{"id":5446,"date":"2026-01-22T11:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5446"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:10:36","slug":"in-the-bones-by-tessa-wegert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5446","title":{"rendered":"In the Bones by Tessa Wegert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Petty thefts unearth a chilling homicide in this multi-perspective mystery.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s summer, and seasonal homeowners are returning to town. But shortly after their arrival, the calls begin. They\u2019ve been robbed. However, when the inspectors arrive, it\u2019s hard to keep a straight face due to the seemingly frivolous nature of the complaints\u2014missing tops, jeans, bikini, wine, and jars of peanut butter. The actual valuables haven\u2019t been touched. And there are no signs of any break-ins. Initially, it\u2019s tagged a prank by bored locals or simple forgetfulness. But the third call indicates otherwise. An already confusing situation becomes chilling when a shocking discovery is made in one of the newly renovated riverfront homes.<\/p>\n

Tessa Wegert\u2019s In the Bones<\/em> uses multiple perspectives to expose the many hidden things happening in what appears to be a boring, quiet town where the rich come to relax. In the midst of all this drama is Nicole, a cleaner with a far more personal mission beyond the extra cash she\u2019ll get from cleaning the home of the newly arrived and retired NHL star, Mikko Helle. She needs proof that he has pulled her husband into a shady financial scheme and this might be her only chance. Already working under pressure with her goal weighing heavily on her mind, fear and tension spike when she starts hearing strange noises and items going missing. That\u2019s when she notices a message traced into dust: \u201cI\u2019m watching.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, a young woman, Jenny Smith, is found hiding in the attic. With some probing, she is revealed as the mysterious phrogger responsible for the bizarre seasonal thefts. It doesn\u2019t end here, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She leads investigators to a crawlspace containing skeletal remains, beginning a homicide investigation. Now the story centers on the frantic search for the victim\u2019s identity and the killer, while the tightening domestic turmoil surrounding Nicole\u2019s household worsens. State Police investigator Tim Wellington and Sheriff Maureen \u201cMac\u201d McIntyre (Nicole\u2019s half-sister) try to piece together a maze of incomplete information amid the rising anxiety in the community. Is anyone truly who they seem?<\/p>\n

The book switches between events occurring in the present day and chapters from a separate timeline involving a woman called Molly and her friend Gigi. These two young women were exploring the Thousand Islands months before the body is found. Author Tessa Wegert uses these chapters to create an eerie, slow-building sense of dread as readers recognize connections before the investigators do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cape Vincent, the book\u2019s setting, is rendered with a richness that captures both its seasonal beauty and its off-season isolation. Wegert creates a sharp contrast between locals and the wealthy summer residents that amplifies the sense that everyone is guarding something, and the empty waterfront homes provide the perfect environment for a story where secrets are easier to hide than to escape.<\/p>\n

Nicole\u2019s choices, meanwhile, come from a very real place: money running thin, her marriage buckling under strain, and that constant, creeping fear that her family\u2019s future is slipping out of her hands. Sheriff McIntyre, as Nicole\u2019s older sister, brings emotional texture to the law-enforcement storyline, and her quiet frustration with Nicole\u2019s evasiveness feels natural rather than manufactured: \u201cIt was the fact that Nicole worked alone in strangers\u2019 houses that irked Sheriff Maureen McIntyre. Nicole liked to call Mac paranoid, but Nicole hadn\u2019t spent half her life in law enforcement.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The introduction of multiple characters early in the story can be a bit overwhelming to track, with some of the supporting characters remaining on the periphery. Eva Ki and Jeremy Solomon serve the narrative but rarely stretch beyond their defined functions, and Mikko\u2019s arrogance at times verges on caricature, which may be intentional but slightly diminishes the impact of his involvement in the financial subplot. While compelling, Jenny Smith\u2019s phrogging occasionally stretches believability, as the number of undetected break-ins is quite a lot. Though the emotional payoff is well-worth-it.<\/p>\n

Overall, Wegert\u2019s prose is crisp and attentive to sensory detail, especially when drawing out the claustrophobic tension inside hidden crawlspaces. Transitions between viewpoints and timelines unfold smoothly, often closing chapters with just enough emotional or investigative pressure to propel readers forward.<\/p>\n

The multiple mysteries pull readers in, but it\u2019s how they all begin to connect that truly stands out. The motive behind the thefts, the identities of the victim and the killer, what happened nine months ago, the reason Woody made such a risky investment, the real nature of Mikko\u2019s business dealings\u2014everything grabs attention and solidifies the intrigue.<\/p>\n

Sometimes quiet places hide a whole lot more than loud places can. Tessa Wegert\u2019s well-constructed thriller In the Bones<\/em> shows this brilliantly through its portrayal of small-town dynamics.<\/p>\n

The post In the Bones by Tessa Wegert<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Petty thefts unearth a chilling homicide in this multi-perspective mystery.\u00a0 It\u2019s summer, and seasonal homeowners are returning to town. But shortly after their arrival, the calls begin. They\u2019ve been robbed. However, when the inspectors arrive, it\u2019s hard to keep a straight face due to the seemingly frivolous nature of the complaints\u2014missing tops, jeans, bikini, wine, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}