Socialite Nina Rai disappears without a trace. Ten years later her bones have been found in the area of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park that surrounds an elite and gated neighborhood. This is a neighborhood where everyone is rich and everyone has secrets.
Nina's son, Aarav Rai a successful crime writer, has returned to his childhood home to recover from an accident. The Rai's home has always had a violative atmosphere due to Aarav's physical and mentally abusive father .
Aarav is determined to find out the circumstances that caused his mothers death and bring the murderer to justice.
Ms. Singh's writing is compelling and descriptive. I did however find this novel hard to follow with so many characters being introduced and "jumping around" frequently. Normally I can guess the culprit, but Ms. Singh's lead me on a rollercoaster.

I DNFd this book at 25% because it wasn't for me. It was much more literary fiction than psychological thriller to me. However, as a bookseller I would not hesitate to recommend this book to those who are fans of that type of book (and there is a market for it), fans of the author (and she is established, obviously). The writing is excellent and I don't doubt that many will love this book.

It just isn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Pub for the arc.

One sentence review: This police procedural/psychological thriller has great Asian representation and an unreliable narrator that will keep you reading to find out what really happened.⁣
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The publishers are calling this New Zealand noir and that really rings true to me. Part mystery, part psychological what the heck is happening, this story keeps you guessing the whole way. ⁣
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The main character, Aarav, finds out after 10 years that his missing mom died in a car crash about a mile from his home. But she was alone ... and in the passenger seat. The story follows Aarav's journey to find her killer. The problem is, Aarav's memory of that night is somewhat hazy as well. ⁣
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This book is definitely a slow burn with the author slowly revealing additional slivers of information throughout. If I have to pin this down I'd call it almost a police procedural with an unreliable narrator. One thing I do wish I had done at the start of the book is write down the characters as they are introduced and maybe even draw a diagram of the cul de sac and who lives where. There are so many characters that it often took a while for my mind to make the shift.⁣
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If you are looking for a book with Asian representation, this would be a great one as the people living in Aarav's cul de sac represent a wide swath of the Asian diaspora. The book does a great job of giving overviews of different cultures and how that background affected the various character's actions.⁣
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Aarav Rai’s mother disappeared when he was sixteen years old. He can still hear her scream and feel the rain on his face as he watched her tail lights disappear into the dark. Twenty years later her car is found down an embankment hidden by the jungle overgrowth, her bones inside wearing the clothes she disappeared in. The $250,000 she stole from her husbands safe missing from the car. The police aren’t the only one investigating this murder. Aarav is determined to find out who murdered his mother but he’s recovering from a bad car accident, a head injury, and a broken foot. Quiet in her Bones is a dark, twisted mystery that I couldn’t put down and am still thinking about days after finishing.

When the police arrive to tell Aarav and his father that his mother was found in her car not too far from their home the scene is fraught with tension. It’s immediately apparent that Aarav and his father dislike each other and Aarav is only tolerated in his fathers home because their heritage is patriarchal and he is an oldest son. The good looking Aarav is a famous horror/mystery fiction writer who had a popular book made into a movie and whose fame he uses to his advantage. Turning on the charm when he wants to divert attention but intent upon his own self destruction, his addiction is sugar instead of pills or booze. As the narrator we are bystanders to his thoughts and this author leads us down the path of his derangement.

Set in a wealthy neighborhood in New Zealand I’m immediately enraptured by the foreign nature of pretty much everything. Aarav is Indian and so his family’s names and culture are very different, but life in New Zealand is not familiar to this southern California native and the differences seem pretty extreme. Add to that foreign setting a disturbed narrator, and a dark elite lifestyle led by his neighbors the scene is set for some dark hijinks and Nalini Singh certainly delivers. These characters were so interesting and the contradiction between their somewhat ordinary lifestyles and their bizarre secrets revealed bit by bit kept me eagerly turning each page.

It’s hard to write a review for a mystery and not reveal all the details. I don’t want to spoil this one for anyone. I will say that the author does a great job of leading the reader to think they know who the killer is at different parts of the novel. I think I ran through about six killers before the end of the book. There were a few red herring’s but part of the effectiveness of being led astray was that the mood was so dark it was easiest to follow the light of the one character you were reading about at that moment. I had fun reading Quiet In Her Bones because I just don’t get surprised too often anymore, but this time this author did it. I was surprised by the ending. You can’t help but appreciate that!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest.

I really liked what I’ve read from the author so far and I was curious to discover her in a genre I didn’t know for her: the thriller genre!

Aarav’s mother disappeared ten years ago now. He doesn’t remember much about that night, but he remembers her scream. A scream that froze him to the bone. The problem is also that since his recent accident, he had some memory loss. Everyone thought she had run away, money was gone and she often argued with her husband. However, her body was found in a car in the forest, a body that has been there for 10 years. If finding out what happened doesn’t interest many people, Aarav needs to know, he needs to know the truth! But his mind is playing tricks on him and finding out the truth will be far from easy!

I found that the novel was sometimes a bit long, but I was really curious to find out what happened. And I must admit that I didn’t expect such an ending and I was quite surprised by the revelations. It was a thriller a bit different from the others and I must say that I’ll be curious to read something else like this from this author!

Quiet in Her Bones is an atmospheric mystery. Aarav is back in his childhood home recovering from an accident. He has holes in his memory and has trouble remembering details from his past. The story centers around the body of his mother being found 10 years after she disappeared and his drive to know what happened.

So we’re clear, this story is a slow burn and not a thriller. The descriptions of culture and New Zealand landscape adds depth to the story and make it more than just the mystery of what happened 10 years ago. Reading something I thought would be a pulse pounding thriller that just isn’t, usually affects my thoughts on the book. You’ll want to absorb the details as you delve into what happened to his mother. I’m regularly figuring out the culprit in a crime novel or twist coming in a thriller. Sometimes early on and sometimes not long before the reveal, but often before the reader should, but this book stumped me. I went back and forth on what happened to Aarav’s mother and at some point considered most of the book’s characters as a killer.

Aarav is a deep character that your understanding of him grows throughout the book. Layer after layer, he becomes more complex than you first thought. At times he is the ultimate jerk, while the scenes with his sister Parisi show a much softer side.

With the book being told from Aarav’s point of view and the holes in his memory, he is the ultimate unreliable narrator. This trope is starting to wear out its welcome with me, but it fit perfectly in this story.

If you’re ready to settle in and learn a little about New Zealand as you chip away at the mystery, you should grab this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley publishing for this ARC.

This book was initially a slow read for me. I honestly almost put it down, but around 30% of the way through, I knew I wanted to keep going. This book was a slow burn that provided so many twists in the end. Just when you thought you knew exactly who did it, something happened that made you second guess and when you do find out, it is someone you would have never expected. I love a book that can make you feel what the character was feeling. The love and pain that Aarav felt made. you be able to feel this too. Working as a medical professional, I did want to get to the root cause of Aarav's black outs. In the end, I was very happy to have read this and would like to read more by this author as Nalini Singh was a new to me author.

3.5. I've only read Nalini Singh's romances, so I was intrigued when I saw she had written a thriller (not my typical genre, but I've greatly enjoyed some). Singh's writing shines through, as usual; I always love her descriptions and some of the snarky dialogue she writes. I also enjoyed getting to know the side characters in the Cul-de-Sac as their lives become increasingly more interwoven and secretive.

The toughest aspect to get used to was the pacing--the way Singh reveals information to the reader was tough for me to handle. Aspects and detailed were doled out piecemeal, and while I detest the word-vomit exposition style of some novelists, this was almost as bad. I felt like I didn't have a great grasp on Aarav's family, especially his mother, or even Aarav himself. The ending felt rushed as well, which was frustrating.

If you're a big fan of thrillers, though, I'd give this one a try. It also features diverse characters, which is a plus.

Quiet in Her Bones is a strong thriller filled with paranoia, mystery, and full cast of characters all within the microcosm of a cul-de-sac.

Aarav, writer, returns to his home town and his childhood home to recover from a car accident. The accident has left him with both temporary physical pains, but also very large holes in his memory. As a teen, Aarav's mother took off in the night after yet another huge row with his father. Through the years he is haunted by the memory of his mother and a sense of abandonment. When the police arrive with news that his mother's car and bones have been found not far from them, Aarav is sent into a spiral to discover the killer.

Singh does an amazing job of creating suspense and paranoia through the book. Readers are left guessing when motives present themselves. Is no one to be trusted? Even Aarav begins to question if he is the murderer. As things begin to spiral out of control, Singh presents the murderer with a more dangerous history than first realized.

I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the constant urgency felt by Aarav. Just when I though I knew who the killer was, Singh brings in another suspect and made me question my deductions. The story is well written and the backdrop of New Zealand, cul-de-sac live and the glimpses of Hindu culture really round out the novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This is an atmospheric novel that wraps up New Zealand in rainy weather mixed in with the cold dread of a mystery no one has been able to solve, until the bones appeared. This plot definitely keeps you on your toes. The beginning is a little slow as you are trying to find the rhythm of the story but once it gets its paces in, you're enraptured by the residents of the cul de sac. There's many layers to this story and I was never sure if I could trust the protagonist. The twists and turns this book had made it a read you definitely have to pay attention to. By the end of the story I wasn't sure who the murderer was, everyone in the neighborhood was a suspect and had a motive. I wish we could have more stories set in the block as all the occupants have plenty of secret. If you're a fan of atmospheric, twisty novels like Tana French this is one not to miss.

QUIET IN HER BONES by Nalini Singh publishes today and I was fortunate to receive an ARC from the publisher. I read this thriller last week, and boy did it ever keep me guessing at what was going on. For years now, a few of my friends have raved about Nalini Singh as an author but my first book by her was 2019's thriller, A Madness of Sunshine, which was extremely good. Her books are set in New Zealand, which I love because it feels different, and I have family from there so it has always been interesting to me as a setting. 

In Quiet in her Bones, we meet Aarav and his father right away as they begin to piece together the night Aarav's mother disappeared 10 years ago. Aarav himself was recently in an accident and is in and out of doctors' offices for his mental and physical health and we don't quite get all of the information about his life and history right away. There is a bit of a sense of an unreliable narrator in this book because there is so much about the night in question that just doesn't add up to the reader, but this moved the story along in a way that just compelled me to find out what the heck actually happened that night and what else has been happening since then. I started to get a little inkling about the ending mid-way through the book but it still wasn't quite what I expected and it could have gone any number of ways based on the way the plot thickened.

There were a lot of cultural and domestic elements to this story as well and it was fleshed out in a way that really grasped me. I think fans of thrillers that aren't too dark will enjoy this one a lot.

Does Nalini Singh ever write something I don’t devour?

Aarav is recuperating at his father’s home after a car accident when his long missing mother’s remains are found not far from their neighborhood. After that, Aarav is determined to get justice. Written in Aarav’s perspective, it’s soon clear to see that he is an unreliable narrator. And that makes it even more fun to read.

Living on a small and exclusive cul-de-sac, Aarav discovers that most residents have secrets and motive of some sort. As each chapter passed, more and more information trickled out, yet you had to wonder? Was this true? Was this purely due to Aarav’s perception or his damaged memory?

Quiet in Her Bones was an intriguing and interesting read. The descriptions of the landscape were vivid and the cultural aspects added to the depth of the novel. Extremely engaging with a dramatic conclusion that I never would have guessed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this review copy.

Quiet in Her Bones is a dark, evocative thriller set on the edges of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park. Ten years ago, Aarav Rai’s mother disappeared without a trace. Now her car has been found in the dense New Zealand bush, her bones the only remnants of the once vibrant Nina Rai. Aarav, recovering from an injury at his father’s house, is determined to uncover who in their small, exclusive neighborhood killed his mother. As Aarav digs deeper into the past the suspect list grows and the ugly secrets wealth and privacy have hid come to light.

Nalini Singh takes readers on an intriguing journey filled with twists and turns. It’s hard to guess where Quiet in Her Bones will go next because Aarav is an unreliable narrator. His mind is an even bigger puzzle than the mystery of who killed Nina. I admit I’m not the biggest fan of the unreliable narrator as it feels like sometimes the red herrings that come from it aren’t as well earned; but that’s personal preference so take it for what it’s worth. The Cul-de-Sac where Aarav grew up is small but almost everyone is a suspect. Shades of Rear Window creep up as Aarav, healing from multiple injuries, watches his neighbors, searching for clues. I enjoyed learning everyone’s secrets and Singh wasn’t afraid to dive into the ugliness hidden behind the picture-perfect exteriors. Beauty can be hiding a lot of brokenness in this book.

Aarav is an interesting protagonist, scarred from his parents’ brutal marriage, tormented by his complex feelings toward his mother, and haunted by more memories I won’t spoil. The story takes a lot of switchbacks as we journey through the mystery as Aarav’s mind seems to be deteriorating. His thoughts are scattered, which is logical for all that’s going on, but it got a bit repetitive in the middle of the book, making the story drag a bit. In those moments it was the two bright spots of unreserved kindness – Aarav’s stepmother and half-sister – that kept me going. I’m glad I did; the book’s climax was exciting, sucking me in and making it difficult for me to put it down. Singh’s lush prose makes Quiet in Her Bones stand out from the crowd and I’d recommend this book to all thriller fans.

Quiet in Her Bones follows Madness of Sunshine as Nalini Singh's second break from her traditional paranormal romance books (Wolf Rain, Archangel's Sun) to dive into the world of pure psychological thrillers. In the rich and lush world of New Zealand's forests, socialite Nina Rai disappears. Ten years later, her bones are found and old dramas are revived as her son Aarav tries to piece together what happened.

The problem with doing a review for Quiet in Her Bones is that it is almost impossible to write anything about the book that isn't a spoiler in some way. Almost none of the characters in Quiet are particularly likable, including Aarav, who is the story's narrator. What's interesting is trying to figure out why that is. Is he just a jerk? Is he, as he believes, a sociopath? Is he hiding something even from himself- and by extension, from the reader? Or is he a seriously messed up guy who uses being a jerk as a self defense mechanism? Possibly all of the above? My view of Aarev was like view of the mystery- it kept changing as new things were discovered or hidden.

Like our main character, the plot of Quiet in Her Bones is a kaleidoscope that changes with ever new look and twist. That's the brilliance of Nalini Singh's writing: even when you aren't sure you're enjoying the book, you can't stop reading to discover the truth. Some of Quiet's plot bogged down with too many false leads and possible red herrings, and there are plenty of times when you're wondering what in the world Aarev thinks he's doing. But keep reading and the secrets of a perfect little cul-de-sac are revealed and suddenly past and present merge into a plot where you can't put the book down until you've answered all the questions.

Amazing descriptions of the New Zealand forests and beaches blend with the tiny domestic dramas of a few homes in a private cul-de-sac to reveal one of Nalini Singh's most psychologically thrilling books yet. A must read for mystery and suspense fans.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

In this absorbing thriller set in a wealthy Auckland, New Zealand neighborhood. Aarav was a teenager when his mother drove away after a drunken fight with his father. Aarav, struggling with recovery from a car accident has moved back in with his father since the doctors won’t let him live alone. His father has remarried, another girl who he brought back from India. Great periods of time are missing from Aarev’s memory. He suffers from violent angry outbursts. Under the care of a neurologist, an orthopedic surgeon, and a psychiatrist he often thwarts their efforts to help. When the bones of Aarev’s mother are discovered, he is determined to find out who killed her and in doing so discovers a lot about his neighbors and his mother. In his determination, he also uncovers another murder in this wealthy cul de sac. Its an unsettling and somewhat creepy book and when the murders are solved, of course, the red herrings sprinkled throughout the book make the discovery unexpected. The epilogue helps pull all the pieces together and brings closure to Aarev’s misery.

This is my first book from Nalini Singh and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed the writing style. It was very moody and complex. I loved the cultural references throughout the book. Set in New Zealand, the diversity of characters and cultures is perfection. Combine this with a dramatic cul-de-sac full of nosey neighbors and you've got yourself a great psychological thriller.

The paranoia and instability of our main character's mind is intense. Aarav is constantly battling with not only the stories of people around him, but his own memory after his accident. It feels impossible to keep up with the reality of what happened to his mother. 

The book starts as a very slow burn. There are a lot of characters to keep up with and they all seem to be very intertwined. Once I kept reading, I found this easier to digest and felt the pace picking up quickly. 

Overall, this story has twist on top of twist to keep you guessing until the epilogue. It was a wonderful genre blend of psychological thriller meets domestic drama.

Nalini Singh’s latest thriller is narrated by a protagonist who readers aren’t able to trust as he doesn’t seem to know what memories he has. Aarav has a broken leg and is living in the house he grew up in when his mother’s bones are discovered a few miles away. It becomes apparent that Nina has been dead since she disappeared 10 years ago. Aarav feels out of place because of his accident that doesn’t allow him to recuperate at home by himself and feels time is disjointed as his mother’s official death brings him back to when she disappeared.

Quiet in Her Bones unfolds slowly as we go through glimpses of memory and becoming reacquainted with the neighbourhood and its inhabitants as Aarav does. What really happened the night of her disappearance? Is his father responsible? His parents’ marriage was not a good one but the secrets of the neighbours around them also have him questioning who knows what happened and who was involved that night.
The story unfolds slowly, carefully, and little mysteries start to come together and are occasionally shattered as other pieces are drawn together. Singh has written an engrossing tale that readers will not want to put down. Definitely make sure you’ve got a few good hours available for reading or you’re going to be too distracted to do anything else (or at least, anything else without resentment).
The location in a wealthy cul-de-sac has its own sinister feel as it is surrounded by the green forest. The forest has its own secrets. It hid Aarav’s mother for years and she had warned him to stay away from it when he was a teenager. But the secrets hidden in their neighbourhood are just as deadly and threatening. I couldn’t put it down and was up until the wee hours, following the twists and turns. Singh’s worldbuilding and character development once again make for a fantastic book.

I have seen QUIET IN HER BONES by Nalini Singh referred to as a crime thriller, a domestic thriller and a psychological thriller. I believe it is all of these. Add in a fantastic first two sentences in the novel and a setting in New Zealand and I was immediately hooked. Aarav Rai’s mother Nina disappeared 10 years ago when he was 16. Most thought she was just another wife tired of her wealthy husband. But not Aarav. Now her bones and car have turned up in a nearby forest. Was it an accident or murder or something else entirely?

Aarav is a successful author that never believed his mother would leave him behind if she was truly leaving her husband. He is also a very unreliable narrator who has been in a recent car accident. He’s having memory problems and is seeing a therapist, or is he? He’s definitely a memorable character that I will not soon forget. Since the book is from his point of view, what can the reader believe? What is real? Can he determine what really happened to his mother the night she disappeared? His father certainly doesn’t seem eager to find answers.

As we meet the secondary characters, nearly everyone seems to have a secret and most have a motive to kill Nina. Can Aarav trust anyone other than his half-sister? Their relationship feels like it is the only healthy one in the book. In this book nearly everyone has flaws and very few have virtues that are shown.

The writing gave me a strong sense of the neighborhood where Aarav grew up; which is where he is recovering from his accident. What is really going on in the neighborhood? There are a lot of secrets. While I guessed some of them, others were a surprise. This elite neighborhood is not as ideal and faultless as the residents would have you believe.

As the story line develops, several themes are apparent, including secrets, memory loss, infidelity, love, childhood traumas, unhealthy relationships, alcohol problems, and much more. The introduction of some Hindi words and cultural aspects added to the realism in the book.
Overall, this novel was unsettling and a bit creepy, but also gripping, entertaining and a bit over-the-top. However, it kept me fully engaged. What a dramatic conclusion! The epilogue wrapped up the loose ends and subplots nicely. While this is the first book that I have read by this author, it won’t be the last.

Berkley Publishing Group and Nalini Singh provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for February 23, 2021. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Nalini Singh brings another thrilling and page-turning book filled with deceptions, memory-loss, and secrets with Quiet in Her Bones!

When Nina Rai a wealthy trophy wife to a successful businessman disappears from the rich neighbourhood leaves her teenage son motherless. Ten years later her bones are found up in the lush forest surrounding the Cul-de-sac community. This book is written in the perspective of Aarav her now 26 year-old son and a very successful mystery writer. Aarav is determined to find the killer amongst the well-to-do neighbours, or maybe it's his father? The secrets of the neighbourhood are unravelled and the ugliness that is beneath the pristine members of the neighbourhood come to light.

The story takes place in the forests of New Zealand, and Singh truly captures aspects of the beautiful landscape in the background of a terrifying murder. Singh's description of the setting and characters brought to life the story in front of your eyes. Also, I absolutely love an unreliable narrator such as Aarav! It made for a very intriguing read, particularly when you think you know who’d done it. Brilliantly written and filled with tons of twists and turns, you’re left sitting on the edge of your seat until the end.

I am a unabashed fan of Nalini Singh but this book was not her best effort. The hero (for lack of a better term) seems to vacillate between brilliant and stupid due to supposed brain injury which leads us to many pages of nothingness and a lot of red herrings because you see everything from his point of view. The book was starting to get boring and repetitive around the 4th chapter and after the 5th chapter I skipped ahead to chapter 45 and the book got really good and I felt like I had missed nothing which says a lot about the pages between chapter 5 and chapter 45 and I read the remaining chapters like it was on fire and loved it. Here is the problem, how do you rate such a story? Those first 5 chapters gave me all the background I really needed to proceed to the 45th chapter. The story from chapter 45 was much more riveting and I could not put it down until the early morning hours. So I am giving it 4 Stars even though I skipped a large portion of the novel because I did not feel like I had missed anything. As a reviewer of 22 years this is something I have done maybe 5-6 times and almost never giving a very good review but there is always an exception to any rule and all I can say is I love it and I can't act like I didn't even with my skipping portions. 4 Stars and have to recommend the story, the manner in which you wish to read it is your choice.