Mark accompanies his wife and her dance students to Florida for a competition. It's supposed to be a relaxing getaway, but Mark is accosted on the beach by Tresa's younger sister, Glory. When Glory is found dead, a witness is found that saw Mark kissing Glory very late at night. He insists they didn't kiss, and that he didn't kill the girl. Hillary wants to believe him, but she's exhausted from standing by him during the ordeal of the past year. And she's not quite sure he's telling the truth.

Ryn and Ellis also find themselves drawn to each other and end up in the woods on a quest to a) learn more about the mountains for a map, b) learn more about Ellis' past, c) try to find out what happened to Ryn's dad, and finally d) to discover the heart of the woods and find a way to stop the bone houses from rising. (It's a complicated quest.)Instead I felt like I was eating ice cream that consisted of ice, hold the cream. The novel was bland, many of the metaphors continually throwing me out of the story. There were some good ideas in here and some characters I enjoyed, hence the 3 stars, but this felt like it could have used one last major rewrite to put this into the "amazing" category rather than the "just another thriller" where it ended up. Mark didn't feel vulnerable to her, but he remembered what Hilary had told him about teaching teenaged girls. You think they're kids. They're not. He wanted this encounter to be over. He wished he had never gotten out of bed and never taken a walk on the beach. Nothing good could come from being here with Glory. Mark Bradley was a high school teacher until a student wrote some mighty graphic descriptions of their love affair in her diary. No one believed her when she said she had made it all up. No charges were filed ... but he lost his job and the respect of the small community where he and his wife lives. His wife is his only saving grace. A Florida Detective, Cab Bolton, following up on the investigation goes to their home town and starts to unravel some very dark secrets that have been hidden and festering in the community. What's the problem? You'll keep me safe, won't you? You're big and strong. No one's going to mess with you."

I suspect the bone-storing area, probably in this format, was in the same vicinity, as far away from the church as possible, within the boundary of the oldest part of the churchyard. A long time ago, a girl, a boy and a goat saved the small village of Colbre, in Wales, from the rising deaths. The Bone Houses, they called them.

He's tall, blond, and handsome... a little bit sarcastic, but not arrogant with it. He's firmly dedicated to his job and loves bringing home the bad guy. Hilary Bradley is determined to prove that Mark is innocent, but she’s on a lonely, dangerous quest. Even when she discovers that the murdered girl was witness to a horrific crime years earlier, the police are certain she’s throwing up a smoke screen to protect her husband. Only a quirky detective named Cab Bolton seems willing to believe Hilary’s story. First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Embla Books and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book contains a mystery shrouded in mystery. You're left with a number of suspects in Glory's death :

He saw her eyes focused on the palm trees over his shoulder, and he flinched. He turned, expecting to see someone watching the two of them together. He knew it would be the same as last year if they were discovered. Suspicions. Accusations. You're a predator, they would say. Instinctively, he thought of ways to explain his behavior, to defend himself, even when he'd done nothing wrong. The premise of this story revolves around a murder mystery with a cast of characters that include a husband and wife who happened to be at the location where the murder took place. Add to it the fact that the husband lost his job because of a scandal with that girl's sister at school (he's a teacher) and you've got your prime suspect for the story. A spine-tingling stand-alone thriller of psychological suspense from Edgar-nominated author Brian Freeman, The Bone House As Sarah finds herself pulled to examine someone far too close to home for comfort in connection with the most brutal and unfathomable crime imaginable, murdering a baby, she finds herself trapped in a situation that defies logic, whilst simultaneously cleaving to everything that she, and we, the readers, know about Slayton.

Historical Background

I'm not sure if I missed it, or if the reason behind the dead crows was washed away, but I'd like to know why they ended up in the lake...., although it was a good creepy beginning. Ryn is a gravedigger, and the tough-as-nails, chip-on-her-shoulder YA heroine that we've seen before. Her father was lost to the mountains, her uncle was lost to the wilderness, and her siblings are all she has left. The family scrapes it by on the edges of poverty in a very medieval-feeling way.