When the Bones Sing

by Ginny Myers Sain

From New York Times bestselling author of Dark and Shallow Lies comes a new southern gothic supernatural thriller about a teen girl in a small Ozark town who can hear the bones of the dead.

For fans of House of Hollow and She Is a Haunting.

The past three years have been tough for Lucifer’s Creek, Arkansas, a small town quietly tucked away in the Ozark mountains. More than two dozen people have disappeared on the local hiking trails; there one moment, gone the next, not a trace left behind, until their buried bodies are discovered.

17-year-old Dovie doesn’t believe in magic even though she comes from a long line of women who can hear the bones of the dead sing, and for the past few years the bones have been crooning nonstop, calling out to Dovie to dig them up.

Some of the old-timers believe that it’s the monstrous Ozarks howler snatching people off the Aux Arc Trail. Well Dovie doesn’t believe in the howler, and she doesn’t believe her best friend Lo when he tells her he is being haunted by dark shadows. All she believes in is her talent that guides the local sheriff to the bones when they begin their song, then reuniting the dead with their families to give them some peace.

Lo doesn’t know peace, though. The shadows follow him everywhere. He soon learns they’re the murdered hikers and they want answers. But the truth of their deaths isn’t buried with their bones; it’s hidden somewhere deep in the hills. And Lo and Dovie must unearth it before anyone else is killed.

• ISBN10: 059362548X
• ISBN13: 9780593625484
• Publish Date: 4 March 2025 (first published 1 March 2025)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: G.P.Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers'
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593625484

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Book Summary:

Dovie was four years old when she first heard the bones singing - they led her to the first of many buried bodies. Now Dovie is 17, and she’s helped uncover 23 bodies in the last three years.

That’s a lot of bodies, especially for a town as small as hers. None of them were local, which makes things all the stranger. Something has to change, and with the return of Dovie’s best friend, now may just be the time for something drastic.

My Review:

My favorite thing about diving into a new Ginny Myers Sain book is that I never know what to expect. All of her books have been different, incorporating paranormal elements to create something wholly unexpected. So, obviously, I was looking forward to When the Bones Sing.

When the Bones Sing is a tense murder mystery with several familiar thriller tropes to spice things up. It is an isolated town with seemingly incompetent sheriffs, religious pressure, and more. The way Ginny Myers Sain combines these elements makes it unique.

Okay, the paranormal bits also helped on that front. Dovie herself was a fascinating character, even without the fact that she could hear the bones singing. Her family story feels directly tied to the larger story, but it takes time to unfold.

Overall, I enjoyed When the Bones Sing. It’s not the strongest book in the set, but it’s still a decent read with an atmospheric storytelling style.

Highlights:
Paranormal Thriller
Singing Bones
Small Town Lore & Drama

Trigger Warnings:
Missing People
Dead Bodies

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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