Laurel Early has never had anything close to a normal life. Her mother died in a tragic accident when she was a child, and now, Laurel has just quit college after feeling completely out of place there. Returning home, she decides to focus on her bones preparation business, as the bones she finds in the woods and farming land she lives on with her Uncle are extremely popular on the internet. One day, however, a large group of the bones go missing. While out with her fellow tobacco farmer friends, they come across a great deal of blood and the bones arranged in a strange shape. Laurel knows that something terrifying is coming, and that the land has woken up. The magic of her mother is alive and well within her, and it just might get everyone she loves killed in the process.
Elizabeth Kilcoyne has created a terrifying, fascinating, and gorgeously atmospheric novel with Wake the Bones. Having lived in a small country town the characters feel like real people, albeit with stories stranger than most can imagine. Kilcoyne’s characters, even when you don’t want to like them, get under your skin and stay there, and the big bad energy in this book haunts the reader, even after you’ve put the book down and walked away. Be warned that the first part of this book is a great deal of world and character building, but when the book hits, it grabs you and won’t let go.
Wake the Bones is available from St. Martin’s Press July 12, 2022. Preorder it now; trust me.
