The Family Bones
The Family Bones by Elle Marr *Free on Kindle Unlimited on Pub Day
This was a very interesting, tense, and unique book. It is hard to talk about it without spoilers...... It is told in three voices, Olivia a graduate student, researching psychopathy for her dissertation and for personal reasons as it is strongly part of her family’s history. It is told by as well by a podcaster, looking into a cold case that is connected to the same family. And in journal entries of an unknown woman who seems to be connected as well. It culminates in a family reunion, while the setting, a locked room mystery, people dying, trapped by a storm, It is told in a unique, unpredictable way.
This one was a wild ride! The story centers on Olivia, who is a grad student who comes from a family who exhibit psychopathic (amongst others) tendencies throughout multiple generations. Olivia has tried to distance herself from her family but is working on her dissertation around whether these traits or inherited or not, and wants to talk to her grandfather as part of her research. You also get chapters told by a podcaster named Birdie who is tracking down a missing person, and chapters from an unknown person's journal. All of these are weaved together in a big way as the story unfolds.
I like the style of alternating narrators and I enjoyed reading chapters by both Olivia and Birdie. I really liked Birdie and felt like she is someone I'd want to know better; The author did a great job of creating the scene of the resort where Olivia's family was staying- I could picture it well as I was reading. The story itself was very fast-paced and there was a lot of action (and killing!).
I was truly surprised by the end, as I thought the twist was obvious and then it turned out that I was completely wrong. Well done to Marr on tricking me!
My one nit with the story is that there were an awful lot of characters and I kept forgetting who was who and how they were all related, and then had to reference back to remind myself.
Overall, this was a unique read and was a fun mix of of the mystery and psychological thriller genres. It had kind of a "locked room" vibe since the family was in a secluded area but people kept disappearing. I'd recommend to those who are fascinated by psychopathy and also just like a good mystery.
First of all I love the authors writing style a lot, it‘s a dual POV with news stories and journal stories as chapters as well, which makes the book even more interesting. It‘s so easy to read and to follow the story. It wasn‘t the bestbook I ever read but I enjoyed it quite a lot. It talks about mental illness and the huge question that gets asked a lot in the plot is if being a psychopath is something that they are born with or something that they are conditioned to be. It‘s an interesting topic and makes you think about stuff like that.
