Already in posession of an impressive museum of bones, The Bone Collector is ready to add to his collection. He discovers Jakey Frith, a six year old boy with a rare bone disease, which causes extra bone th grow. After Jakey goes missing, along with a five year old girl with cleft hands, Detective Etta Fitzroy soon discovers she may be dealing with the same killer who evaded her a year ago.
As someone who rarely reads thrillers, I was unsure if I was going to enjoy this book or not. However, I am the type of person who reads Wikipedia articles about serial killers for entertainment, so the idea of a killer collecting the bones of his victims seemed both interesting and creepy. This is quite a lengthy book, and I didn't feel immediately drawn into the story. I felt as if it had a slow start, and I wasn't really interested in the characters various relationship problems. However, once the Bone Collector started taking children, I became more interested in the investigation, and wanted to find out if the children would be rescued before it was too late.
For me, the creepiest villains are those who believe that what they are doing is right, and this definitely came across in this book. I loved learning the Bone Collectors back story, and the fact that he had grown up with his father doing the same thing as him gave him a believable motivation. He was an extremely creepy villain, and I loved how the chapters that focused on him were switched to present tense, as I felt as if it helped to create suspense. I always feel as if it's important to let the reader get inside the head of a villain to understand their motives, so I loved reading these chapters, even if they did make it difficult for me to fall asleep after putting the book down!
Although this book is quite long, the chapters are quite short, which helped the length of the book to seem a little less daunting. The book is written in third person, but switches between different point of views. I especially loved the chapters focusing on Clara and Jakey, as seeing what they were having to endure was the scariest and most heartbreaking part of the book for me. The worst villains are those who abuse children, so seeing how terrified Jakey and Clara were made me want the Bone Collector to come to a horrible end.
One thing that I didn't really care about was the adult characters personal problems outside of the missing children. Fitzroy was given a tragic backstory of giving birth to a stillborn baby, and although this is obviously an upsetting experience, I feel as if it is one that is often overused. I feel as if too many tragic backstories for female characters revolve around children, or the inability to reproduce. All of the female characters in this book are very family oriented, and even though Fitzroy is career driven, it seems to only be because she doesn't have a child. One thing that I rarely see is female characters who have no desire to reproduce, and it is often the case that people assume women who don't have children are leading unfulfilled lives. I was also a little disappointed that non of the families were functional. The male characters treated the families appallingly, with one cheating on his wife, while the other left his family for several days without any contact, leaving both his wife and son in extreme distress. I feel as if showing healthy relationships in fiction is important, so I was a little disappointed that all of the relationships were problematic.
I always find killers who leave behind clues to their identity to be extremely foolish, as it seems as if they are asking to be caught. The clues that the Bone Collector leaves behind are the main reason for his identity being discovered, and although leaving behind the rabbit skeleton was creepy, I felt as if for someone who ha been doing this for so long, he would have had a little more sense. I felt as if he made several silly mistakes, which made the situation feel a little less believable. I felt as if he should have been trying to hide evidence,not willingly giving it out.
Although I did have a few issues with this book, it did manage to creep me out. I was extremely shocked by the ending, and I felt as if it was setting it up to be a series. Although I am unsure if this is the authors intention, or if she just wanted to leave it open for interpretation, I think the ending makes the reader continue to think about this book long after turning the final page. Overall, I think this is a brilliant debut novel, and I would love to read anything that Fiona Cummings writes in the future!
For me, the creepiest villains are those who believe that what they are doing is right, and this definitely came across in this book. I loved learning the Bone Collectors back story, and the fact that he had grown up with his father doing the same thing as him gave him a believable motivation. He was an extremely creepy villain, and I loved how the chapters that focused on him were switched to present tense, as I felt as if it helped to create suspense. I always feel as if it's important to let the reader get inside the head of a villain to understand their motives, so I loved reading these chapters, even if they did make it difficult for me to fall asleep after putting the book down!
Although this book is quite long, the chapters are quite short, which helped the length of the book to seem a little less daunting. The book is written in third person, but switches between different point of views. I especially loved the chapters focusing on Clara and Jakey, as seeing what they were having to endure was the scariest and most heartbreaking part of the book for me. The worst villains are those who abuse children, so seeing how terrified Jakey and Clara were made me want the Bone Collector to come to a horrible end.
One thing that I didn't really care about was the adult characters personal problems outside of the missing children. Fitzroy was given a tragic backstory of giving birth to a stillborn baby, and although this is obviously an upsetting experience, I feel as if it is one that is often overused. I feel as if too many tragic backstories for female characters revolve around children, or the inability to reproduce. All of the female characters in this book are very family oriented, and even though Fitzroy is career driven, it seems to only be because she doesn't have a child. One thing that I rarely see is female characters who have no desire to reproduce, and it is often the case that people assume women who don't have children are leading unfulfilled lives. I was also a little disappointed that non of the families were functional. The male characters treated the families appallingly, with one cheating on his wife, while the other left his family for several days without any contact, leaving both his wife and son in extreme distress. I feel as if showing healthy relationships in fiction is important, so I was a little disappointed that all of the relationships were problematic.
I always find killers who leave behind clues to their identity to be extremely foolish, as it seems as if they are asking to be caught. The clues that the Bone Collector leaves behind are the main reason for his identity being discovered, and although leaving behind the rabbit skeleton was creepy, I felt as if for someone who ha been doing this for so long, he would have had a little more sense. I felt as if he made several silly mistakes, which made the situation feel a little less believable. I felt as if he should have been trying to hide evidence,not willingly giving it out.
Although I did have a few issues with this book, it did manage to creep me out. I was extremely shocked by the ending, and I felt as if it was setting it up to be a series. Although I am unsure if this is the authors intention, or if she just wanted to leave it open for interpretation, I think the ending makes the reader continue to think about this book long after turning the final page. Overall, I think this is a brilliant debut novel, and I would love to read anything that Fiona Cummings writes in the future!
Rattle is now available to purchase!
| Amazon | Book Depository
| Amazon | Book Depository