Readers of Loreth Anne White’s other books will recognize the setting of The Dark Bones, as she returns to previous characters from A Dark Lure. Though they are the hook in, Olivia and her daughter Tori are minor characters and this can be easily read as a standalone. Rebecca North is front and center as she returns home after the death of her father to unspool events of twenty-years ago. I am a huge White fan and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.

"The Dark Bones" is an impressive and intense romantic suspense novel with large helpings of mystery and the fast-paced action of a great thriller. There's something for everyone in this extraordinarily good novel!

Even though it is book two in a series, it worked very well as a self-contained read. Captivating from the start, I loved the character development from Loreth Anne White, which made them very convincing. The short chapters helped to make this an easy read.

I will be reading the first book 'A Dark Lure' as soon as I am able to. This book is very highly recommended and worth every one of the five stars.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my own request from the publisher via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

This was my first book by this author. I am still not sure what I think about it. The story was there but I believe it was the pacing of the story that I didn’t like.I kept finding that it was easy for me to put down and I wasn’t always wanting to pick it back up. The story started interesting enough but then seemed to slow down and bounce back and forth between past and present. The ending had some twists that I didn’t figure so that was really good but the overall feeling of the book wasn’t “good”. ItThe unexpected twists we’re not enough for this to be a book I would tell my friends.


Thank you netgalley for the arc!

Loreth Anne White is a new author to me, and I am impressed, I admit that. Her writing is beautiful, smooth, and descriptive, I called it in my mind Women's Lit meets Cozy Mystery meets Thriller meets Romantic Suspense.
Of course, if you are looking for a fast-paced action thriller, then you might get anxious after the intensely frightening beginning as the stage is set for the twenty-year-old crimes to be solved and connected to the current ones. The investigation is interesting and engaging but it does take time to get all the information together. Yet the author abundantly awards the readers, as the action and tension increases after half of the book are read.
Everything in the story is intense, not just the investigation. The small town, the weather, the people, the connections, the climate, the past that is playing such an important role in the present, everything is an intricate part of the plot as the story unfolds, and as the solution started to be at hand, the book was impossible to put down until the end.
Detective Rebecca North is a strong female lead. She knows her job, she is talented, detail oriented and dedicated. She has her issues from the past and her unresolved relationship with Ash Haugen, both ending up as the center of the investigation at hand.
Ash is a broken hero, with his faults and failures. There are third person issues, there are youthful mistakes, there are terrible secrets and heartbreaking destinies. Even though it took me a long time to feel an emotional connection with Rebecca and Ash, when it finally came, it hit hard and directly to my heart. The road for them is not easy, the obstacles they face are unimaginable. The author does not take easy short cuts in their relationship but gives lifelike, believable solutions that were acceptable.
I have not read the book one in the series and was actually surprised to see that this is the book two - the two stories are separate tales, even though after reading the blurb to the book one realized that the main characters do visit this story as well.
Tragic human destinies and devastating, horrifying secrets unravel as Rebecca starts to question the apparent suicide of her father. Mix in small-town Canada up in the prairie in the middle of the winter, with protagonists facing their past mistakes and currently churning emotions, teenagers getting into trouble, and the state police stepping in to run the investigation and you get a potent, ardent tale of the fragility of life, love, and human destinies.
~ Four Spoons

Wow! What a book.

This book will keep you guessing until the absolute final arrest, that I didn’t really see coming.

You get a suspense filled mystery with a love triangle and more lies and omissions of truth than you could possibly ever want, all presented in a small town where gossip spreads like a wild fire..

In the end, justice prevails and the truth will allow old hurts to be forgiven.

As a writer myself, and an insatiable reader since the age of four, there are some authors whose prose and storytelling abilities just always makes me feel so hideously inadequate. If I live to be 200, I’ll never be able to draw the descriptive narrative pictures Loreth Anne White does so apparently effortlessly, never be able to take you into the icy wastes of rural western Canada and make you feel the bitter wind knifing through your clothes as you ride along in her characters’ heads.

The Dark Bones follows Rebecca North, a high-powered Ottawa RCMP officer who returns to the small community where she grew up after her father’s sudden death. From the moment of her arrival, Rebecca is suspicious not all is as it seems; her father might have been a depressed alcoholic, but he was in no way suicidal. That’s before she even goes to the scene and her truck is sabotaged, leaving her to freeze to death with no shelter and no way to call for help. Fortunately, an old friend comes by to check on her and saves her life… an old friend who is an old flame.

Twenty years ago, Ash made one stupid mistake that blew up his entire life and destroyed irrevocably the happy future he’d been dreaming of with Rebecca since he was twelve years old. He thought it was all over and done with, though, but somehow the past seems to be coming back around to haunt them all over again.

The tension ratchets steadily higher as Rebecca works her way closer to the truth, of what happened to her father and what happened twenty years ago, two events inextricably linked in time and space, which made Rebecca into the person she is and causes a seismic shift in the way she thinks about herself and her life going forward.

If you haven’t read any of Loreth Anne White’s books yet, this is as good a place to get stuck in as any other. Even though it’s the second in a series, it can absolutely be read alone, and it’s a chilling, thrilling, atmospherically charged read which you’ll struggle to put down. Five stars for another winner from this brilliant author!

4.5 stars--THE DARK BONES is the second instalment in Loreth Anne White’s contemporary, adult, A DARK LURE psychological thriller series. This is RCMP commercial crimes Detective Sergeant Rebecca North, and Ash Haugen’s story line. THE DARK BONES can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalment is revealed where necessary.

Told from several third person perspectives including Ash and Rebecca, following several intersecting paths, using present day and memories from the past, THE DARK BONES follows in the wake of the death of Rebecca’s father, retired Cariboo Country cop Noah North. Having never expected to return to Cariboo Country, Rebecca North struggles with the evidence of her father’s demise. A man determined to solve a twenty-year old missing persons case, Noah North had apparently disturbed the dead, having opened up too many wounds, that were long thought buried and forgotten. Rebecca, desperate to prove her father’s death was a homicide, our heroine battles demons from the past, the memories of what was and what will never be, and a close-knit town of reluctant witnesses, dark secrets, and painful regrets. Reconnecting with Ash Haugen, the man she once loved, meant reconnecting with the heart break of betrayal and loss. What ensues is the rekindling relationship between Ash and Rebecca as our couple separately begin n investigation of their own into Noah North’s death, and the possible connection to Ash Haugen’s past.

THE DARK BONES is an intense, psychological thriller that looks at the angry, small-town mentality of protecting their own. From the secrets long buried with the dead, to the habitual town gossips, THE DARK BONES slowly reveals a complicated past, dangerous present and potential future when Noah North reopened a twenty-year old missing persons case that sets into motion a series of events that resulted in his death. Loreth Anne White pulls the reader into a suspense filled, strong and dramatic story of secrets and lies; of betrayal and vengeance; of lost love and forgotten time.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

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When I picked up Loreth Anne White’s The Dark Bones for review, I wasn’t aware that it was linked to one of her earlier books, A Dark Lure, in which a young woman who was abducted and repeatedly assaulted is making a new life for herself in rural Canada only to have to face the prospect that her abductor may still be at large. But never fear; it’s perfectly possible to read The Dark Bones as a standalone as the author brings new readers quickly up to speed, and the plots in both books are self-contained, so there’s no real overlap.

When Rebecca North left her small Canadian home town, she moved to Ottawa, where she has built herself a successful career in the white-collar crimes unit with the RCMP. She hasn’t been home in years and doesn’t have plans to do so, until her father, a retired police officer – calls her out of the blue to tell her that he knows she was lying about an event that happened twenty years earlier, and that he needs to talk to her urgently. He’s clearly drunk – he’s rarely been sober since the death of his wife – and Rebecca’s about to go into court, so she puts him off, promising she’ll call him soon… but she can’t put his words out of her mind. Her father is referring to the day she’d found the man she loved stumbling along a country road, bruised and bloody, a long gash down one side of his face he’d attributed to a riding accident – but why is he asking about it now?

The next day, Noah North is found dead in his home, all the evidence pointing to his having set fire to his remote cabin and then shot himself. The police are convinced it’s suicide, and the coroner’s report seems to bear that out, but Rebecca isn’t satisfied. Her father may have been overly fond of drink, but she doesn’t believe he was suicidal, especially given what he’d said the last time they’d spoken; that he’d found new evidence in an old case he’d worked – and that he thought he was being watched. She decides to do a bit of investigating of her own, and in the process discovers that her father was looking into the disappearance, twenty years earlier, of an old schoolmate of hers. Evidence given at the time said that Whitney Gagnon and her boyfriend were seen getting onto the bus heading out of town – but it seems that evidence was false, and Noah was convinced that the young couple were killed before they could leave. If that’s true – who murdered them and why? And could someone have killed Noah because he was getting too close to the truth?

This cold case stirs up a myriad of long-buried feelings for Rebecca, not least of which is guilt over the fact she didn’t visit her father often because she couldn’t bear to run into her former boyfriend Ash Haugen, the man she loved, and the man who broke her heart twenty years earlier. Now she’s back, and meeting Ash is unavoidable – but more than that, it seems that every investigative road leads to him. He was the last person to have seen Noah North alive – and some witnesses suggest they were arguing – and she can’t ignore Noah’s words during that final call “he lied – you both lied”. Because while Rebecca’s lie backed up Ash’s about the riding accident, he never told her the truth about the injury to his face – which was sustained the very same day Whitney and her boyfriend were seen getting ready to leave town.

I was completely engrossed by the storyline of The Dark Bones and by the way the author so skilfully juxtaposes past and present events, giving us glimpses – in flashback – of the events of twenty years before, and linking them to the current investigation into Noah North’s death. Her descriptions of the landscape of this area of rural Canada are incredibly vivid, enabling the reader to easily picture the locations she describes, and her portrait of small town life – where everyone knows everyone else and one only has to sneeze to have three people on the doorstep proffering hot soup and Lemsip within the hour – is simultaneously charming, menacing and claustrophobic. I liked Rebecca and Ash, although I never felt I got to know them deeply; Rebecca fled when Ash broke her heart but never really got over him, while Ash was forced to give up on his dreams because of a single mistake that changed the course of his life. The strong undercurrent of deep longing and hurt running between them is palpable from the moment they see each other again; and while I’m often sceptical of stories in which romantic feelings endure for years even when the couple in question doesn’t see each other throughout their separation, the strength of the connection between Rebecca and Ash practically leaps off the page and helped me to get past my usual side-eye of the trope. In fact my main criticism of the book stems from the fact that I’d have liked a little more exploration of their relationship in the now, especially in the light of what we learn about Ash’s difficult past.

The pacing in the first part of the novel is perhaps a little slow, but I didn’t find that to be a problem at all; in fact, I really appreciated the time spent on setting up the situations and introducing the secondary cast (some of whom were central to A Dark Lure, which I intend to pick up as soon as I can). The Dark Bones is a wonderfully atmospheric, multi-layered and well-constructed mystery from a real master of her craft; it will draw you in and keep you intrigued from first page to last.

Grade: B+/4.5 stars

I think that I have found another cracking author!
I picked this ARC as the cover then the description drew me in. When I realised that it is the 2nd in the series I listened to the other. Really good so I was eager to read this one.
The prologue just got me and then I was hooked.
I loved it!
The writing is snappy, clear, descriptive and just flows perfectly.
The plot is clever with twists, some emotional just kept coming.
I saw the sunrise whilst reading it as I couldn't bear to put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley, Loreth Ann White and Montlake Romance for the opportunity to read and review this BRILLIANT book.

This can be read as a standalone, however I highly recommend reading the predecessor A Dark Lure. Though this book centers around a new lead heroine, characters from Book 1 also appear.
Rebecca North has returned to her childhood home, upon her father's death. His death has been ruled a suicide, but Rebecca's heart and instincts as a detective with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) tell her otherwise. The book seethes with tension, long held secrets, betrayal and death, as Rebecca seeks to unravel the threads of mystery and murder. A Complex blend of character and plot. I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to reading more from the author.

The Dark Bones was an excellent novel. Though the second in A Dark Lure series by Loreth Ann White, The Dark Bones is completely stand alone. That said, I'm now looking for #1. I enjoyed these protagonists, and want more of them.

We do a little flip-flopping between events taking place a little over 20 years ago, September of 1999, with high school lovers Whitney Gagnon and Trevor Beauchamp, and Rebecca North and Ash Haugen. We also see through the eyes of teenage lovers Tori Burton and Ricky Simon, and again from the viewpoint of Rebecca and Ash in the dead of a super bad winter, 2019. Location is a small town in Cariboo Country Canada called Clinton, a town that is so small it has an official Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force of just a couple of officers, and anything complex - like mayhem or murder - has to be investigated with personnel from outside. And as in most small towns everywhere, everybody knows everybody's sins and secrets.

Sargeant Rebecca North, now a detective with the commercial crime branch of the Canadian federal police force in Ottawa, is the daughter of a former RCMP police detective of Clinton, Noah North, who suffers a bit with paranoia and alcohol abuse and sheer boredom in his retirement. He has been undertaking the investigation of cold cases he was not able to solve on his watch and is currently focused on the disappearance of two teenagers a little over 20 years ago. Whitney had left her mother a note before she disappeared September 27, 1999, telling her she was heading to LA in the US. Trevor disappeared at the same time. Whitney's Mom Janet Gagnon doesn't begin to worry until neither she nor Whitney's best friend hears from her over the Christmas holidays. By then, the trail is cold. What is known is that Whitney and Trevor did not take the bus as was supposed, but a witness from Devil's Butte comes forward who saw the couple hitching, and getting into a white panel van with Oregon US plates. Again, the ball is dropped.

But Noah has made a breakthrough in the case. Ash had lied in his testimony way back then. And so had Rebecca. His call to Rebecca is ill-timed - she is in court, about to testify in a white-collar criminal case, but agrees to call him back when she can. Her next phone call is from the Clinton RCMP, notifying her of her father's suicide. But Rebecca knows that Noah did not commit suicide. This has to be murder. And she will have to return to Clinton to handle it. The place that for the last twenty years wasn't big enough for both her and Ash.

I received a free electronic copy of this mystery novel from Netgalley, Loreth Anne White, and Montlake Romance publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

Very engrossing from the beginning. It was full of unexpected twists. Although this novel is part two of a series, I had no trouble getting into the story. I will definitely get the first book of the series.

The Dark Bones is an excellent mystery! Definitely a book I did not want to put down. Excellent characters- including a strong woman, Rebecca. Her childhood boyfriend Ash was his own mystery. I loved his storyline with Ricky. I could read a whole book just about Ricky! If you love police procedurals and down and dirty detective work, this is the book for you.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this honest review. This 2nd book in the Dark Lure series is awesome. It’s a fast paced psychological thriller full of mystery and suspense. The storyline is very well written and entertaining. I really enjoyed it

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

I loved the first book in this series and am so happy to see another. "The Dark Bones" grabs you on page one and doesn't let go. I recommend you block some time off for reading because I guarantee you will not want to put this one down. This book is dark, moody and foreboding. Nothing is ever black and white in LAW's books. Always shades of gray with her situations and characters. This is simply Mystery-Suspense at its' very best.

Detective Sargent Rebecca North is part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) white collar crimes division and has been involved with high profile cases. She is successful and driven. When she left home, she wasn't coming back. When her father dies of a self-inflected gunshot and his cabin burns to the ground, Rebecca is forced to return and face her past.

Noah North was a retired RCMP officer who made moonshine for a hobby and chased cold cases, and drank himself into oblivion, if possible. The cold missing persons case he was working was 20 years old and hit very close to home for him. The deeper he dug, the more someone got nervous. Now, Rebecca must piece together not only the pieces of the cold case, but prove her gut instinct that her father didn't kill himself.

In coming home, Rebecca must face her own past and mistakes. Her young love, that ended very badly, Ash Haugen, is the last person to see her father alive. She still has deep feelings for him. Ash is in the middle of her father's cold case, but she needs help even though she knows Ash is hiding something. There are others hiding things too and tracks lead Rebecca and Ash to the Broken Bar Ranch, Olivia West and her daughter, twelve year old Tori.

Whatever happened to the two missing teens, Whitney and Trevor, twenty years ago is having an impact today. Someone is not willing to let what happened to them be uncovered and is willing to kill to prevent it.

This is book 2 in the Dark Lure series with Rebecca North being the main character. If you start with this book you are able to understand what is going on but to get the complete story I would recommend starting with book 1.. Well written characters that drawn you into their story that has some twists and turns.

This was my first time reading this author. I did not read the previous book but had no trouble following along. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and the romance. A very good read!
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and voluntarily chose to review it.

In this second installment to author Loreth Ann White's Dark Lure series, "The Dark Bones" is a slow-building mystery that had me completely enthralled from start to finish! It's an intricately woven tale in which past meets present, exposing shocking truths, as well as a series of deadly deeds that refuse to remain buried.

Boasting a complex premise with multi-faceted characters, Loreth Ann White raises the tension slowly, by peeling back each of the layers one by one. As she constructs the story and builds towards a crescendo, there is no rush to get to the finish line. And while my impatience might have had me wishing for a speedier conclusion, the ending was nothing less than completely satisfying.

Another absolutely outstanding, suspenseful murder mystery from Loreth. No one writes this genre better or holds my attention more, it was FANTASTIC. All twisty, turny it made my head spin but it the most amazing of ways. Definitely a must read recommendation from me if you love this genre and something that always delivers the unexpected.
4.5 Stars

THE DARK BONES (Dark Lure Book 2) by Loreth Anne White is a mix of romantic suspense, mystery and thrills with ever increasing physical, emotional and environmental threats. This is the second book in this series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.

Detective Rebecca North is notified that her father, a retired Mounty has committed suicide. Rebecca has been away from her hometown in rural Western Canada for twenty years and even though she knows her father had problems, she refuses to believe he would take his own life. He called her just that day to tell her he is revisiting a cold case from their hometown and that he believes he is being followed and has had papers stolen from his home.

One of the last people to see Rebecca’s father alive was her ex-high school boyfriend, Ash Haugen. Ash always dreamed of one day marrying Rebecca, but he broke her heart and trust. The investigation is stirring up old feelings and lies. Even as they work together, old friends and relations may once again pull them apart.
While regathering the evidence for the case her father was working on and trying to prove he did not commit suicide, Rebecca and Ash are under increasing threat by someone who is trying to keep the old case cold.

I loved this book! The murder mystery and the cold case keep you guessing, turning the pages and they keep the overall pace continually increasing to the climax. The flashbacks to Rebecca and Ash’s pasts did not detract or slow down the story in any way. I liked the tie in to the first book, but it does not interfere with your understanding of this mystery plot or romance. Rebecca and Ash were complex characters with actions and emotions that were believable. The romance grows at a realistic pace. The secondary characters are fully fleshed out and added depth to the small town, good and bad.

I highly recommend this book and series! Ms. White is an author that I now automatically go to when looking for an intense suspenseful read.

Thanks very much to Net Galley and Montlake Romance for allowing me to read this eARC.