The Bones of You by Debbie Howells

A community in shock
When eighteen-year-old Rosie Anderson disappears, the idyllic village where she lived will never be the same again. Local gardener Kate is struck with guilt. She'd come to know Rosie well, and thought she understood her - perhaps better even than Rosie's own mother. 

A family torn apart
Rosie was beautiful, kind and gentle. She came from a loving family and she had her whole life ahead of her. Who could possibly want to harm her? And why? 

A keeper of secrets 
Kate is convinced the police are missing something. She's certain that someone in the village knows more than they're letting on. As the investigation deepens, so does Kate's obsession with solving the mystery of what happened to Rosie.

Once I finished reading The Bones of You by Debbie Howells I was unsure of how I felt about the book.

Teenager Rosie has been murdered, but with no weapon found and no witnesses the hunt is still on to find the killer. One of the local mums in the Village, Kate had got to know Rosie during the time Rosie came to help out with Kate’s horses so when she hears the devastating news she reaches out to Rosie’s mum Jo to help comfort her. Kate is sure that someone must know something and she is determined to get the killer caught.

This book was a slow starter but it soon picked up pace and began to draw me in to the storyline. There was something addictive about this book, every time I put it down I found myself soon picking it back up again as more secrets were beginning to come to light.

The book alternates predominantly from Rosie and Kate’s points of view which worked well as we find out our clues and secrets from Rosie ( from the other side) and after finding these revelations I then found myself willing Kate to uncover the truth.

I think my problem with the book was I figured out from early on in the book who the killer was so the suspense was lost for me but luckily there was more to the storyline than just trying to find out who the killer was, it was more to do with unraveling what appears to be a perfect family on the outside but who were disturbingly flawed behind closed doors and this part was so twisted and a real eye opener and the authors writing style particularly at this point really won me around. I was surprised that there wasn’t more police presence and inquires and social workers around in this book as I would have thought with another child still around that her safety would be of up most importance.

This is a dark, twisted and sinister debut by Debbie Howells, I found this to be a gripping read despite the negative points I still really look forward to reading the next book by this author to see how the authors writing develops as she has shown great promise in this book.