Book Review: Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh

Quiet in Her Bones

by Nalini Singh

🍬🍬🍬🍬 (four stars as rated in Aarav’s exceptionally addictive stash of sweets)

It’s been ten years since Nina Rai disappeared with a quarter of a million dollars. Generally assumed to have fled her former life willingly, Nina and her disappearance have all but faded from the rumor mill of the close-knit cul-de-sac where she once lived. But when Nina’s remains are discovered only a short distance from her home, everything changes. With only a handful of neighbors that could have been responsible for her death, Nina’s murder uproots secrets about more than just her and the Rai family. Her son, Aarav, is determined to discover who murdered his mother, but having recently suffered brain damage from a nearly fatal car accident, his account of his mother’s last night alive is far from reliable. Still, he is willing to face every one of his demons to get to the truth. Even the ones his family would prefer never saw the light of day…

Ten years was a long time… For everyone to forget that Nina Parvati Rai had been a living, breathing woman who’d loved music and cooking and had a mind like a computer.

In another life she could have been a professor. In this life she’d been a rich man’s wife.

Now she was just bones.

Nalini Singh, Quiet in her Bones

This book spoke to me the minute I saw that deliciously sinister looking cover. I’m adding Quiet In Her Bones to my list of rainy day recommendations because this is exactly the type of book with which one really ought to cozy up on the couch with a cuppa. I loved that the neighborhood in which the Rai family lives is so thoroughly multi-cultural and diverse; and not in a way that feels forced or “for show.” Nalini Singh really raises the bar when it comes to writing about a variety of races, sexual orientations and life experiences without leaning on tropes or stereotypes. I’ll be adding some of her other work to my TBR right away. Also, considering that she (according to her website) especially loves writing romance, I am blown away at how well she pulled of the mystery of this story. I really did not put the pieces together until just at the end. And the unreliable narrator bits were fun for me to try and sort through.

✨ Rep in this book: Indian protagonist, diverse community of side characters

✨ Content warnings for this book: domestic violence, blood, car accident, murder, adultery, assault, blackmail, medical stuff, drug use, addiction, suicide, memory loss, sex work

About the Author: Nalini Singh

(The following was copied from the author’s personal website) I was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I spent three years living and working in Japan, where I took the chance to travel around Asia. I’m back in New Zealand now, but I’m always plotting new trips.

I’ve worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher, but not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency, but I call it grist for the writer’s mill.

Personal note: girl on colonization

One of the first things that struck me about this book was that Māori words are commonly used to describe foliage and terrain in New Zealand. I was completely unfamiliar with that. And as an American who is so used to living in a place where use of indigenous words was all but stamped out during colonization, this really affected me. So much was lost. So many were lost. And we will never be able to get back what we destroyed.

Best,

Sarah