The Bone Keeper by Luca Veste.

All over the country, children are warned away from certain areas, with tales of horror and the bogeyman. These stories are told to keep the children safe until they become street-wise. But what if those stories told to control children were true and the bogeyman really did exist?

The Bone Keeper is a mixture of horror and your regular, police procedural crime thriller. The story features real locations around Liverpool and Merseyside. As Luca puts it…

“All the locations found in this book exist; however, some minor details have been changed or expanded to better tell this story.”

I liked how this book started with the song chanting among children…

The Bone Keeper’s coming. The Bone Keeper’s real.

He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t feel.

He’ll snatch you up. And make you weep.

He’ll slice your flesh. Your bones he’ll keep.

… echoes of this song repeat throughout the book and they had a creepy, taunting effect on me. I stop reading the book and the song suddenly springs into my mind. I found the song both catchy and haunting at the same time. The Bone Keeper’s home and patch is in the woods, any woods that are dotted around urban landscapes. These haunts are very easy to picture anywhere in Britain and are very popular with dog walkers like myself. The Bone Keeper is very easy to relate to, especially when I am daydreaming with Charlie the Pug as we stroll through woods together.

I thought The Bone Keeper developed the urban legend really well. I loved how it played out a culture and a cult following. There was plenty of danger and horror along the way. I found it creepy with lots of feeling woven into the plot.

The central character is DC Louise Henderson but this is not your usual Police story. Character development of Louise was very good and there are many surprises along the way.

I found this book to be creepy and imaginative, yet for all the knife-wielding action it was still a fun, horror read.

The Bone Keeper has a great ending, all the seeds have been sown and if the homeless population appears to be shrinking, you read it here first! This urban legend was a great idea for a book, it was well developed and thought out. I think The Book Keeper is a GOOD read which gets 4 stars from me.

So you may think, I have listed all these good things about The Bone Keeper, how come I have not given it 5 stars? Simple, I found this book GOOD but not outstanding. Sometimes an author throws so much content into a book, it makes your brain buzz rather than simply entertain. Classic books get 5 stars and rightly so. The Bone Keeper is very worthy to read and would make a good film. I think Luca Veste has a lot of talent and I would be happy to read more from him.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.