3.5 stars. The sense of place sparkles in this tense, dark academia mystery/suspense. We are in the story at Briarwood, a small college, in view of the Catskill Mountains, in alternating now and then timelines. Briarwood is known for traditions and rituals such as the Raven Society, a tradition where only a few senior students are accepted through a cutthroat writing competition to study writing and literature with a famous author, which back in the “then” timeline, was the college’s first (and only) writer-in-residence, Hugo Moss.

There are also traditions to lend an air of darkness such as the Luminaria, a vigil performed at the base of the mountain and Mirror lake, close to the ice caves where the story of a lost girl within maintains its mystery and urban legend.

The characters include the shady President of the college, Prentiss Hotchkiss, an efficient, irreplaceable Executive Assistant, Ruth, and the Dean of Liberal Arts, former student Nell Portman. As the college prepares for a celebration to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Hugo Moss, and to raise funds with the goal to elevate the college to an elite writing school, we discover several of Nell’s former classmates, and Raven Society members, are slated to attend the event.

What follows is the “then” and “now” timelines of what happened at the college twenty-five years ago surrounding Hugo Moss’s death, and what is currently happening at the reunion, as a snowstorm closes in on the night of the event, rendering roads impassible and creating a “locked room” scenario, and the classmates start to die one by one.

We wonder who the killer is and what happened all those years ago. Is there someone exacting revenge from long ago? Who has the motive to not stop killing until all of the Raven Society classmates are finished?

This novel shines in its display of academia and fine literature, authors and writing. The setting at the college is vivid and the suspense and tension ratchet up as the story unfolds. There are some suspenseful moments which are so well done by the author. Where it fell a little short for me was in tying so many strands together, the story started to feel campy, and when the characters began to die, there were a couple of times I actually chuckled. I also felt the story got bogged down a little when in the past, almost like wading through quicksand.

All in all, if you enjoy dark academia suspense and mystery, and literature and writing themed stories, you may really enjoy this one. The author’s writing is very good, and there is an urgency in finding out what is happening and why, and who the killer may be.

Thank you to William Morrow, Netgalley, and Cindy from the Thoughts From a Page Patreon early reads for the electronic ARC. All opinions are my own.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Carol Goodman returns with a dark academia locked-door mystery in The Bones of the Story. Readers follow Nell, Dean of Liberal Arts at a prestigious, but small college. As the college arranges a fundraising weekend for alumni and donors to celebrate the naming of writer-in-residence, the skeleton of a girl is found in nearby ice caves. Nell is surrounded by classmates who have come for the fundraiser and they all know more about the found bones than they have admitted. When everyone is snowed in by a blizzard, the danger is found to come from within Wilder House. Told in dual timelines from Nell as a student and in present day as Dean, the secrets of Briarwood College are bound to be carved from the ice.

While Carol Goodman's name commonly comes up on lists of books with dark academia settings, this was my first read from her. I am pleased to say I enjoyed it! The dual timeline was well-executed, even if I felt that it slowed the progression of the book. I was never bored, despite the slower pace. I also liked that Goodman took the time to establish solid personalities throughout the friend group, something that mystery thriller authors occasionally neglect in favor of archetypes. The information provided to the reader is enough for the reader to be able to solve the mystery, but the final reveal is one that may still be a bit of a surprise.

Overall, I am glad to have had the opportunity to read this work early, and I look forward to exploring Goodman's backlist.

In The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman, Briarwood College, then and now (the dual timeline really works to propel the story), is the vehicle through which the reader meets and explores the characters. I really like the setting of a college for a mystery. Students from different walks of life, very human and vulnerable students, are brought together to learn while their adult selves are still being shaped by their friendships and dreams. And these students want to be writers! No spoilers here, but there were some unexpected clever plot twists. This story would be a good summer or vacation read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Loved it!! I'm a huge fan of Carol Goodman and have read many of her books. For some strange reason, it's been a few years since I read one. I don't know why because I always love them. This book was no exception. Briarwood was a creepy college that I would never want to attend, especially with all the strange rituals. When did the students have time for their other classes with all the writing they had to do? They had to be good at typing all their papers over and over again, since Professor Moss refused to allow computers in Wilder Hall. When Nell's classmates started dying mysteriously, I knew it had to be one of them or someone constantly with them during the snow storm. I was very suspicious of one of them and ended up being right, but I would have never guessed the reason behind everything. Was Laine a friend or a frenemy to Nell? I think at first Laine thought of Nell as a friend, but then she saw Nell as useful. Nell had something Laine wanted. Nell was so indebted to Laine for everything she did, Nell became a rug and allowed Laine to walk all over her and always made excuses for her. Nell never got mad, even when she found out what happened to her book. Loved the ending and finding out the truth about what really happened at the Luminaria twenty-five years ago. I'm surprised everyone involved kept it a secret for so long. I'm surprised more people didn't go missing or get hurt climbing a mountain full of ice caves in the winter.

Definitely recommend the book. It was a great mystery/thriller with many twists and turns. It's hard to guess who could behind everything, because all the characters have dark secrets that they want to hide. Loved the characters, writing style and story. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from William Morrow, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I needed more of a fast pace to get into this one from the beginning. While I like the characters and enjoyed the back and forth, I wish I had more investment from the beginning. The past plot line was a bit familiar lately but i liked that the main character worked for the school in the present timeline. That added a little extra ompf to the story.

The Bones of the Story was an engaging thriller from the start with its dark, uni, academia vibes. Always enjoy a present day and historical memory recall from old university days. The author weaved the timelines succinctly. The snowy background was perfect for a hot summer cool off. The literary references were fun to read through. It was a bit dark at times; however this seems normal for these types of stories. I rarely read thrillers anymore, but would recommend The Bones of the Story.

3.5 out of 5 rounded up.
Thank you to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for proving an ARC.

First, this an excellent choice for a title. That the book is about a former college writing group and the long buried bones of a colleague makes it even better. Then to discover that the story includes a “locked room” created by an ice storm, an academy scenario with ‘then’ and ‘now’ chapters, and a body count based on the ten ghost stories written long ago by said student writers — I’m hooked.

Ellen “Ellie” “Nell” Portman is now dean at the school she once attended as part of the Raven Society, a group of top notch student writers mentored by the famously talented and egotistical Hugo Moss. Nell feels she is a “blur-girl,” an undefined thing who does not belong. This is not surprising. She is a low society girl on scholarship in a high society college, and she is so self-effacing, Then and Now, that she is practically erasing herself. In her Now, she lives in shoebox home among the big houses of Briarwood College’s surrounding town. In her Then, she takes the smallest single room in the dorm suite she is assigned to with the confident and well-connected Chilton, the academically struggling Dodie, and the gregariously bulldozing Laine, who promptly renames Ellen “Nell.” As Nell falls under Laine’s charms and becomes her friend, she also becomes part of Laine’s schemes, network, and even bullying of fellow student Bridget, whom Laine calls ‘Bridge Troll’. Nell eventually takes part in Laine’s pact involving the “bones” of the title.

“Ellie” in the Now works with her dedicated assistant Ruth and work-study student Nina on a 25 year commemoration project for the deceased Hugo Moss. Her Briarwood past and peers come back to participate, and so too, seemingly, do the bones discovered on the eve of the commemoration. Locked in at the college by the ice storm, Nell’s peers begin to die one by one, killed in the very manners devised in their long ago ghost story assignment for Hugo Moss. Nell must figure out what’s happening before she truly becomes the blur-girl of her own story and death.

An excellent book to tuck in with for a weekend.

Rating 3.5 stars : The Bones of the Story is a twisty murder mystery told using a dual timeline. The murder occurs on an elite college campus during a winter storm. I enjoyed the setting and the way the author describes this dark, cold secret society campus where no one is safe. I was reminded of The Maidens while reading this book. I’m never good at guessing the plot twists but definitely had fun trying to figure out the identity of the college campus killer.

It’s been twenty-five years since the shocking disappearance of a female student and the distinguished Creative Writing professor who died while searching for her. 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. 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?

I received an advanced electronic (eARC) copy from @thoughtsfromapage Patreon Community Early Reads Program. Thank you to Cindy Burnett and publisher William Morrow Books. I appreciated the opportunity to preview this book

Twenty-five years after a student disappears and a professor dies during a winter solstice celebration on the campus of Briarwood, students in that professor’s elite writing seminar are reunited to honor him and reinvigorate the campus’s writing program. When human remains are discovered, the campus’s and the students’ secrets are revealed, setting off a chain of reactions as chilling as the winter season.

A very entertaining mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie. If you like mysteries set on campuses with a winter setting and lots of viable suspects, this one’s for you.

Comps: Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” and Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History”

Set in Briarwood College in the middle of winter, old secrets come back to haunt a professor, her friends from when she was a student, and the administration.
This book was billed as a mystery but it is so slow. I also don't understand why a book set in the dead of winter is being released in July? Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. I hope this book finds its correct audience.

Twenty-five years after a student vanished into Briarwood College's mysterious "ice caves" and a well-loved but controversial professor, Hugo Moss, disappeared, presumably searching the woods and caves for her. After that, the friends in the "Raven Society," closest to the pair, and the last to inhabit the college's writing center, dispersed across the country, trying to forget the vents of that night. But 25 years later, bones are discovered in a cave, one day before a planned memorial for Moss and the reopening of the writing center. And as the group reunites to finally face the past, it appears someone is there for more than a reunion - they're out for revenge. Trapped on campus by a snowstorm, the old Raven Society is forced not only to dissect the events of 25 years ago, but face their greatest fears - and hope that will keep them alive.

This book follow two timelines: One in the present, and one of the college days of the main character and narrator, Nell.

Wow. That's really my first thought when reflecting on this book. It was clever and creepy in some very classic ways, but it was unique enough that I was drawn in and did not see some of the twists coming at all! Especially when you have an academic setting like this, some stories can fall into a trap where they get too highbrow, but this never crossed that line and hit just the right note, paying homage to classic authors and their works, without feeling like it was talking down to the reader. I loved that. It felt like you were along for the ride with the story, rather than just detached observer.

And the fact that this had a bit of a slasher-movie quality mixed in with the academic setting? Even better! Again, it showed the the author could blend genres and didn't want to take the story so seriously that it became a thesis on classic literature, even though that's what the characters were studying. It had just enough creepiness and gore coupled with cleverness and gothic academia. It blends together perfectly.

I am now a devoted Carol Goodman fan! If this book is any indication of how good she can write, then she has talent in spades and I can't wait to read more of her work!

(And obviously, you need to pick this one up!)

A bit of a locked-room mystery, set on a college campus. A missing girl from 25 year prior, and a promise made between a group of people all reunite. One by one.....the members of the group start to die....so who killed the student from 25 years ago....and who is killing everyone now?

Excellent thriller, however it did take a bit to get through.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

Twenty-five years ago at Briarwood College, Professor and literary fellow Hugo Moss died while searching for a missing student. Now the Briarwood community is coming together to pay tribute to Moss and celebrate the creation of a literary fellowship once again at the school. But as donors, alumni, and faculty gather, the snowy weather turns treacherous and many guests leave. Those who remain are Moss' old students, sharing stories of their testy professor. But when one of the group dies very similarly to a story she wrote back in the college days, they realize something is very wrong.

I love Goodman's books--she's great at capturing that ominous foreboding tone. Briarwood College is a locked room mystery, with our cast of characters trapped in the building where they spent their college days with Moss. BONES is told in a then and now format featuring nearly the same characters, as most of our present-day folks are returning to Briarwood where they went to college. Our main constant is Nell, a scholarship student in her Briarwood days who has now risen to Dean at the college. Nell was swept up in the charms of her wealthy roommate, Laine. The book does a wonderful job of showing the power and intensity of college friendships--both the good and bad. There's much angst at college and a ton of drama during the present.

I thought I had everything figured out here, but Goodman threw in some great twists! The story is filled with literary references, especially as our college core struggles with the need to outbest each other in their writing. At times, this is very grim and dark--often gory with lots of death in the cold, stark setting. There's certainly an Agatha Christie feeling. The ending wraps up a little quick, but it's still a really enjoyable read.

This psychological thriller set in the world of academia was incredibly entertaining and kept me flying through the pages.

Every year, a group of students are chosen for the Raven Society during their senior year at Briarwood College. They live together, write together, and form close bonds. Twenty five years ago, a student went missing and the Society’s professor was found dead during a traditional winter ceremony at the college. Now, the members of the Raven Society from that year have all gathered at the College for a commemoration of the events. None of them were particularly fond of the professor, as he was scathing in his reviews of their writing and forced them to write stories about their deepest fears. When one former Society member dies in a way similar to their story, the members start to look at each other in suspicion.

This story took a bit to set up, with all of the characters involved. It is a dual timeline story, rotating between the past when the students were at school and present day, when they are trapped in their old hall during a snowstorm. The inability to leave ratchets up the tension, and this would be fantastic to read as a winter thriller!

The characters are all flawed in ways, and the development of our main character is done very well. She starts as a nervous young girl who never feels as though she belongs at the school, and later becomes the Dean of Liberal Arts at the same school. The experiences she goes through while bonding with her society members truly form her into a different person.

A big part of the mystery involves ice caves in the mountains next to the school. The descriptions of the ice caves and the claustrophobia those sections brought on really gave me the chills. Such a great addition to a spooky story! Once the action ramps up, this book becomes a roller coaster ride until the end. I predicted part of the ending, but there were several twists I definitely didn’t see coming!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Good, solid “closed room” thriller. I am not a thriller reader but I kept turning the pages, wanting to know how it ended. With its snowy, icy setting, I’d recommend it for a winter read.

The Bones of the Story - Carol Goodman

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

This book starts off as a sleeper, about a group of college students accepted in an elite writer's program.

About mid-way through the novel, as soon as you are familiar with the characters in detail, this story quickly ramps up to 100 mph, as people are killed left and right, as you (as well as the characters in this book) are left trying to determine who did what to whom in this serial killer thriller.

I have to admit jumping nervously at every sound and being so jittery that I had to turn on the lights as I burned the midnight oil to finish this book.

A well-crafted and highly entertaining psychological thriller (the possibility of getting lost forever in a cave serves to doubly rachet up the tension of this story).

Until next time, keep your senses alert and be on the look-out for hidden enemies, and know what you are doing before you go spelunking! 👍

This is an excellent mix of dark academia and locked-room mystery that alternates between two timelines. Nell is the Dean at an exclusive college, organizing a memorial for a professor who died when she was a student there. Many important alumni will come and spend the weekend at their renovated campus. They all get trapped by a snowstorm and one of the guests dies under mysterious circumstances. It is soon obvious that something happened in the past that drew these people together and that the possible murder is linked to that. Both timelines are equally engrossing and the more you learn about the past, the more the present events make sense. Nell is a likable heroine, and the rest of the characters were all well rounded. The dialogues and brief looks into the writing lessons are a treat for book lovers, and I particularly enjoyed the plots of the books that the characters are working on. The setting, with the dilapidated building, the mountains, and the snow, reads like a Gothic novel. I loved the plot. Even if some of the twists were not as unexpected as I’d hoped, I still was blindsided by some of the final reveals. This is a quick read and gets five stars from me.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#William Morrow!

The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman is a mystery at Briarwood College. Graduates of the college who witnessed a tragedy 25 years ago have gathered at the college for an event, but a winter storm leaves them isolated on campus with a killer among them. I enjoyed how Goodman went back and forth between the present and the past, building the history that led to the present atrocities. I did think parts of the story moved slowly, but by the end, I didn’t want to put it down until I knew who the murderer was. I also found some of the characters irritating and wanted Nell to stand up for herself, but overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who likes locked-room-type mysteries!
Thanks to Netgalley and Thoughts From a Page Podcast for the advanced copy!

My first Goodman but it won't be my last! I could feel these characters and this setting - it was immersive, compelling, and at times almost uncomfortable in its vulnerability. Brava, Goodman!

Thank you Net Galley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of this e-book.

Set in the northeast at fictional Briarwood College which is located near ice caves and a beautiful "mirror" lake.
25 years ago when a student went missing along with a professor who was looking for her, the mystery remains unsolved as the school prepares for its event to remember these two. One student had gone up to explore the caves before this event and finds the bones of what they believe is the missing student. Just as the event is about to be underway, a snowstorm traps them in and those who had come are staying in the old dorm. You can feel the creepy factor!

The setting sounds perfect for a "closed door" type murder mystery when one by one people there are found dead. The story is told back and forth "Then" and "Now" from Nell who works there and was a student at the time the student went missing. Is this legend of the missing student haunting them and seeking revenge?

This was a good mystery that kept me guessing and did not see the twist at the end coming, which was so good!