Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay

 

The Last Word Review

Gripping psychological debut thriller. One book that you will not want to put down

A sign of a good thriller is normally the opening paragraph that will grab the reader attentions and with Sanjida Kay’s debut thriller Bone by Bone this achieves that. ‘It wasn’t until the train went past that she saw the small body lying in the long grass by the side of the wood’. Frome this moment you are caught up in a gripping story that will not let you go until the very last moment of the book.

What we are presented with is a story of Laura and her daughter Autumn. As you start reading you get to understand that Autumn is having problems at School and a classic case of bullying. Like any mother Laura has been worried about her daughter fitting in at her new School, how is she coping and is she mixing with the other kids. Pretty quickly it becomes clear that Autumn has been targeted by a boy who just will not give up.

The story as it unfolds is totally gripping and the sheer terror is palpable at every turn of the page. At one point Laura comes face to face with the boy and something goes very wrong. As much you feel for Laura and I showed great empathy with her at the moment and many will. Laura herself knows she has done wrong and now she is scared and worried and for good reason.

Like any mother she would do anything and everything to protect her daughter but how far would you go? Something that I think Bone by Bone will ask the reader. It is psychological in its approach because the reader is being pulled into the story and the sheer tension and anguish is there page by page.

Bullying as we know is not just in its physical sense but also the cyber bullying can also play a devastating role here and that is explored as well as friendships that get tested. At one point I was asking the book ‘just what are friends for’.

The one aspect of the book I really enjoyed was the alternating narrative between mother and daughter and you have then a real sense of first hand at the thoughts and just what poor Autumn was going through. I felt for her as no child should ever have to suffer bullying of any kind so it is so pleasing to be able to tell you that Sanjida Kay has decided to donate a percentage of the profits of Bone by Bone to the anti-bullying charity Kidscape

I must admit that Bone by Bone caught my attention during the autumn of last year and had to wait very patiently for a review copy to arrive and it sat on my desk just daring me to pick it up and start reading. I was hooked from the very start. This really is a tense twisting psychological thriller that creeps under your skin and stays there. Bone by Bone must be read with the lights switched on and ignore that knock on the door.

My thanks to both Sanjida Kay and the publishers Corvus for an Advanced Review Copy.

Bone by Bone written by Sanjida Kay and published by Corvus is released today 3 March 2016 and available through all good book shops.