Book Review: The much awaited The Bone Keeper by Luca Veste. Seriously creepy, seriously insidious and a very good read

Available here

Everyone grows up with their own bogeyman - that shadowy scary figure that haunts the darkness, instilling fear into your soul.. For me, growing up in the 60s and 70s my Bogeyman was Bible John, the Glasgow serial killer who terrorised women for a year and then disappeared off the face of the earth leaving behind a legacy of questions and fear.



In The Bonekeeper, Luca Veste has created a modern day Bogeyman that to my mind rivals the likes of Bible John. The dark, foul smelling abductor and killer who haunts the streets, woods and wastelands of Liverpool, striking fear into the heart of the city is a larger than life Urban myth ... or is he? Perhaps he's real!

When a young woman is discovered, flayed and delirious singing the catchy Bone Keeper song, DC Louise Henderson and DS Paul Shipley are assigned to the case.
Louise whose hazy secretive past appears to impact on her ability to form relationships, is drawn to the young woman and feels sure that she has more to tell than she is prepared to reveal ... But how does it relate to The Bone Keeper?

Determined to hold onto the case, even when it's spiraling right into the hands of the Major Incident team, after a mass grave is discovered, Shipley is sceptical of the existence of The Bone Keeper, but strange symbols and an increasing body count make it difficult to discount the theory.  
Vesta, through flashbacks and skillful narrative grips you by the throat.  This is not the sort of book to read in a remote location, in the dark, on your own - a well lit friendly cafe didn't stop me jumping when the waiter delivered my coffee to the table ... so be warned!

It was more than just the enigmatic, scary lurking idea of The Bone Keeper that kept me hooked.  Louise's emotional journey added a human touch that juxtaposed the 'other worldly' monster.  I really felt her pain and was fully on board as Veste took me on a journey to explore her past.  Well written, edgy and damn scary!