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Bones by Yolanda Olson
Series: La Douleur Folle #1
Publication date: June 10th, 2021
Pages: 204
Pages: 204
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
Loss is not something I'm accustomed to.
However, it's what I'm faced with now because I can't remember.
I've tried so hard to find what I'm looking for, and while I've done my best, it still eludes me.
The memory comes and goes in glimpses of a faded past and possible future, yet I can't grasp it.
Not yet.
Stay close and don't look back.
This is going to be a hard road, but we'll get through this together.
We have to.
You're the only hope I have left.
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Review:
Normally when I write my reviews I try to summarize the story before I delve into my review so my readers can get a better picture of what the story is about through my perspective. The issue is that this book was so all over the place and a bit confusing so I don't even know how to summarize it properly. The main male protagonist is a madman. He enjoys killing people and collecting their skulls to admire after the fact. He seems to embrace the fact that he is a psychopath and knows full and well what he needs at any given time in order to feel in control. He frequents an establishment that caters to those who wish to engage in sexual acts that can sometimes result in death. They have people come to them that want to die and they are given to those who wish to kill. Seems like a great match, unless the person who is looking to kill first enjoys convincing their victims that they want to live.
This story is all over the place. I never got a good feel for the character at all. I knew he was a psychopath and I knew that he was trying to fly under the radar so as not to be caught in his murderous ways, but I didn't really get a sense of where his psychopathy stemmed from. He just simply was one with a medley of other issues. There were macabre scenes where the focus was mainly on the murder and the grotesque methods at which he executed them and very little on any sexual engagement. This didn't read like a splatterpunk book because those are usually a mix of horror and smut. This was not smutty in the least. Nothing about it made me think he was even remotely redeemable like other books would attempt. He simply was who he was and there was no likeable nature to him.
This story is all over the place. I never got a good feel for the character at all. I knew he was a psychopath and I knew that he was trying to fly under the radar so as not to be caught in his murderous ways, but I didn't really get a sense of where his psychopathy stemmed from. He just simply was one with a medley of other issues. There were macabre scenes where the focus was mainly on the murder and the grotesque methods at which he executed them and very little on any sexual engagement. This didn't read like a splatterpunk book because those are usually a mix of horror and smut. This was not smutty in the least. Nothing about it made me think he was even remotely redeemable like other books would attempt. He simply was who he was and there was no likeable nature to him.
When there was any sort of sexual undertones to a scene it felt like the author was extremely uncomfortable. Which, who can really blame them? You're basically writing a snuff scene. Anyone would be icked out by it. But the authors that can dip into that darkness without flinching is what gives characters a little more depth. I never felt any sort of connection to the protagonist/antagonist. And the twist at the end just read a little too much like a build your own adventure book from when I was a child. It didn't come across as eerie or cause a spike in anxiety. It only made me wince and "really?"
Ultimately, this book was not for me. There were too many scenes that I struggled to follow and nothing that made me feel anything even remotely for the characters. I didn't feel anything but disgust for the main scene in the book and couldn't understand the reasoning behind any of it. I would rip apart the characters' motives to the point where none of it was even remotely believable. This took a lot away from any discomfort the author was trying to achieve in the grotesque and twisted story. It just wasn't for me in the slightest.
Ultimately, this book was not for me. There were too many scenes that I struggled to follow and nothing that made me feel anything even remotely for the characters. I didn't feel anything but disgust for the main scene in the book and couldn't understand the reasoning behind any of it. I would rip apart the characters' motives to the point where none of it was even remotely believable. This took a lot away from any discomfort the author was trying to achieve in the grotesque and twisted story. It just wasn't for me in the slightest.
