singh’s Quiet in Her Bones is an atmospheric thriller that kept me hooked until the final page.

About the Book

My mother vanished ten years ago.
So did a quarter of a million dollars in cash.
Thief. Bitch. Criminal.
Now, she’s back.
Her bones clothed in scarlet silk.

When socialite Nina Rai disappeared without a trace, everyone wrote it off as another trophy wife tired of her wealthy husband. But now her bones have turned up in the shadowed green of the forest that surrounds her elite neighborhood, a haven of privilege and secrets that’s housed the same influential families for decades.

The rich live here, along with those whose job it is to make their lives easier. And somebody knows what happened to Nina one rainy night ten years ago. Her son Aarav heard a chilling scream that night, and he’s determined to uncover the ugly truth that lives beneath the moneyed elegance…but no one is ready for the murderous secrets about to crawl out of the dark.

Even the dead aren’t allowed to break the rules in this cul-de-sac.

Reflection

This is the second book I’ve read now by Nalini Singh and she writes settings like the best in the business. Both books of hers were set in New Zealand. In Quiet in Her Bones, the book is primarily set in a very private, very expensive neighborhood surrounded by thick forest. I pictured the forest having a slightly jungle-like quality compared to the US and I swear I could see all of those shades of vibrant green and the dark shadows where the car crash that starts this book off occurred.

Narrated by the son of missing socialite Nina Rai, Aarav is the epitome of a tortured protagonist. Unreliable narrator, even to himself—Aarav has some serious blocks in his memories as he works through the story to unpack his complicated family dynamics. Singh does an incredible job showing the duality of Aarav’s mother Nina in flashbacks. She was such a complicated character, despite not being present in the story in the current timeline. I felt Nina leapt off of the page, simultaneously glamorous, cold, fiercely loving, needy, and flawed. She was mesmerizing.

Ten years ago wealthy socialite Nina drove off in the night with a quarter of a million dollars and was never heard from again. The theories about Nina were wild, made even the more salacious by knowing the private, secretive, wealthy community she came from. When her car and bones are discovered buried in the forest not far from the house, it’s clear that the wild theories that she escaped her marriage are wrong. Nina never was free.

Someone knows what happened to Nina that night, but in this wealthy community where the members pay for the cloak of privacy designed to keep their secrets, the truth may be buried as deep as her bones were. As the story unfolds, Aarav unpacks repressed memories from that night and from his childhood. Due to an accident, he is living back at his father’s house and it seems he can’t escape the ghosts of his past. But is Aarav truly innocent? Is he a good person? Well, that’s for you to find out!

I enjoyed Aarav as the detective into his mother’s death, particularly since Aarav even seems to be investigating himself. The secrets he learns about his mother, father, and the others of the neighborhood alone are enough to make this story gripping. What truly grabbed me, though, was the enigmatic Nina. She was simultaneously fiercely strong and fragile as spun glass. I felt invested in each new memory of her.

And of course, in a neighborhood like the one in this book, the cast of support characters are just as interesting. The pacing on this was slower but steady, with tension and suspense creeping in around the story until the end. If you like atmospheric mysteries with complex characters, this one is for you!