Review: A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

I received an advanced review copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Titan Books
Published: March 2023
Pages: 304

Synopsis

In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom.

Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house.

Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it’s very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won’t hear a word against Sam’s long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town.

The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. And every day, more vultures circle overhead…

My Thoughts…

I read this book all the way back in June when the sun was shining and spooky season was definitely not on my mind, but with Halloween upon us, it’s finally time to share a few thoughts on this!

I discovered Kingfisher’s books last year, when I read the amazing Nettle and Bone, and I decided to catch up with a few more of her books: so, enter A House with Good Bones. Right from the beginning, I realised this would be quite different from my previous read and I wasn’t really sure what to expect but one thing was certain: that house was well and truly haunted.

I warmed up almost immediately to Sam as a main character. For starters, she’s an archeoentomologist, something that immediately set her apart and allowed her to share fascinating tidbits on insects throughout the novel. Sam’s quirky and extremely funny, providing a humourous commentary throughout, which somewhat tempered the creep and chills evoked by the book’s events. The book is narrated entirely from Sam’s POV, and much of it is just her inner monologue so by the end I felt as if I knew her pretty well, even though I couldn’t say the same of the other characters.

While recovering from her most recent dig, Sam decides to visit her mother, but immediately realises that something is wrong. Sam’s relationship with her mum was another element I really appreciated, since it seemed to be very genuine and based on true love and care for one another. I also enjoyed the sharp contrast this made with the relationship they both had with Sam’s grandmother and her (very difficult) character.

All the elements to the story are very carefully laid out, slowly but surely drawing the reader in thanks to the author’s masteful storytelling. Still, despite this, something felt missing for me to feel the truly haunting side of this story, the ending leaving me somewhat unsatisfied. I felt as though there were at once too many elements colliding and, at the same time, things were rushed along to reach the conclusion swiftly. The build-up felt definitely far too long compared to the final shenanigans, switching from Sam’s sarcastic monologue to pure horror in a very short time, giving the impression of a much-too-fast tonal shift and a serious pacing issue.

Even though this book didn’t fully hit the mark for me, it’s still a pretty engaging and quick read to get you in the spooky mood this Halloween. I’ll definitely be reading more from the author in the future!