Thank to Netgalley for the preview of this book. It was a good read It will keep you entertained & guessing throughout the read. I felt it feel a bit flat towards the end but overall it was a good if not amazing read. Slightly predictable but entertaining

I received a copy of this book through netgalley.

What can I not say about this book? N V Peacock came out of nowhere in my reading world and enraptured me from the moment I began this book. What a whirlwind story that will captivate you from its first moments and leave you breathless at the end.

The story literally kept me on my toes and guessing the whole time.

Remember readers... you will think you know early on... however, keep guessing, because you won’t realize until the end. The twists and turns in this novel make you second guess yourself and what you are reading.

Could not put it down and cannot think of greater words to say about this novel. Utterly fantastic

This one was disappointing.

The plot intrigued me initially - this woman who is the daughter of a serial killer. She would help him lure young boys into his car, and he would use their bones to create art. I thought, wow, what an interesting plot!

Cherrie, aka Little Bones, has a family. Her life is pretty normal after changing her name and having nothing to do with her father, Mr. Bones. Then, after a meeting with a psychic, who tells her her son is in danger, she discovered a podcast exploring the crimes of Mr Bones, and her life starts to fall apart.

I thought this was going to be a dark, real gritty thriller. Instead what I got was an over-dramatic, predictable story that focused very little on the story of Little Bones and her past. The Mr Bones, Little Bones plot felt sidelined to make way for a rather boring kidnapping mystery that I was struggling to finish.

I disliked the main character. A LOT. She was way too intense and the way she treated people was horrible. You could argue the reason for her actions, and I get it to a degree, but she was unbearable to read and I felt awful for the side characters around her. I found the side characters more interesting than Cherrie. The dialogue was bland, and we got a constant internal monologue and not enough 'show' for my liking. It was repetitive and lacked any kind of atmosphere.

I was hoping for a dark thriller. A creepy thriller. The way this book is described does not reflect what it's actually about and I'm mad.

I liked the Mr Bones plot. Wish there was more of it. Other than that, I don't recommend this.

This started off really promising, in fact I had a moment about 20% in that caused me to gasp and start recommending this book to others. Unfortunately it might be that "Little Bones" by NV Peacock, for me, peaked too soon. I jumped to conclusions on who the murderer is but as time went on, it turned out that this was a red herring. It was a shame that more doubt couldn't have been cast over the murderer's identity. Anyway, it redeemed itself partly in the end, with a creepy description of the main character's father.

Loved it. Kept me enthralled the whole time. Will keep this author on my watch list. Highly recommend.

How true is the saying ‘like father like daughter’?

Cherie’s changed her name and created a new life for herself but someone finds out she is the daughter of a serial killer called Mr Bones and then her son goes missing. Has she killed Robin? Will she kill others to find the truth?

There are a lot of twists and turns in this book where you are lead down a path only to find it twists again. About 25% before the end I guessed the ending but this didn’t stop me enjoying the ride.

Cherie’s decent into sleep deprived madness was a little infuriating. I just wanted to reach into the book and slap some sense into her, but if the shoe was on my foot I would probably react the same.

Overall I think it’s a quick easy read, with lots of twists albeit with the final twist being one that was a little easy to predict.

Cherie as she is known as an adult, has had a very disturbing childhood. Her father was a serial killer. Known to everyone as big bones. Fittingly, she became known as little bones. As a child she watched as her father did cruel things to people. So one can imagine the torment and hell she went through. I want to say that at this point the author does an immaculate job of ensuring that everything was written In such a way that is fluid and easy to follow. As you read this story it is almost as if it is you, the reader, experiencing the emotional trauma. Cherie as an adult is much different now. She is married and has children. Just as it seems she is over the trauma, people start disappearing. Not just disappearing but exactly as the did when her father was killing them. Why is this happening now? The ending will surprise you completely. This is one hell of a ride and written in such a way that you are immersed completely and cannot wait to see what happens next. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves this genre!

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book grabbed my attention right away. The premise of a serial killer's daughter trying to form her own life is intriguing and the writing was good but I did have some problems with this book. I'll start with the good stuff. This book has suspense. It has the creepy factor of a serial killer who preys on little boys, that in itself is horrifying. When I read the prologue, I was floored. It left chills and the idea of killers among us, those men who can do horrible things while posing as normal fathers and husbands is a chilling concept, ala The Fall, that I immediately loved. If the whole book had been in this vein, this level of intrigue, I would have gone all in... but it didn't.

First, Cherrie. The main character starts out sympathetic but morphed into a confusing mess. I understand that she is struggling with her past identity and who she is now as a mother, but I'm not sure if it was the intension of the author to make her episodes fueled by anger or denial or regressed pain... It got distracting instead of moving the story along and almost made me not finish.

Second, there were a lot of "suspects" that seemed introduced in obvious ways that always made me discount them. I felt like the ending was not a surprise twist, although satisfying. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it at that.

I love a lot of things about this book conceptually. As an idea, it is marvellous, successfully using the idea of the internet's propensity to assume the worse and indict before evidence, the concept of a child's connection to her aberrant parent, and the use of a twisting plotline that introduces a lot of red herrings. I will say that this book kept me guessing very successfully, and I really enjoyed that it was such a ride of story.

However, there are letdowns from this book. I really found it hard to slog through with the internal monologue of the main character, especially her inate rage (which I understand and she had the motivation for, but it became so repetitive). I guessed the ending at a certain juncture in the book fairly successfully, and fairly early on- so that was a little disappointing too. I like it when a book gives clues to something, but not when it gives itself away too much (a hard balance to strike, I am aware). I also think this book could have benefitted more from more humanising of all the characters, and I think it was just a little flat in that respect. With that said, the author shows great promise- it's just making things a little tighter, and carrying those ideas all the way through that will make an absolute world of difference.

Thank you to Netgalley and N. V. Peacock for the advanced review copy of Little Bones. I absolutely flew through this book and raced my way to the end to find my suspicions confirmed! No spoilers here - Cherrie at first seems a difficult character to connect with until you learn of her past. When her family is in danger - she has to draw on her past to make sure no one gets hurt. My only dislike about this book is that of Leo’s character - I didn’t find him very likeable at all and only wish Cherrie would leave him!

Cherrie Forrester has a secret: her name's not really Cherrie and she's the daughter of notorious serial killer "Mr. Bones." As a child she helped her father lure young boys into his car and gained the nickname "Little Bones" for what came next. She's successfully put that past behind her, that is until a new little boy goes missing. What will happen when people find out who Cherrie really is?

N.V. Peacock has a killer concept for her book and starts with a deeply creepy prologue that had me excited for more. But the rest of the story devolved into clumsy writing, wooden dialogue, and a highly erratic protagonist, all leading to a predictable ending. Also included are a bizarre number of comments related to greasy food and emojis. The result is disappointing. A good concept that was executed poorly.

I wanted so badly to love this book. It started out with a creepy premise where we learn the MC has big secrets and her own son might be in danger. I also loved the psychic scene, and hoped for more of that. I felt like the clues given along the way were too obvious and that distracted from me being fully into the story as a whole. I also found the characters unlikable. Positives: I liked the Cherrie’s voice and could relate to her in ways. I appreciated the focus on the relationships in her life and how they affected her. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This book really kept my interest. I could not put it down. As a mystery it does a pretty good job. The author basically gives us two main viable suspects. I thought it was pretty obvious from the beginning which of the two was going to be the perpetrator and I was right. Don't expect a "big twist" kind of book or you might be disappointed. Some of the things the main character said and did were a little unbelievable but I thought this was a fun little mystery.

Cherie had been born Leigh Ann, but at 17 she had been forced to change her identity, because her father had been William Hendy or better known as Mr Bones a serial killer from 25 years ago, who kidnapped young boys boiling their bodies and using the bones to make macabre art. Leigh Ann was 8 years old, her father had used her as bait to get the young boys into his car.

Now Cherie has a son Robin, a boyfriend Leo and a job. She has left her past behind. No one knows who she is her boyfriend or her friends have no clue. Until a young boy goes missing and Cherie starts to follow the story. She sees a podcast ‘The Flesh in the Bones’ and out of curiosity she listens to it, little did she know that her new identity, her workplace and where she lived was mentioned. Now she doesn’t know what to do, half hoping people won’t listen to it, but knowing that someone who knows her might and gossip can soon spread.

She takes Robin to the fair one night and he vanishes into thin air, she had been watching him all evening, until she had received one text which distracted her, that’s when Robin vanished. The police are called, but when they learn who she is some of the questions make her feel they believe she killed her own son. With a few twists and turns to keep you guessing, although I guessed pretty early who was behind it.

When I first started this story I actually liked Cherie, but as I read more and more I gradually came to dislike her. She was so annoying at times, her anger took over, she just wasn’t acting like a mum who has lost her son, and the more she acted up the more I got annoyed with her. There were a couple of other characters that I found frustrating as well. Some of the story was gripping but then other parts just went on too long. Cherie’s musings were just too many. It just became unbelievable, I wanted to believe the story, but several plot lines were sadly just ludicrous and that just spoilt it for me personally.

The writing is good, it flowed, it had some tension in it at times, I just wish some of the actions of the characters could have been more believable, but sadly they weren’t.

I will however be looking out for further books by this author in the future.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #AvonBooks for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

When Cherrie was little, she had a different name and a different life helping her serial killer father Mr. Bones to make art out of children's bones. She may have only been 8 at the time but the cruel media dubbed her Little Bones.

Now Cherrie is living a new life and trying to put the past behind her. Everything is going well until her child goes missing and a podcaster dredges up the past, exposing Cherrie's secrets.

This story is a fast paced read that keeps you interested in finding the outcome. It makes you question everyone as you wonder who the guilty party is. Cherrie's character is a bit abrasive and moody, with a questionable morale compass, but you can't help rooting for her. If you like stories without a clear suspect, this would be a story for you.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Cherrie lives a nice life in Northamptonshire until one day, a child goes missing...
Is it a copycat killer of the notorious killer Mr Bones from 25 years ago? A podcast seems to think so and suddenly Cherie’s life starts to unravel as her identity is revealed. She is Little Bones, the serial killers daughter. She is identified as a villain but friends and family. But she says she’s not, she’s a victim. Who do you believe.

This is a really good book, a quick easy, addictive read. The story is well paced with plenty of suspense and twists and turns. , it is perfectly dark and creepy in places. The main character Cherie is a really strong leading character and you can really feel her rage as she begins to be suspected of terrible things!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for an early copy.


There's nothing quite as scary as a serial killer that specialises in little kids, and, as creepy as that sounds, having one featured in your thriller is almost a sure way to get the audience interested in what's happening.

In Little Bones, the shadow of a serial killer – the aptly named Mr. Bones, who made art out of the bones of the kids he killed – becomes stronger as children start disappearing in a small town.
And his memories have never been stronger as when the son of his daughter, nicknamed Little Bones, disappears.

The summary sounded more than awesome, and, in the whole, the plot was strong and interesting.
I think where this book failed to become a great thriller in my opinion, it's in the writing style.

One of the big issues, in my opinion, was how unrealistic the different characters' actions sounded.
On the one side, there's the boyfriend of Little Bones, who flees at the first occasion and (generally speaking) sounds like a right asshole I would have gotten rid off.
And on the other side, there's Little Bones herself, Cherrie (or Leigh-Ann, depending on the timeframe). Cherrie goes from one decision to another, to still another, in the space of two lines of text. So, yeah, alright, I'll admit that I have no experience of missing children, and I'm sure it must be a terrifying and highly confusing moment for all involved.
That being said, the constant change of mind read as if the author didn't actually know where to go and in which order everything was going to happen.

All in all, that made for a quite confusing read at time, where you just wanted to see the next thing happening.

It also made for suspenseful chapters that sometimes became a little flat. Whereas the author smartly tries to introduce multiple possible culprits, there are so many of them at times that it's hard to really believe a single one of them could have done it.
Even the plot twist wasn't as surprising as it might have been – through sometimes not-so-subtle hints throughout the whole book, I'd guessed pretty early on where Robin was.

In short, a thriller that didn't quite live to my expectations. It has some great aspects (notably the originality of featuring a serial killer's child as the main character), and a solid plot, but it lacks in some of the elements that make a great thriller: suspense and characters you feel strongly for.

Cherrie Forrester is a mother in a stable relationship working part time at a local store. However, her life begins to unravel when a local boy goes missing and a true crime podcast reveals and names her as the daughter of notorious serial killer, Mr Bones.

Soon, Cherrie is trapped in a nightmare when her own son is taken. She will stop at nothing to get him back!

This book starts very strong but I found the second half quite frustrating. I knew who had Robin from the start and felt that a lot of Cherrie’s actions were out of character. I also had major issues with the mother in law. Cherrie has proven herself to be outspoken in a lot of ways, so why didn’t she stand up for herself when she was being insulted? I thought the secret extension arc was quite silly too. Who lets their partner build an extension on their house without looking in it?

It’s not a bad debut, and it’s nicely written. I’d definitely try another by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

Looking at other people's reviews its clear that lots of people loved this book, which Im happy about - but I didn't enjoy reading it unfortunately. I don't know if the subject matter was too close to home, having an eight year old myself, but I couldnt relax and enjoy it. Thank you for the chance to read it though.

Special thanks to Avon Books UK and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me hooked right from the beginning. I really enjoyed the premise and the build up of everything. There are some gruesome details that a few people might not be comfortable reading about (the serial killer dad uses children's bones for his sculptures and it gets pretty gross), so watch out for that if that isn't your thing. If the description of the book intrigues you, I think you would like this.

I did have a few issues with the writing. I feel as though there wasn't a single solid character in the entire book. They all contradict themselves completely at some point, and it's pretty jarring. Once you, the reader, realize who kidnapped Cherrie's son, the book becomes insanely frustrating. I think the ending was anticlimactic and unrealistic.

Although there was a lot I didn't like about this one, the first half was SO STRONG. I also have faith that the issues I had will be improved upon in another book.

For a debut thriller, I think this is pretty good. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from N.V. Peacock.

Happy reading, little bones! (too soon?)