Ink and Bone

Lisa Unger

Simon & Schuster Australia

ISBN: 9781471150487

 

Description:

The explosive new thriller by the New York Times bestseller, Lisa Unger.

 

Twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery has always been different. She’s never been able to control the things that happen to her – not even the pain of a new tattoo or the roar of her motorcycle can drown out the chaos. When she moves to her grandmother’s house in the small town of The Hollows in upstate New York, Finley is hoping to a fresh start.

 

Then a detective shows up. He knows about Finley’s unusual gifts and he wants her help. There’s a little girl missing and the police investigation has gone cold. Now, time is running out. Only Finley can uncover the truth – but can she find the answers before it’s too late?

 

 

My View:

I am a big fan of Lisa Unger, I love how she weaves the paranormal into the everyday, ordinary lives we live, the narratives do not seem incredible, they read as possible, and I am open to the suggestion of the type of paranormal experiences she reflects in her writing. Indeed as life imitates fiction and vice versa I have recently made acquaintance with someone who has explored “the afterlife”, hauntings etc and “virtually “ met up with an old school friend who “sees/feels/experiences “  violent deaths that occurred as she passes by old crime scenes. (Eerily this sounds very much like the protagonist in Australian author Melanie Casey’s Cass Lehman and Detective Ed Dyson series) but I digress.

 

Ink and Bone is a very satisfying though dark read, missing children are themes that are emotionally charged and grim, happy endings are not generally the outcome.   This narrative is no different – grim, dark, powerful and emotional yet it is the characters – their strengths and attitudes that lighten this read.

 

If you have read the three novellas that Lisa Unger “The Whispers” series you will have made acquaintance with some of the characters and locations in this novel. And this is where the element of reader satisfaction is called into play – the relationships developed here are gems! Finley reads as any young person trying to establish her own way in life; almost independent, trying news ways, making mistakes… Her grandmother is a delightful character too   – supportive, intuitive and with special “talents” that are a family trait.

 

All in all in all an immensely satisfying read – wonderful three dimensional characters and an intense, suspenseful read. Add an unreliable narrator who provides such a wonderfully wicked bittersweet twist to this ending…you gotta love this author and this book.