Buried under books and not interested in reading? What to do? Read an author who has always been a comfort. I picked up Carol Goodman's new mystery/thriller "The Bones of the Story" and was swept  away!

FIRST LINE: "I'm just having trouble getting back on track."

THE STORY: Briarwood College has not forgotten the disappearance of a female student twenty-five years ago and the distinguished Creative Writing professor who died while searching for her. Now, the college President is bringing together faculty, donors, and alumni to honor the victims from all those years ago. When the snow starts, people head home leaving the returning classmates at the college. Old rivalries are raised when they discuss the stories they had written about their greatest fears. And then there are more murders.

WHAT I THOUGHT: All Ms. Goodman's books are what I would call Romantic Gothic Mysteries with similar motifs and designs. She sets her stories in the Hudson River Valley in small college towns. Past college friendships, youthful indiscretions, secret histories and suggestions of ghosts combine to cause suspense and a sense of dread. In "The Bones of the Story" alternate chapters are marked either NOW or THEN and the author makes it even clearer as you start each section.

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by mystery readers who are more interested in a puzzle of a story and interesting characters. Find more information about the author, click CAROL GODWIN.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of was provided to me by William Morrow / Net Galley for an honest review.

A campus setting; a winter storm; a killer stalking alumna for a crime committed over twenty years ago? Sign me up.

I loved this story of old rivalries, secrets, and a twisty ending. A fun winter thriller to add to your TBR pile.

Entertaining and immersive. A recommended purchase for collections where dark academia and thrillers are popular.

Give me bad weather, dark academia, and a locked-room mystery, and I'm hooked from the beginning! This is the first book I read by Carol Goodman, and I really liked it. It was intriguing from the get go and didn't take long to get sucked in. I like how it hopped back and forth in time and felt like you were watching a movie. I'll be looking up more by this author for sure.

I couldn’t put this book down. I love dark academia. This book was no exception! So glad I received the ARC. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

Anyone who read her earlier books will enjoy this one. Her books aren’t fast paced mysteries so make sure that you’re in the mood for something with more even pacing than someone like Patterson. Worth the read.

The Bones of the Story is classic Carol Goodman. It’s a dark tale, set in a small college in the Northeast with lots of secrets, lies and murder. She is a master at this kind of tale. I enjoyed most how the book started in the present and you weren’t for sure what happened in the past, but little by little it was revealed. The author is fabulous at writing a story setting dark academic worlds.  As always, I recommend any Carol Goodman book. This one was a little slower from the start, but once I sorted out who was who I really raced through the book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. All opinions on my own.

The Bones of the Story
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Carol Goodman 

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and William Morrow and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: The Briarwood College community has never forgotten the double tragedy. Now, the college President is bringing together faculty, donors, and alumni to honor the victims from all those years ago. On a cold December weekend after the fall semester has ended, guests gather on the vacant campus for the commemoratory event. But as a storm descends, people begin to depart, leaving a group of alumni who were the last ones taught by the esteemed professor. Recriminations and old rivalries flare as they recall the writing projects they shared as classmates, including chilling horror stories they each wrote about their greatest fears. When an alumna dies in a shockingly similar way to the story she wrote, and then another succumbs to a similar fate, they realize someone has decided at long last to avenge the crimes of the past. Will the secret of what they did twenty-five years ago be revealed? Will any of them be alive at the end of the weekend to find out?

My Thoughts: I was intrigued by the premise and that cover and I was not disappointed. This story would resonate with Agatha Christy fans. A true whodunit locked door mystery. The Briarwood College is an elite college. On the 25th year of a double tragedy, the college is holding a weekend gathering to commemorate those lost. The double tragedy involved a legendary teacher and a promising student. When a nasty storm rolls through and old rivalries spark up, and a new mysterious death occurs, is someone from the past coming back for revenge or is it someone new with an axe to grind? Then the others are slowly begin to die as they wrote in their horror stories in college. 

The story is narrated by Nell, the now Dean of the college, in a dual timeline with the past (25 years ago) and present. Our protagonist is unreliable and flawed. In college, Nell always felt imposter’s syndrome, like someone else was living her life and she was not good enough to have the friends that she did. The friend group was comprised of Truman, rock star and Nell’s longtime crush; Miranda, writer with aspirations to be writer-in-residence at the college; Darla, independent writer that suffers from an eating disorder; Chilton, editor with a family; Lance, memoir author with troubled relationships; and Ben, local detective who crushed on Nell growing up. I was most invested in Nell, even though she did some questionable things as a college student, she has since repented for it. The characters were written with depth, built up slowly, had mystery, were creative, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, twisty, and brilliant. 

This psychological thriller has all of the earmarks of impactful thriller, it is captivating, gripping, compelling, atmospheric, although somewhat predicable. There are some surprise twists, however, some of them are predicable. Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel by Goodman, whom I have not read before. I devoured in a few days as I could not wait to see whodunit. I would definitely be interested in reading other novels by Goodman. I would recommend to others readers, especially fans of Agatha Christy.

I'm not usually a huge fan of dark academia, but Carol Goodman is a must-read author for me, and The Bones of the Story exceeded my expectations.  While it takes place on a campus, the story is mostly focused on several adults who return for an alumni weekend and are forced to reckon with their past.  A fast paced book with enjoyable characters, this book is a perfect locked-room mystery that will keep you guessing until the end.  While I did have in inclination about the major twist, there was plenty of other surprises that left me very satisfied by the end.

Carol Goodman did a wonderful job pulling inspiration from the greats to put together a chilling story! I really enjoyed reading a true mystery for the first time in quite a while. This novel had some plenty of twists and really succeeded in putting together all the elements needed for a page turner of a mystery. 
I want to thank NetGalley, William Morrow of HarperCollins, and Carol Goodman for affording me the great opportunity to read & review this novel.

This was the first book I have read by Carol Goodman and I really enjoyed it. I always love stories going from past to present. Like most thrillers this starts out kinda slow but once it gets going you will not be able to put it down. I know a lot of people were saying there was a lot of details they could have done without but I felt like it built the characters  more. I would definitely recommend this book!


Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

I loved this book! I will definitely recommend it. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This amazing book is written in Now and Then.

THEN: When the characters were in college.
Writing classes, rituals, students, friends, professors, and a well known Author. I loved all that I was learning about writing, so intriguing.

What’s not to love, a book about books and stories. Along with memories from college. It’s filled with suspense and mystery, good times and really bad, that will stop you from putting this book down..A student goes missing, a facility member dies after getting lost trying to find her in a blinding snowstorm.

NOW: 25 years later. A reunion among students and facilities. Stuck in a snowstorm at Campus where the old friends gather in memory of the most arrogant idol Author.
One by one someone turns up ..

Thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and author for a chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review. I loved it! Page turner, suspenseful and mesmerizing writing.
I will definitely be back for more of Carol Goodman’s book!

I enjoy locked room mysteries, and this one was no different. What a great read… it really kept me guessing. 

From Goodreads:
The twisty locked-room mystery from two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author Carol Goodman, about a group of former classmates trapped on their college campus—with a murderer among them.

What can I say? I could not get into this book no matter how many times I picked it up. I felt the first half was very slow. I would put the book down and not remember anything when I picked it up again.

A slow burn mystery with a few twists.  Throughout the story, I found myself thinking this would have been even better as a short story.  As a whole, it was entertaining.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately, this was a dud for me. I really don’t like giving books below 3 stars but I just have to. The first half of the book is so slow it was painful. If I didn’t made a video TBR including this book and it wasn’t a netgalley ARC I might not have finished it. The details though out the “then” story were convoluted and insignificant to the overall story for the most part. I figured out who the killer was pretty early on though I was surprised by the motive which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. I didn’t think this book was captivating until 50% of the way through but quickly fizzled out and just wasn’t for me.

Also , the ending is incredibly far fetched that I can’t even suspend disbelief enough to move past it. I was rolling my eyes so hard I almost lost my vision.

History comes to haunt the present in this locked door academic mystery.  Nell is now a Dean of her alma matter, Briarwood College where she found escape from her mother and peers who taught her about friendship.  Her past however is haunted by a student who went missing and a professor who died during the search and rescue.  As the college seeks out a new writer in residence, Nell is forced to comfront the memories and guilt as her past "friend" group arrives for the occassion.  When a present day student goes missing and bones are found despite the winter storm that is brewing, Nell is forced to confront the past and the killer who is lurking amongst them.  A twisty mystery that was somewhat predictable I found this book to be enjoyable.  A little long in parts it took me awhile to get through it.  Definitely a snowy day read for the winter!  Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy for a honest review.

Twenty five years ago at Briarwood College, a student went missing in the ice caves and a distinguished writing professor died while searching for her.  The college president has decided it’s time for a commemorative event to honor the professor.  As the weather worsens and many leave the event a group of alumni stay.  A group that were the last to be taught by the brilliant Hugo Moss.  An elite group called The Ravens.  When a bones are discovered in the ice caves above the college, the group is shaken.  They have a secret, one that they have kept for the past twenty five years, but is their pact about to be broken?  One by one the group starts to die in the same way they depicted in their senior writing projects, but who wants them dead and why?  Goodman has written a creative locked room mystery that will have you guessing until the end. Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I tend to enjoy most dark academia and while this was fantastically narrated (I did a combo of audio and digital) with a very eerie atmospheric setting it didn’t quite work for me. 

It has all the components of what I enjoy in a mystery. A college setting, a 25 year old mystery, complex characters, cutting relationships, and a chilling location. But I struggled with just how many murders and twists there were and it really wasn’t a locked-room mystery at all which bummed me out a bit. 

I’d say it’s best to go into this with the willingness to suspend reality and not expect a truly locked-room mystery and you might like it a lot! 

Thank you William Morrow for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.