Quiet in Her Bones
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3.9 • 9 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
In this gripping thriller set in New Zealand, New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes you into the twisted world of an exclusive cul-de-sac located on the edge of a sprawling forest.
My mother vanished ten years ago.
So did a quarter of a million dollars in cash.
Thief. Bitch. Criminal.
Now, she's back.
Her bones clothed in scarlet silk.
When socialite Nina Rai disappeared without a trace, everyone wrote it off as another trophy wife tired of her wealthy husband. But now her bones have turned up in the shadowed green of the forest that surrounds her elite neighborhood, a haven of privilege and secrets that’s housed the same influential families for decades.
The rich live here, along with those whose job it is to make their lives easier. And somebody knows what happened to Nina one rainy night ten years ago. Her son Aarav heard a chilling scream that night, and he’s determined to uncover the ugly truth that lives beneath the moneyed elegance…but no one is ready for the murderous secrets about to crawl out of the dark.
Even the dead aren’t allowed to break the rules in this cul-de-sac.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The discovery of Nina Rai's vehicle in the bush of Waitakere Ranges Regional Park kick-starts this paranoia-fueled domestic thriller from New Zealand author Singh (A Madness of Sunshine). Ten years earlier, free-spirited Nina went missing, along with $250,000 that her domineering husband, Ishaan, had stashed in his safe. Ishaan told everyone Nina was a thief who abandoned her family, but her devoted son, Aarav, suspected foul play a theory that gains credence when the police find Nina's skeleton in her passenger seat, wearing the clothes in which she disappeared. Aarav now a 26-year-old crime writer is certain someone in his parents' Auckland cul-de-sac is responsible, and since he's staying with his father while he recovers from a car crash, he decides to dig. The ensuing investigation uncovers myriad suspects, together with troubling gaps and inconsistencies in Aarav's own memories. Though the plot feels unfocused thanks to overabundant red herrings and some half-baked twists, Singh sustains tension throughout, delivering a lushly written, multilayered mystery that will keep readers guessing. Susan Isaacs fans, take note.
Customer Reviews
Good story
Good story. Some of the ends not tied up on the side stories. In the epilogue it would be nice to tie up some ends
Slow build, intricate and complex
QUIET IN HER BONES by Nalini Singh is a stand alone, contemporary, adult thriller focusing on the potential murder of socialite Nina Rai.
Told from first person perspective Aarav Rai (Nina’s son) using present day and memories from the past, QUIET IN HER BONES follows ten years after the disappearance of Aarav’s mother, a disappearance under mysterious circumstances in the wake of his parents’ numerous affairs. Aarav was only sixteen years old when his mother went missing from their family home. A late night fight between his parents saw Aarav’s beloved mother leave, never to return until, ten year later, a search crew found her remains, along with her car, buried deep within a ravine now covered in branches and leaves. A now famous mystery author whose only book became a number one best seller turned movie, Aarav begins an investigation of his own only to realize that everyone was suspect including his father and himself.
Aarav Rai’s life is spiralling out of control. An accident that left our hero recovering at the family home finds Aarav suspicious of everyone and everything, bordering of paranoia, psychosis, heart break and pain but as Aarav’s search for the truth begins to reveal a disturbing possibility, there may have been more to his mother’s disappearance than anyone could have ever imagined.
QUIET IN HER BONES is a slow building, intricate and complex story line of mystery and suspense. The Rai family live in a well-to-do Cul-de-sac where infidelity is rampant, and secret and lies are the order of the day. Similar in feel to Peyton Place, and former American prime time television series Knot’s Landing, and Desperate Housewives, QUIET IN HER BONES reveals the soap-operaesque lifestyle of the rich and famous whose scandalous lives are fodder for gossip and lies.
The back and forth between present day and memories is a little difficult to navigate at times as there is no delineation between the present and the past, often addressed within the context of the same paragraph. The slow build reveals a mosaic of possible suspects, their lives, their loves, their secrets and sins.