Title: Bone Music
Author: Christopher Rice
Book Series: The Burning Girl #1
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release Date: March 1, 2018
Pages: 450
Source: Library
“Charlotte Rowe spent the first seven years of her life in the hands of the only parents she knew—a pair of serial killers who murdered her mother and tried to shape Charlotte in their own twisted image. If only the nightmare had ended when she was rescued. Instead, her real father exploited her tabloid-ready story for fame and profit—until Charlotte finally broke free from her ghoulish past and fled. Just when she thinks she has buried her personal hell forever, Charlotte is swept into a frightening new ordeal.
Secretly dosed with an experimental drug, she’s endowed with a shocking new power—but pursued by a treacherous corporation desperate to control her.
Except from now on, if anybody is going to control Charlotte, it’s going to be Charlotte herself. She’s determined to use the extraordinary ability she now possesses to fight the kind of evil that shattered her life—by drawing a serial killer out from the shadows to face the righteous fury of a victim turned avenger.”
My Review:
I do love me a good serial killer series, especially ones with a twist. When I read the synopsis for this book, I immediately thought of the Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell series by Chelsea Cain. Which is a series I very highly recommend. The first book in the series is Heartsick.
Anyway, back to this book’s review!
While it was an okay read, it’s not the serial killer book I was expecting. I know this book/series is about Charlotte, but I really wanted more of the serial killer. The parts Christopher Rice wrote about the Mask Killer were good, but there wasn’t enough, and the ending felt really rushed.
The first 50 pages, or so, really drew me in. Then it felt like it really dragged on. Rice did have great descriptions of the scenes and action. And the dialogue was pretty good. But even with it being a Sci-Fi/Thriller, there were parts that were just too much to believe.
The biggest being Charlotte so easily forgiving Luke, whom tormented her in high school. Charlotte’s been screwed over by the world, and most of the people in it, so for her to not only forgive Luke, but start to fall for him was just a bit too much.
Then there’s Marty and his band of recovering alcoholics. Rice did great character development with Marty, and hopefully in future books he’ll develop some more of Marty’s crew. But it was very convenient that Marty’s group was able to back up Charlotte when she went up against a serial killer.
I see great potential in this series, so I’m hoping Blood Echo ups the ante.