Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

I don’t know how to describe this novel in ways that will make sense – is it magical realism? A teen mystery novel? A fairytale? Or a story that takes place in a slightly alternative reality, so close to our own that it looks familiar until all of a sudden it doesn’t? I’m not quite sure, it seems like all of those things and yet none of them at the same time.

This book is told from two different perspectives. Finn (a.k.a ‘Moonboy’) is beautiful but strange, and no one quite knows what to do with him. One night the girlfriend of Finn’s older brother Sean goes missing, and with Finn the only witness, no one quite believes the strange tale he tells. The second perspective is Roza (Sean’s girlfriend) who at first is a two dimensional character who arrives in the boys’ lives bloody and broken, only to disappear a few months later. It isn’t until about halfway through the book that she starts to become a likeable, fleshed out character that we can truly start rooting for.

Most of the town believes that Roza ran away (like the boy’s mother), but the others think that Finn had something to do with her sudden disappearance (Sean included).

While my description of the book might make it seem like I didn’t enjoy it, I actually really loved it. It dragged a bit for the first half of the book, but when it clicked into place suddenly this confusing, wonderful book had to be read all at once because I was suddenly so invested in it.

By the end of the book I still didn’t know how to describe it, or what to make of it, but I definitely recommend it. It’s unlike anything I have read in a while, and it will definitely stand out as one of the most interesting reads of 2017.

Posted by Sas

Catalogue link: Bone Gap