Synopsis:
A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

“Mom seems off.”

Her brother’s words echo in Sam Montgomery’s ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam’s excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.

Review:
Creepy is for old Gothic mansions and run-down cabins out in the woods, not cookie-cutter houses in the middle of a subdivision. (Page 31)

I absolutely loved this book. While a haunted house story, this is the very opposite of a house you would expect something ominous to occur in; it’s in a subdivision! The characters have great depth, with clear interests and desires and while Sam likes how her life has turned out, it is also clear why that life might not have appealed to older relatives. Like any proper southern gothic story there is a proper build up of what ifs and someone must be messing with the family moments.

I loved that the neighborhood was so fleshed out and that everyone was clearly not just what the stereotype around them/their interests would make them out to be. There are a great amount of twists and turns and I loved that Sam really looked at everything happening from every scientific angle, especially when worrying about her mother. Despite the strangeness going on, she didn’t suddenly change her entire mindset to just accept what she had always known as not possible. The ending was quite peculiar but most gothic horror (here’s looking at you Lovecraft) has a bit of oddness to it. While the ending concept was certainly unique, I loved how Kingfisher interwove known oddballs of history to make up some of the ancestors’ pasts.

I greatly enjoyed this book and if you like haunted houses, realistic protagonists, vultures, and very sensible people being drawn into something that can’t easily be explained, this book is for you. (I do think most who enjoyed H. P. Lovecraft of Algernon Blackwood would like this book.)

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯