Quiet In Her Bones by Nalini Singh #BookReview #MysteryThriller #Suspense #Crime #Coldcase — Rain’n’books

My Rating

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Nalini Singh’s Quiet In Her Bones is a stellar example of how a book is best left alone without any categories or labels attached to it… You can call it a crime thriller, there’s a murder in there, you can call it a domestic thriller, coz it’s all about dysfunctional families and their screwed-up lives, you can call it a cold case thriller, coz the investigation is about bones discovered after 10 years and then, you can also call it a psychological thriller coz the protagonist Aarav is the least reliable of them all and the narration messes up with your heads…. So there is all this and more in this outstanding work by the author but topping up every other thread in this thriller is the effects of loneliness and betrayal that Aarav feels and then of course the author highlights the disturbing patriarchy prevalent in certain sections of our society.

Quiet in Her Bones is a study of many things but adding some jaw-dropping twists in between the narrative spices up the story brilliantly. Aarav Rai is not a character one would immediately take a liking to, he is in his own words a sociopath, unable to find an emotional connection to anything after growing up in a turbulent household with an alcoholic mother whom he loves immensely. His recollection of events that happened on the dreadful night his mother vanished is not accurate and there are times when the author gets the reader going in circles trying to understand all the people living in the Cul-de-sac and the hidden secrets lying dormant behind many of these doors. As Aarav conducts his own investigation based on his spotty memory, he has no idea what Pandora’s box he is gonna unearth.

The atmospheric setting of the novel is another factor that needs to be mentioned, Nalini Singh raises goosebumps with the description of the Waitakere bush that seems to become this looming menace waiting to pounce on you. I loved the relationship between Aarav and his sister Pari, there is a sense of innocence that warms one’s heart in their interactions.

Quiet In Her Bones is not your usual thriller, the pacing is also quiet slow which might be a dampener for many but the reveal of things at the end more than makes up for it as the author leaves the reader with a “jhatka”.

In this gripping thriller set in New Zealand, New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes you into the twisted world of an exclusive cul-de-sac located on the edge of a sprawling forest.

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.

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Originally published at https://rainnbooks.com on February 13, 2023.