Image created by the author on Canva using background photo from Pixabay
It was recently my pleasure to read Nalini Singh’s psychological thriller “Quiet in Her Bones.” I read a large number of books from this genre. This one particularly stood out in terms of the quality of the writing, the pacing, the depth of the story, and it kept me guessing until the end.
Wealthy socialite Nina Rai goes missing along with $250,000 from her husband Ishaan’s safe after a heated argument. Although Ishaan claimed that Nina made off with his money, their son Aarav has never believed that she would leave him behind, never contacting him again. Aarav is certain that there was foul play. A decade later, Nina Rai’s car is found in the bush.
Aarav, who is now a well-known writer, has returned home to his parents’ cul-de-sac to recuperate from a car accident. He is certain someone in the neighborhood is responsible for his mother’s death.
As the story progresses, we realize that Aarav is an unreliable narrator. We realize that his memory of events may not be intact, and the reasons why are only gradually revealed. Because he does not have a clear memory of events, it adds a dimension to the story because we cannot even fully trust what he is telling us. Did he hurt his mother? He says he would not be capable of such a thing, but if he doesn’t remember, how does he know for sure?
Many themes are covered in this novel. In my opinion it goes beyond being an “airplane novel” because of this. It deals with the complicated nature of family relationships. For example, Aarav’s loving memories of his deceased mother are interspersed with anger towards her over her alcoholism. Another dichotomy is Aarav’s hatred of his father for abusing his mother and yet he decides to stay with him during his recuperation from the accident.
Other themes that are covered are cultural conditioning and silence, domestic abuse, sociopathy, and the nature of empathy. Yeah, I know. It’s a lot.
I recommend this book if you enjoy psychological thrillers. It is satisfying on many levels. It is what you might call a textured, multi-layered book. I deliberately did not give away too many details about this book because I think you should read it and I don’t want to ruin it for you. So, there it is. Read the book. What else can I say?
I found it particularly satisfying that I had no idea what really happened until the end. The use of impaired memory to create an unreliable narrator was a very interesting device. I find stories with unreliable narrators to be intriguing. If you can’t trust the narrator, who can you trust? You have to read between the lines to figure out what is happening.
I have read other books by Nalini Singh, and I enjoyed them also. She is a New Zealand writer, and she writes psychological thrillers and, I think also paranormal romance, which seems an unusual mix, but if it works, it works, right?
Do you enjoy psychological thrillers? Who are your favorite authors in the genre?
