A Canadian thriller...Sgt Rebecca North returns to her hometown after her father dies. She runs into her lying teenage lover. Everything is not what it seems. A griping and suspenseful, tale in the cold north. Was her father's death suicide or murder? What about the disappearance of two teenagers 20 years earlier? How are these events connected? Read and discover.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A different kind of suspense thriller that I couldn't put down.
No one will listen to Rebecca North when she says her father death, an apparent suicide, was in fact murder. As she investigates her father’s death, she finds it very difficult to trust anyone, and she also discovers that she still has feelings for an old flame
.Very well written and I loved the characters 4 stars

could not put this book down......it's a WOW.

I'm excited to discover a new author for me. I knew this story would be intense based on the summary, but it had layers and layers of secrets that needed to be told.

Rebecca's father dies from an apparent suicide after she receives a bizarre call from him. She rushes home and believes he was murdered. She knows he was working on a cold case from 20 years ago and believes new clues surfaced prompting his will to finally solve it. She is also reconnected with her first love, Ash, who becomes a person of interest. While there is evidence that is pointing to him, she is finding it difficult to believe he could commit a crime, but she knows he is hiding something big. And it's big, and heartbreaking, too. As the story unfolds, you feel spent from emotions as the pace is rapid with information.

I enjoyed this author's and was hooked from the beginning. I look forward to reading more!!

Reluctantly returning to her home town to look into her father's apparent suicide, our heroine finds herself pulled into the cold case investigation of missing teens. She works alongside of her former boyfriend while trying to figure out the killer's next move.

This was a good book that reads quickly and smoothly. The story line and the characters were well developed and defined. You can actually "see" the story as it unfolds. Loreth Anne White has scored a major hit with The Dark Bones.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
This book starts in on the action right away! Though it loses me a little in the middle, the characters are enough to keep me interested.

Village murder & cold case with a violent streak.
There was a major disconnect from the prologue to the rest of the story. It seemed as if the prologue existed simply as a violent, gratuitous lure to readers, which didn’t follow through either with the victim’s story or the antagonists’. Rather than lure me in, the prologue made me grit my teeth and carry on. Although I was glad that our heroine or other characters didn’t suffer the same fate, it left a sour taste behind – like a thunderstorm before a picnic.

The novel was ok. There was suspense. The protagonist, Detective Rebecca North, returns to her hometown, village really, from big cop business. She is ridden with guilt at not taking her father’s words more to heart. The romance with her beau of 20 years ago, Ash Haugen, runs like a thread throughout the suspense. He is the second protagonist.

The suspense, the guilt, the romance – all are long-winded, repetitive and too descriptive. We almost lose the tension of why they are on the hunt – the cold case of the 2 missing teenagers of 20 years ago and the suicide of Rebecca’s father that might not have been a suicide. The language is also jarring, using nouns as verbs, a technique that is supposed to be modern but feels lazy.

Characterisation was scant. It was hard to relate to any of the protagonists.

There is an element of heavy violence that becomes apparent only towards the last 10%; fair warning to the unsuspecting reader. It’s as if by disclosing it, the event becomes tolerable. It doesn’t. The situation appeared to be added to shock.

The outcome was fairly predictable while setting up a number of red herrings. There wasn’t any antagonists to watch out for, just really bad guys who all melded into one in the end, which read like the climax of a Hollywood movie.
This book review also appears in:
https://thereadersvault.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-dark-bones-by-loreth-anne-white.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2904803886

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read a copy of this book for free in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

Rebecca North has escaped her small rural northern home and built a new life in the city as a detective in white collar crimes, she thought she had seen the last of her hometown until she gets a call from her father. Her father, a retired RCMP officer, who has slowly drifted into alcoholism, calls her, he is upset and asking questions about the events of a day 20 years prior, she tells him she has to work and blows him off, not knowing that this would be the last time she spoke to him. The next call is from police to tell her that it appears he has committed suicide and the house accidentally burned down. Rebecca finally goes home, now wishing she had gone earlier, that she hadn't stayed away all these years. It's too late now, but at least she can bring some closure, or so she thinks, until she runs into her childhood sweetheart and everything she has avoided all these years comes rushing back. the hurt from his betrayal, one of the reasons she left. Rebecca cannot see her father killing himself, so she starts asking questions about her father's death, how could it be suicide; it must be something else, she then discovers her father is looking into an old case form 20 years ago about two missing teens; then she finds out the hard way that small towns are full of secrets, some of them hers.

A good story with lots of twists and a great and diverse cast of characters. Great rainy weekend read, quite enjoyable, definitely going to be checking out the rest of this series.

As soon as a I received an advanced copy of this book, I downloaded it’s predecessor A Dark Lure. The first book was dark and twisty and exciting, and this was the same. I would guess it stands alone pretty well, but it was nice knowing the history of the town and it’s characters.

I feel many thriller/suspense novels follow a similar formula, which can get old fast. This was unique. Well developed characters, a mystery that kept me guessing and action that kept me turning pages. A great read!

OMG OMG OMG!! Loreth Anne White is a genius!

This book follows Rebecca North who is from a small town, she left after high school created a life for herself in the city and never looked back. Until one day she gets a mysterious call from her father saying he is being followed, and that some one is in his house. After her fathers apparent suicide she comes home. She wants to check out the scene herself, she thinks her father was murdered and no one will listen to her. She runs into Ash her high school boyfriend, the only man she's ever loved but also the man who caused her so much pain.

This book is so well written, the words fly off the pages, it flows beautifully and it was twisty and turny. Some things I saw coming, but some of the twists are so well done that I didn't see them coming until I was in the middle of it.

Loreth Anne White is brilliant, I will follow her anywhere.

I was given this book from Netgalley for free in exchange for my honest review.

Twenty years after the apparent suicide of her father Sergeant Rebecca North is drawn back to the town she has spent years trying to escape. Ash was her first love and no since has come close to being the same. He has never left the town and a series of events including the possibility her father was murdered force them to deal with each other. A secret was buried years ago and someone wants to make sure it stays that way.
Ash ticked a lot of boxes for me ie rugged with brooding looks, outdoorsy and owned dogs. He had to endure traumatic experiences in his childhood and you will help you understand why part of him was like it was. I felt for him and was really happy he could finally unburden himself. The weight of those experiences would have been a terrible burden to carry over the years.
As the storyline progressed I gave some thought to how it would feel being in the position of loving and not trusting someone.
This is a multi-faceted and consuming read you will find hard to put down. It gave me that snap, crackle, pop feeling from the first page and I wanted to ignore everything else to read, read, read! Cant wait to read more by this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the uncorrected proof in return for an honest review.

Rebecca North left her home town in northern British Columbia, with no intention of returning, ever. Ash Haugen, her childhood sweetheart, cheated on her and her vision of their future together was gone, and so was she. Twenty years later, she is now a RCMP officer, and does go home when her father dies of a self-inflicted shotgun wound, and his cabin burns down. She insists on a criminal investigation into his death. She can’t believe he killed himself. Returning to the small town and the past she can’t escape, Ash is son assisting her, searching through what’s left of the cabin, and evidence points to a neighbor’s troubled teenage daughter, who seems to know something, but is too frightened to talk. Like any small, isolated community, Rebecca soon understands she must be be careful who she shares information with, as the outcome could be deadly, and the past and present are closely intertwined.

White’s writing shines, as she sets the mood and the tone for this dark, chilling mystery novel. She had me hooked from the beginning, and I was not disappointed. An excellent book, and I highly recommend it.

As a sequel to ‘The Dark Lure’, I was thrilled to read it. The story of Rebecca and Ash was heartbreakingly surreal. Loreth Anne White paints a vivid picture of snowy wilderness; it’s beauty and danger captured in thought provoking words and imagery. I loved the real characters, especially Ash Haugen. What a terrible secret he carries and she (LAW) pulls the reader into the necessity for his secret to remain a ‘secret’. Olivia’s daughter proved to be quite the heroine and I think I am going to look forward to her story, at some point in the future. Maybe a sequel to resolve Olivia/Cole’s story?

During the twenty years after Rebecca North had left her hometown of Clinton, she had become a detective sergeant in Ottawa and had had limited contact with her father, Noah, a former Mountie. Even after his retirement, he had continued to work on cold cases; one in particular involved the disappearance of two teenagers. Just days before his dead body was found in his burnt-out cabin, a suspected suicide, Noah had called her about his suspicion that someone had removed papers from a case file he had been working on and had accused her and Ash Haugen, her ex-boyfriend, of lying to him about the cause of a gash on Ash’s face, but since she was headed into court to testify, she didn’t have time to hear him out, and apparently she didn’t call him back the next day as promised. Upon returning to her hometown and conducting a search of the old family cabin, Rebecca is convinced that her father’s death was not a suicide as originally reported. As she investigates her father’s death, she finds it very difficult to trust anyone, and she also discovers that she still has feelings for Ash.

THE DARK BONES is very well written, and its heart wrenching conclusion will leave you dismayed as to how and why people are so manipulative at the detriment of others.

I received this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review. I absolutely loved this book. I was so engaged with the characters and their story, I couldn't put it down once I started reading. I loved the adventure in the story, the setting in a remote town in British Columbia, and the intrigue of the apparent suicide of Noah North. I highly recommend this book.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. It is a fantastic crime/mystery book by a very talented author. It is the second book in a series, I had not read the first book but it didn't really matter I still enjoyed the story thoroughly!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

This was a new series and author for me and I found it to be a suspenseful, captivating storyline, with an intricately woven mystery. There were numerous twists and interesting characters that made this a true page turner. I found this book to be extremely enjoyable and incredibly easy to visualize - a true strength of the author.

While this book is part of a series of sorts, I did not feel I was missing anything from the previous plot(s). I look forward to reading the first installment and additional books from this author.

I have read several books by Loreth Anne White. The common theme in all of them is that things don’t just get ugly, they get really ugly. She really shows you just how cruel human beings can be to each other. Somehow, she is also able to demonstrate how love can truly conquer all even in the worst of times. The Dark Bones is no different. It’s located in the same town as her previous book, The Dark Lure but I wouldn’t call it a sequel. Characters from the previous book do make an appearance but they play more of a supporting role.

In The Dark Bones, Detective Rebecca North returns home to her small town because of her father’s suicide. She immediately decides that her father who was a retired cop would not have taken his own life, although everyone in town thinks otherwise. To make things more difficult, the man who broke her heart, Ash Haugen is at the center of the investigation in the worst way. Secrets from their past regarding the disappearance of two teens seem to have something to do with all of it. And here in present day, two other teens are also somehow involved. The more Rebecca digs, the harder it is for her to trust anyone. In addition, she and Ash still have feelings for each other. The town seems to be made up of complicated relationships at all levels. Plus, there are a couple of killers on the loose that no one suspects. Since it’s truly a mystery, that’s about all I can say. Nothing is what it seems.

I really enjoyed The Dark Bones. Loreth is very good at writing these types of romantic suspense books. I never had a clue as to what would happen next. The whole book is just one huge puzzle that you have to play out to the very end. The pace was smooth and there is never a dull moment. I look forward to reading more books from Loreth.

I'm a fan of Loreth Ann White's Angie Pallorino series so jumped into this without realising it was already episode two of a new series. Although I now want to go back and read book one, this worked well for me as a stand alone dark tale of murder and betrayal in the cold wilderness of British Columbia.

Rebecca North escaped the small rural town where she grew up to become a Detective in Ottawa but has recently returned after her father ex-Mountie Noah is found dead in his burnt out cabin, from a presumed suicide. She discovers that her father has been following up a cold case of two teenagers who disappeared some 20 years ago and weren't heard from again. Just before he died he believed he'd found important information about the case and Rebecca finds herself drawn in to following Noah's investigations, with the help of Ash Haugen, her former boyfriend before she moved away, as well as two children who were there the night her father died.

White paints a picture of a small close-knit rural town in a frozen but beautiful landscape. As Rebecca revisits events of the past, she uncovers dark secrets and some ugly undercurrents that many would rather see left alone. This is a gritty suspense with some ruthless characters in an environment that could prove deadly.

What a suspenseful story! I was totally engaged from the very beginning. I couldn't put it down. Great writing and great characters. This is the first book I've read from this author and won't be my last. Books like this are why I love this genre. Definitely recommend this.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great story. Great mystery. The characters are very well written. The story link is interesting and an enjoyable read. Definitely recommend.