Salt Bones

Real Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: For fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic and Ramona Emerson’s Shutter: a gripping retelling of Persephone and Demeter in the Mexicali borderlands

At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting. . .

Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life. She’s raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed show more woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal’s perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it's too late.

Combining elements of Latina and Indigenous culture, family drama, mystery, horror, and magical realism in a spellbinding mix, Salt Bones lays bare the realities of environmental catastrophe, family secrets, and the unrelenting bond between mothers and daughters.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: There's Spanish in here.

Everybody still here, this is a retelling of Demeter and Persephone, probably the original mother-myth in Western culture. It is also notable that Demeter's the oldest sister of baby Zeus...that energy surrounding maleness surrounds this entire story.

Are the whiny man-babys gone yet? Good.

The gynergy is strong in this one, folks. All the horror, and there's a lot of it, stems from problems and issues around femaleness in our highly misogynistic culture. Women are, for a wonder, presented as misogynistic as hell in here, and all the monstrous, horrifying behavior is portrayed as affecting women. (Why the fathers aren't ever fussed I'll leave to your imagination.)

Invest in the first quarter to third of the read as your acclimatization, get used to Mal and her pueblo's speech patterns, and (ebook users only) try out the built-in translation feature to get the hang of Spanglish, then cruise through the story that fills in the lines of the old myth in a really fun...not the right word, but "interesting" is so juiceless and "involving so cerebral...unexpected way.

It's a dark reality that Mal's fears and worries are rooted in the ugliness that is femicide, a too-easily-dismissed issue plaguing la frontera. Stories like this one are ways to increase awareness of the precarity of simply existing as a female, or in a female body, in so many parts of the world. And like the real world, some people have privilege, even when bad things happen to and around them. Seeing the author present this as a reality, well...brava for doing it at all, and do it more, please.

The Salton Sea is important enough to the read that I recommend you acquire basic knowledge of it, its existence and origin, before embarking on this fascinating thriller. I found the pace fast. I don't think everyone will. I hope you'll try, though. show less

Years after the disappearance of her younger sister, Elena, Malamar Veracruz is still living in her small, diminishing hometown of El Valle along the Salton Sea. Now, another set of disappearances are occurring, including Mar's youngest daughter, Amaranta. Playing out similarly to when Elena disappeared, everyone blames the local outcast and won't look into the wealthy landowners. Mar is also being haunted once again by La Singuanaba, the horse headed woman, showing her haunting scenarios of where the missing girls could be. The visions vault Mar and her older daughter into a desperate search for Amaranta while Mar stops at nothing to find her daughter alive.

It started with Noemi. But within a few months, Elena was gone too. No one

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knows it's a horror story when it begins.

Salt Bones is a slow burn horror that wraps indigenous folklore with a gripping mystery. "Salt Bones" excels in both character and plot-driven mystery. Mal is a compelling protagonist, fiercely protective of her family and still burdened by the intergenerational trauma of her sister's disappearance. Her unique role as a butcher and her connection to the land, animals, and sea, passed down from her father, make her uniquely receptive to La Singuanaba's messages, which I found to be a captivating element. The narrative thoughtfully switches between points of view of those involved in the current disappearances and flashbacks to Elena's disappearance, providing a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances and characters. The lyrical prose creates a dreamlike atmosphere, leaving you to ponder the line between the paranormal and the harsh reality of the girls' disappearances.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less

In a community on the edge of the poisoned, environmentally degraded Salton Sea in southern California, daughters have been disappearing. This haunted place is vividly brought to life in a novel that combines a thrilling plot, deeply developed characters, and a poetic evocation of the borderland. It’s a borderland in multiple senses: between Mexican, indigenous, and American heritages, between languages, between horror, thriller, and mystery genres, between everyday reality and the deeper truth of folklore. And it’s very, very good.

Malamar Veracruz, named by a vengeful, hateful mother, is a skilled butcher in the desert town of Valle that lies beside a saltwater inland sea that has been polluted, drained, and left to evaporate in show more the heat, now exploited for geothermal energy and lithium mining. Though once a popular resort destination, the shoreline now is littered with bones and poisonous dust, with mudpots and geysers bubbling up from the earth’s heat.

Many years ago, Mal’s sister Elena vanished, leaving her mother bereft and angry, seeming to hold Mal responsible for the absence of her favorite daughter. Now Mal is raising two daughters of her own, Griselda, a university student who is dating the son of the wealthy Anglo family that owns all of the land nearby, and teenager Amaranta. She tries to be a good mother, though she keeps secrets from them, including who their father is. As it turns out, she isn’t the only one in her family with secrets.

When a young coworker at the carnicería disappears, like other young women before her, Mal is unsettled, wondering why so many women vanish from this haunted place. Some suspect Gus, who searches the shoreline for the bones of his vanished daughter, is responsible for all of the desaparecidos. Before she can figure it out, the crisis comes much closer to home.

While Mal searches for answers, she keeps encountering La Siguanaba, a monstrous figure from a local folktale who Mal first encountered when her sister disappeared. The creature is a beautiful seductive woman, with midnight-black hair, until she turns: she has the head of a horse, with glowing red eyes. Why is this legendary figure pursuing her, and is it somehow responsible for the way so many daughters are taken?

Threaded throughout the story is an exploration of mothers and daughters, of inherited trauma, of environmental injustice and the dispossession of the original inhabitants of this extraordinary place and the natural world it once supported. The characters speak a mix of English and Spanish, bringing mestizo culture to the page and infusing the narrative with an unapologetic flavor of the borderlands. Without sacrificing pacing or raw emotion, the narrative is full of arresting images and starling wordplay. The plot, too, is cleverly unfolded, all the clues in plain view but only assembled as the pieces click together. All in all, this novel is a tour de force of storytelling and an extraordinary work of crime fiction.

Reposted from Crime Fiction Review https://crimefictionreview.com/salt-bones-by-jennifer-givhan/ show less

4.5 stars, this was a wonderfully written story of family secrets and indigenous/Latina women going missing. The mystery was strong enough to propel the plot but the characters and relationships were where the writing shone. There is a magical realism/legend element that worked really well here too.

Review of Digital Galley Edition

Mal [Malamar] Veracruz has lived in El Valle her entire life, unable to escape just like her mother and grandmother. The only one in her family that managed to get away was her sister, Elena, who vanished some twenty-five years ago, was never found, and is, most likely, long dead. Other women have vanished from El Valle over the years, but Griselda managed to escape by going away to school.

But none of that matters when Mal’s other daughter, Amaranta, disappears, just like Elena.

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Set in the Salton Sea area of California, this emotional story is a mix of family, culture, and magic. It is creepy, atmospheric, and dark, a treat for horror fans.

Strong, interesting characters Through generations, the show more stories of the Veracruz family and the Callahan family have fallen to the children, Griselda and Harlan. Mal, given to dreams, nightmares, and visions, creates a combination of myth and reality for readers. Everyone here holds secrets; as the plot twists and turns, readers will find themselves wondering if they will be revealed before it is too late.

There is a significant amount of [unexplained] Spanish blended with English throughout the telling of this tale. Unfortunately, this becomes something to pull readers out of the tale unless they speak Spanish. While context does provide some clarity, there are times that readers are likely to be confounded.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Little, Brown and Company / Mulholland Books and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review. show less

This slow burn thriller includes missing girls, secrets, disturbing visions and a mother’s fierce love for her daughters.