One word to describe The Family Bones by Kimberly Raiser? Spo-o-ky! The author has the amazing ability to turn each scene into a wonderfully weird, strangely developing storyline that prompts you to keep guessing—what’s going to happen next? In a spooky kind of way! Lovely tingles and shivers!
Steven, Tara, and their two children, Sara and Charlie, have just arrived at their new home, inherited from Steven’s side of the family. When the lawyer had called him to tell him the place was his, the first thing Steven remembered was the deep well that was located in the back of the property and the horrible stories he was told about how a former owner drown cats down that well and how the bones of those cats would reform and search for the man who had killed him.
Now as he stood there in the yard, he tried to forget about those stories and looked carefully at the house, which was really in fairly good shape. He was thankful that his wife and children seemed to be so pleased with the property that they were willing to begin living there immediately! In fact, they were so excited, that each of them went off on their own to explore!
Tara wound up in the attic where she found a small bed...strangely she couldn’t seem to resist lying down and falling asleep.
Charlie had wandered so far that he got lost and also became so strangely tired that he sat down on the floor...and fell asleep...
Steven set out to find Charlie. Remembering he liked to explore cellars, Steven reluctantly went down, only to become so lost that he realized that he had traveled far away from the house and believed he was now at the foot of the deep well, looking up, with no idea how to get out... And, oh yes, he had picked up a sample of what he had been shuffling through and now could see...that he had part of a human skull in his hand...
It was Sara that started to find her various family members—including a new Uncle Ben and Uncle Jack that Stephen did not remember and had not known also lived on the property.
Readers will be pleased to learn that all of the above took place in the early part of the book! Because... There’s no way that I’m going to spoil this one for you! However, just let me say that once Raiser has you hooked, she then takes you into an entirely unexpected tale of science fiction that has such an interesting basis that you are caught exploring the details in the back of your mind, while you continue to read.
Raiser shows wit in her excellent writing and has obviously found her perfect genre. This book could only have been improved by its being longer! Highly recommended for fans that are still looking for “that new science fiction tale” that keeps you turning pages to determine what happens...and whether or not you believe in the “possibilities” of it all!
Myself, I’m hoping for a sequel to this one...
G. A. Bixler
For IP Book Reviews
