I always love Carol Goodman novels and this is no exception. There is a decades old murder mystery, present day murders, a blizzard, and dark academia. All these woven together make for a wonderfully ominous read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

The remains of a missing student have been discovered in the icy caves of Briarwood College. A fundraiser masked as a memorial to commemorate the dead. When a strong winter storm descends on the college alumni start to die. Dean Nell Portman races against the storm and her past to stop anyone else becoming a victim.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an eARC for review.

This is my first Carol Goodman novel, and it won’t be my last. The story did start off a little slow for me but when it picked up boy did it pick up. I enjoyed reading about Briarwood College which was as much a character as any of the people.

I appreciate Goodman naming various other works the students were reading. I added them all to my tbr. I have seen some complaints about it taking up too much space. For me, the references added to the overall mood of the story.

I only have two complaints. One, I figured out one of the twists very early on. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book, but I do wish it had been a little more subtle. The second is that I didn’t care about the Now part of the book as much as the Then part. That is personal though.

All in all, a very enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone that enjoys dark academia books.

Pros: It’s been 10+ years since I’ve read a Carol Goodman book. I really enjoyed her first five books when I read them, so I was interested to read her newest book. Once of my favorite things about her books is that she often writes a campus novel, and I was excited that this book featured dark academia. When I read a mystery, I try to guess the twist/ending . . . but am then annoyed when I guess correctly. I was excited to only guess one of the twists in this book and to be surprised by another.

Cons: None really except there are so many books in this genre that I likely won’t remember this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book! I love the way it was written and it had very good twists that I was not expecting! I definitely recommended it to a few of my thriller loving book friends and they can’t wait for it to release!

ooh, this was a great read! I got sucked in and could not put it down! I always enjoy books with a cold case angle! I would highly recommend this to mystery and thriller fans!

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher and the author. This mystery is filled with red herrings and secrets. Discerning the ending is not easily accomplished. The characters are realistic. Enjoy.

A commemoration at an upstate New York college turns deadly as a group of alumni hiding dark secrets from their student days become the targets of a vengeful force.

This is a stellar example of academic suspense, with a dark academia vibe. The college setting is strongly evoked, from the friendships and rivalries among the students to the arcane school rituals. There are literary references throughout, with clues to the mystery based on students’ stories. The suspense builds as the events of the past are revealed, and the natural locale, at the foot of a mountain with ice caves, provides a dramatic backdrop for several key scenes up to the climax during a winter storm. Carol Goodman excels at this milieu and this ranks among her best.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

The story follows a group of college classmates in a competitive writing program. The book alternates between what happened in the past when they were in college and present day, 25 years later, when they are brought together for an event being held at the college. Weather impacts the event from continuing, but the group has already arrived. And they soon find there’s a killer among them.

I enjoyed how the book alternates between past and present to give the perspective of the group’s interactions then and how that impacts them in the present. I had a few different theories throughout, but as things began to unfold, they were much more elaborate and none ended up being correct. Keeps you guessing all the way to the end.

Carol Goodman is sometimes a hit and miss author for me. "The Bones of the Story" was just a so-so read.

It reads easily enough. The characters are the fairly traditional mix of unlikable men and sympathetic women, with a few misunderstood outsiders thrown in for good measure. The plot was fine, although I kept feeling like I was reading something I'd read before... I finally realized it was just that so many of the elements are present on nearly every other tale of school and the dark side of privilege (financial, social, educational) that I've read over the years. There's nothing wrong with that, ithink I'm just over this as a genre/topic...

This book is all over the place (in a good way). What started out a slow burn, quickly escalated into a forest fire. I'll admit I guessed early on who "I" thought was responsible for the murder(s) but oh man I did not anticipate the reasoning behind their motivation. Overall, a fun read with so many nods to Agatha Christie, fans of classic mysteries will be happy.

This book was absolutely fabulous. I was hooked from the beginning. What a great read.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

Absolutely fantastic! Dark academia, answers to questions that only bring up more questions, phenomenal setting, and characters I loved, even the unlikeable ones! This book had everything! I know it doesn’t make sense to have a sequel, but I’d read it in a heartbeat!

Huge thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

I love books where people have to go back to their college, or hometown, because a body is found or some other mystery needs to be dealt with. I will love them forever.
This one did not disappoint and I was surprised.
I can't imagine I could ever end up in a closed mystery scenario because I never want to leave my house now but if I did I would like to handle it this well.

I received an ARC copy of the Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman on Netgalley!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a little wild and crazy at times, but really fun to read!

25 years ago, a student goes missing from Briarwood College and has never been found -- until now. 25 years later, alumni are gathering for a fundraising event for the college, where a large snowstorm has started to fall, trapping all who have attended. This makes for the perfect opportunity for all the pieces of the puzzle to start coming together, having secrets and lies exposed, friendships and relationships questioned, and finally figuring out what actually happened all that time ago. Throughout this book, you will be on a wild ride as more and more horrific things begin to happen that are somehow mirroring stories the characters wrote back in their prestigious writing class.
Who is actually behind all of this madness? When you think you have it all figured out, YOU HAVE NO IDEA! I was left in absolute shock! Carol Goodman does an excellent job as an author to make the reader feel like they are actually experiencing this whole thing with them. The character development is wonderful as well. I felt as if I knew them !

In the end, we definitely find out the bones of the story. yes, actual bones!

Not only did someone die in a way that was shockingly similar to a book they wrote, this book was shockingly familiar to any number of mystery and non mystery books I've read recently. I honestly thought I had read it but surely I couldn't have! This a galley! I felt like it had some good parts and i always like a university setting but it felt like a mash up of every other school book out there.

The Bones of the Story has a marvelously creative plot, with surprises at every turn of the page! A 25-year college reunion, focused on selecting a new Creative writer in residence brings together former students from the last tragic luminary celebration when a student disappeared, and the Creative writing professor died. As the reunion is set to begin, bones are discovered in a cave, and a winter storm reminiscent of the first event has everyone on edge, and suspicious of each other. The book is written in dual timelines, as both the secrets of the past and present are revealed. This is a riveting, twisting, totally absorbing gothic style mystery, with hints of both Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe. It is definitely a page turner that had me reading late into the night! This is the second Carol Goodman book I have read but will not be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for this advance copy. The opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Is there any book that Goodman writes that isn’t amazing?
Another perfect gothic suspense novel from one of my favorite authors. This book did not disappoint.

Glad that I got to read this early. While a bit farfetched at times, it was more exciting than some of her other recent books. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.