"Ink and Bone" by Lisa Unger Book Review and Discussion

 Twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery is rarely alone.  Visited by people whom others can't see and haunted by prophetic dreams, she has never been able to control or understand the things that happen to her. When Finley's abilities start to become too strong for her to handle - and even the roar of her motorcycle or another dazzling tattoo can't drown out the voices - she turns to the only person she knows who can help her: her grandmother Eloise Montgomery, a renowned psychic living in The Hollows, New York.

Merri Gleason is a woman at the end of her tether after a ten-month-long search for her missing daughter, Abbey.  With almost every hope exhausted, she resorts to hiring Jones Cooper, a detective who sometimes works with psychic Eloise Montgomery.  Merri's not a believer, but she's just desperate enough to go down that road, praying that she's not too late.  Time, she knows, is running out.

As a harsh white winter moves into The Hollows, Finley and Eloise are drawn into the investigation, which proves to have much more at stake than even the fate of a missing girl.  As Finley digs deeper into the town and its endless layers, she is forced to examine the past, even as she tries to look into the future.  Only one thing is clear: The Hollows gets what it wants, no matter what.

Sure, I loved Harry Potter all those years ago, but lately I just can’t hack magical/paranormal anything in books. I tell myself I’m picky with the books that I read that stray from reality but I think I also just don’t like it. It always feels like a cheap trick to me, or juvenile, or completely implausible- which given the fact that is paranomal should be fogiven- but again, I have some real issues with suspending disbelief!

 
So I was certainly surprised that when reading "Ink & Bone" - I had no problems at all with the paranormal elements to the storyline. All of the credit for this of course goes to the author -Lisa Unger. I loved the characters and the plot. I was sucked in immediately and I loved it!

Unger is an amazing writer and she introduced the paranormal in a way that didn't turn me off from the book. For one, I like there aren’t a lot of “rules” to Finley and Eloise's abilities. Yes, they are psyhcic and that's important to the storyline- but there isn't a great deal of time spent in the book exploring their psyhic abilities or defining that "world". It sits in the background most of the time, as it does for Eloise and Finley - it's subtle and perfect.

Additionally, the author doesn’t use the supernatural as a crutch to explain everything away- which is what often happens sometimes and it is a vaccuum for enjoyment.Finley being psychic doesn't easily untie any strings. It's hard work, made all the harder by Finley struggling with her newly understood abilities.

What I Didn't Like

Honestly, there wasn't much about the book I didn't like. It moved somewhere between slow and steady in some parts, but there was also great character development and exploration - and those kind of go hand in hand.

If you like suspenseful mysteries, or if like me you suffer from an inability to appreciate the "paranormal" but want to give it a try - I definitely recommend this book.



Many thanks to Touchstone for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read.
While the book was free, as a girl who is "all about the library" ( where books are always free) - you can be sure that all opinions are mine!