Hey, readers! It’s been a long time since I last posted and a lot has been going on. Over the last few months, I’ve been dealing with my grandmother being in and out of the hospital, and increased workload as I gear up for a coworker’s leave, and turning 35. I haven’t felt like or had much time to delve into a good book even though I never stopped buying them. (Yeah, my TBR is pretty insane right now.) Even my beloved firefighter romances just weren’t sparking anything for me.
However, dear readers, this past month I stumbled upon a book that has broken me out of my reading slump: Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose. A hauntingly dark twisty tale wrapped up in really cool packaging, I’m officially calling that this book is going to be the mystery of the summer.
Or at least the mystery of my summer.
Now, I’ve rambled long enough. It’s time to dive in. Here are my honest thoughts and opinions on Home Is Where the Bodies Are.
So, what is “Home Is Where the Bodies Are” about?
After their mom passes, three estranged siblings reunite to settle her estate. There is eldest Beth, who stayed by her mom’s side to the very end, middle child Nicole, a sensitive soul battling the demons of drug addiction, and youngest Michael, the one who got out, found success, and hasn’t been in contact since their father disappeared several years prior. While cleaning out the house, they stumble upon a box of old home movies, and decide to watch one from the summer of 1999 in hopes of receiving happier times. However, they are shocked what they see when they press play. Their father covered in blood appears on the screen. A dead body. Their parents seemingly covering up a murder. Now, Beth, Nicole, and Michael have a choice to make. Do they leave the past buried in the past, or do they uncover the dark secrets their their mother took with her to the grave?
Why I chose “Home Is Where the Bodies Are”
I kept seeing this book advertised on Barnes and Noble’s website a little while ago and thought the cover was cool. Plus, I fell in love with the VHS-style packaging.
My thoughts on “Home Is Where the Bodies Are”
It’s been a long time since a book knocked me on my butt, but, man, Home Is Where the Bodies Are left me flat on the floor. From the first page, I was captivated, and I hated having to put it down for things like work and sleep. It’s been days since I finished it, and moments from the story are still randomly popping into my head.
I firmly believe this is a testament to Rose’s simple yet beautifully haunting writing style. She really takes time to create the tense claustrophobic, atmosphere that keeps the reader constantly on edge. I really appreciated her choice to have most of the story take place in their childhood home, thrusting Beth, Nicole, and Michael into their childhood bedrooms and the ghosts of their parents and their own memories of 1999. It created an added layer of tension and sense of entrapment in a time long ago. The siblings were forced to confront long buried grudges threatening to rip them apart while trying to come together to solve the mystery of their parents’ involvement with the dead body they discovered on the VHS tape. Even the use of the VHS tape as the catalyst for the story lends itself to the feeling of going back in time, a relic of lives long ago.
Yet, this book is not an all-style-no-substance tale. On the contrary, Rose has crafted one of the top mysteries I’ve read in the last few years. Her storytelling was about as tight as you can make it with no word or chapter wasted. She expertly maintained a sense of suspense that never dragged or felt boring. It also really kept me guessing. Every time I thought I knew what happened or who the real killer was, Rose would introduce a new clue or a new potential suspect, and the new discovery would force me to reorient my thought process as every possible scenario of the crime felt like it could be a genuinely realistic resolution. (Seriously, It got to the point where I literally suspected everyone and found myself coming up with tons of theories trying to solve the case before the siblings did.) By the time I got to the end, the big reveal was equal parts shockingly unexpected and perfectly satisfying.
However, the real heart of this story is the complicated relationship between siblings Beth, Nicole, and Michael. Rose does a great job of making you both love and hate all of them. They are unabashedly not the greatest people. Beth is bitter. Nicole is an addict. Michael is constantly looking for the quickest way to get everything settled, so he can leave again. Yet, since the narrative rotates between the siblings in first-person perspective chapters, we get to understand what makes them tick and why they are the miserable people they are. These inner workings also help give context to how each one copes with their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, reacts to the discovery on the tape, and falls into their role of what to do in the present. Rose also takes care showing all facets of their relationship. She peppers in small bonding moments and happy memories alongside explosive fights and resentments. If you have siblings, their complex relationship will resonate with you minus the murder.
Now, I did have one gripe with the book. Scattered throughout the book are chapters from perspective of the family matriarch Laura. I understand why they were included as they added context for what Laura saw and her involvement in the 1999 crime. However, I think this could have been presented to the reader in a better way. Throughout the whole book Beth, Nicole, and Michael are uncovering information and the Laura chapters felt separate from the rest of the story as the reader was privy to information unknown to the rest of the main characters. It’s stated many times that Laura kept journals and recorded him movies, and I think using these for modes of discovery in one of the sibling chapters rather than the way it was done would have made the overall story even stronger.
Final Verdict
Home Is Where the Bodies Are is easily a five out of five book. From start to finish, it is a gripping tale brimming with twisty turns, complex characters, and emotionally beautiful prose. If you are looking for a hauntingly dark summer read, I highly recommend this one.
Shannon K. Writes 