Needle and Bone by Tonya Mitchell Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Might contain spoilers.

I got this as a eARC from booksprout and is due out in the UK on August 19th.

The first thumbnail I tried with certain images to reference to stuff in the story. Such as the wolf being the nickname Annis gives to Gabriel who is hunting her after the dark event which left him scarred.

The blue pearl is a nod to the blue pearl necklace that belonged to Annis's late mother and seems to be cursed as a lot of the misfortune that happens to Annis is connected to it.

The ghost girl is the woman in the blue dress that Annis keeps seeing and is connected to the dark event that causes her to flee from New York to Philadelphia. Is it her mind playing tricks or is this a ghost trying to send a message, the answer is really clear till the end.

Dr Thomas Mütter and the Mütter flap are because he is a character in the book who gives Annis a job as an illustrator for his surgical book, the scalpel just to reference the medical school. It was interesting to learn about him as the author mentioned that she researched about him and that the artist who did the illustrations for his surgical book was an unknown most likely male artist, she decided to create Annis and her story while also having real historical elements, it was fascinating to learn that Thomas Mütter is the namesake for the Mütter muesem and that the Mütter flap is still in use today.

This was such a tense, dark and thrilling read switching from Annis trying to survive while Gabriel is hunting for her. Definitely a must read if you like gothic historical thriller mysteries.