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Deep As Bone
Something is wrong in the Henshaw household - something as bad as murder. Who better to sniff this out and dig up, so to speak, old bones, than the nosy nanny. But proving murder means finding a body. And although Ilsa sets herself this task, justice is hardly her motive. In unraveling the intricate web of secrets that surround the upper-crust Henshaw household, Ilsa finds that her own secret history complicates her every move. A dark and thoroughly unexpected psychological thriller.
“I was now so close he could slide an arm around me. I was tall but I had to tilt my head to look up at him. My chin would have fitted nicely into the lower curve of his neck. And I could have done just that. He smelt tangy, like the sea. My tongue longed for a lick of salt. I could have easily pressed against that lean body, turned my face to his – and we would have locked in a violent kiss leading inevitably to hasty entanglement and disaster. Now was not the right time. I had to let the line run a bit. Time would create complexity and depth - a connection more difficult to unravel.”
“I was now so close he could slide an arm around me. I was tall but I had to tilt my head to look up at him. My chin would have fitted nicely into the lower curve of his neck. And I could have done just that. He smelt tangy, like the sea. My tongue longed for a lick of salt. I could have easily pressed against that lean body, turned my face to his – and we would have locked in a violent kiss leading inevitably to hasty entanglement and disaster. Now was not the right time. I had to let the line run a bit. Time would create complexity and depth - a connection more difficult to unravel.”
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 11, 2011
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 3, 2013
I know this is an over used phrase but I really couldn't put this one down. How I cursed when my tablet ran out of charge three chapters from the end! Out of bed I got, and ran downstairs to get the charger, because there was no way I was going to get any sleep until I knew how it was all going to end. And what an ending! Not what I expected.
Ilsa has come to England from South Africa,to take up the post of nanny to a deeply troubled five year old girl, Amy. From the off, we know there is something sinister about this nanny; she has a problematic past, to say the least. Ilsa strikes up an immediate rapport and empathy with her troubled charge and soon finds herself embroiled in the secrets of the household, secrets so dark and sinister that the sense of danger lurks in every corner of the house. Ilsa sets out to discover what causes Amy to scream at night, and finds out more than she ever bargained for. But Ilsa herself is no stranger to dark secrets. Is she the innocent investigator she appears to be on the surface, or does she have her own agenda?
I had not heard of Malla Duncan until a couple of weeks ago. She now has another avid fan. It delights me when an Indie author writes with such aplomb. It makes me proud to be a part of the indie gang of writers. This was a cleverly constructed plot which did not falter from beginning to end. The characters were well depicted and all too real. The quality of the writing was faultless.
A delicious psychological thriller which was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I highly recommend it.
Ilsa has come to England from South Africa,to take up the post of nanny to a deeply troubled five year old girl, Amy. From the off, we know there is something sinister about this nanny; she has a problematic past, to say the least. Ilsa strikes up an immediate rapport and empathy with her troubled charge and soon finds herself embroiled in the secrets of the household, secrets so dark and sinister that the sense of danger lurks in every corner of the house. Ilsa sets out to discover what causes Amy to scream at night, and finds out more than she ever bargained for. But Ilsa herself is no stranger to dark secrets. Is she the innocent investigator she appears to be on the surface, or does she have her own agenda?
I had not heard of Malla Duncan until a couple of weeks ago. She now has another avid fan. It delights me when an Indie author writes with such aplomb. It makes me proud to be a part of the indie gang of writers. This was a cleverly constructed plot which did not falter from beginning to end. The characters were well depicted and all too real. The quality of the writing was faultless.
A delicious psychological thriller which was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I highly recommend it.
February 23, 2014
This mystery novel, Deep as Bone is first of all, highly entertaining! It covers a couple of continents so location is appealing, as author, Malla Duncan takes the reader back and forth from South Africa to England.
Excellent plotting from Duncan and within the realms of plausibility. I did not expect so much delicious suspense and I enjoyed the way events evolved which kept me guessing. Sometimes I was right, and sometimes not. That was fun!!
Especially pleasurable for me is the author's diction - her word choice. Duncan's phrasing is fresh, fun, intriguing, clever. I don't intend to be a spoiler by giving anything away, but I kept marking pages to savour. I will quote a little out of context as a sampler: "A finger of sunlight poured through the window and seared like a laser beam onto the carpet."
But next I want to mention the protagonist is female. Ilsa is bright, nervy, nosy, at times with questionable scruples which she will rationalize, but beautiful, sexy, and quite the unexpected sleuth. She sizes up a situation by keen observation:
"My attention spiked. I hadn't been wrong. The sense of simmering resentment was there, oozing steamily from Hector's sweaty body." (Just to be clear, she is not in bed with Hector.)
Lovely too is how Ilsa's thoughts create romantic subtlety and sweet tension for the reader's vicarious pleasure (well, thanks to the author, of course!):
"Across the table I caught Thomas' eye. I tried to glance away but I couldn't. He looked magnificent in his evening suit and bowtie. Lean, powerful, a man of the world, fast deals and plenty of money. I gave him a glazed smile. He lifted an eyebrow fractionally in a reciprocal gesture that made my heart thud in my chest. I felt as light as paper. I could have floated across the table to him."
Most of the time, Ilsa has a saucy personality: "I threw the receptionist a triumphant glance."
I find this novel a triumphant success!
Finally, there are dark moments and secrets, and troubled children in the story. Ilsa states that : "Trust is the gateway to the soul and all its shadows." And there are plenty of shadows so look out!!!
Excellent plotting from Duncan and within the realms of plausibility. I did not expect so much delicious suspense and I enjoyed the way events evolved which kept me guessing. Sometimes I was right, and sometimes not. That was fun!!
Especially pleasurable for me is the author's diction - her word choice. Duncan's phrasing is fresh, fun, intriguing, clever. I don't intend to be a spoiler by giving anything away, but I kept marking pages to savour. I will quote a little out of context as a sampler: "A finger of sunlight poured through the window and seared like a laser beam onto the carpet."
But next I want to mention the protagonist is female. Ilsa is bright, nervy, nosy, at times with questionable scruples which she will rationalize, but beautiful, sexy, and quite the unexpected sleuth. She sizes up a situation by keen observation:
"My attention spiked. I hadn't been wrong. The sense of simmering resentment was there, oozing steamily from Hector's sweaty body." (Just to be clear, she is not in bed with Hector.)
Lovely too is how Ilsa's thoughts create romantic subtlety and sweet tension for the reader's vicarious pleasure (well, thanks to the author, of course!):
"Across the table I caught Thomas' eye. I tried to glance away but I couldn't. He looked magnificent in his evening suit and bowtie. Lean, powerful, a man of the world, fast deals and plenty of money. I gave him a glazed smile. He lifted an eyebrow fractionally in a reciprocal gesture that made my heart thud in my chest. I felt as light as paper. I could have floated across the table to him."
Most of the time, Ilsa has a saucy personality: "I threw the receptionist a triumphant glance."
I find this novel a triumphant success!
Finally, there are dark moments and secrets, and troubled children in the story. Ilsa states that : "Trust is the gateway to the soul and all its shadows." And there are plenty of shadows so look out!!!
August 11, 2013
What an absolutely fascinating and mesmerizing psychological thriller full of lies, secrets, deception, murder and madness!
Ilsa Joubert was definitely not your typical protagonist. Despite her success with forging a trusting, calming relationship with Amy, the Henshaws' difficult, tantrum-prone child, the nanny's own mental stability was called into question many times throughout the book as her dark, chilling past kept creeping into the story to lend further tension and conflict to an already violence-laden atmosphere. She could be almost as cold-blooded and ruthless as the murderer she was trying to apprehend.
Ms. Duncan's writing was superb and haunting and her descriptions and characters were wonderfully developed and fleshed out. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book. One could almost taste the madness and dark emotions permeating the pages.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a complex and thrilling read.
Ilsa Joubert was definitely not your typical protagonist. Despite her success with forging a trusting, calming relationship with Amy, the Henshaws' difficult, tantrum-prone child, the nanny's own mental stability was called into question many times throughout the book as her dark, chilling past kept creeping into the story to lend further tension and conflict to an already violence-laden atmosphere. She could be almost as cold-blooded and ruthless as the murderer she was trying to apprehend.
Ms. Duncan's writing was superb and haunting and her descriptions and characters were wonderfully developed and fleshed out. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book. One could almost taste the madness and dark emotions permeating the pages.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a complex and thrilling read.
May 17, 2013
A sinister tale
Something seems to have disturbed the child, Amy, who screams in the night. Her new nanny, Ilsa, is determined to find out what is troubling her. In the green countryside of England, the luxurious house conceals secrets which may be known only to Ilsa’s chilly employer. Disquieting clues are dropped here and there as she tries to discover more, and the tension builds to a frightening climax. But Ilsa’s own background in South Africa is also strongly present, in contrast to the English scene; and indeed how innocent is this amateur detective with the yellow eyes? Niggling doubts begin to grow. The characters and the relations between them are all sharply observed and utterly believable. I did find the number of illegitimate and adopted babies and orphanages a little confusing, but I still read on compulsively. A well-written thriller, with the added bonus of some erotic scenes involving Ilsa and the unsuspecting husband.
Something seems to have disturbed the child, Amy, who screams in the night. Her new nanny, Ilsa, is determined to find out what is troubling her. In the green countryside of England, the luxurious house conceals secrets which may be known only to Ilsa’s chilly employer. Disquieting clues are dropped here and there as she tries to discover more, and the tension builds to a frightening climax. But Ilsa’s own background in South Africa is also strongly present, in contrast to the English scene; and indeed how innocent is this amateur detective with the yellow eyes? Niggling doubts begin to grow. The characters and the relations between them are all sharply observed and utterly believable. I did find the number of illegitimate and adopted babies and orphanages a little confusing, but I still read on compulsively. A well-written thriller, with the added bonus of some erotic scenes involving Ilsa and the unsuspecting husband.
May 3, 2012
Malla Duncan has created a page turning story of family jealousy and vengeance mixed with mystery, psychology, desire, and debacle. Beginning with a purposeful escape and a chance death, the story is well crafted and complex, lyrical and full of luscious setting detail, and provides plenty of twists. Duncan is an indie author with a mainstream feel and Deep As Bone is a satisfying read.
August 11, 2014
In the very first sentence: “The girl made him uneasy...” Malla Duncan sets the scene for the whole of her novel, ‘Deep as Bone’. Who exactly is this girl? We spend the rest of the book discovering the answer to this conundrum. The book is a cleverly crafted and beautifully written jigsaw puzzle of clues that eventually fit together in the way that most gratifies a reader – it is so satisfying to feel you have solved the riddle single-handedly without any unduly obvious interference from the writer! Anyone who enjoys the music of language will delight in the way her narrative flows. Malla Duncan is an expert at imagery, bringing vividly alive both the backdrop of deceptively peaceful rural England and that of the sheep farm in the Karoo, where the novel’s narrator, Ilse, was born. This desert in South Africa she eloquently describes as a place where “time is a component of the landscape, branded in stone, sculpted by the wind...” Time is a significant factor in the book – throughout it we are taken back into teasing glimpses of Ilse’s enigmatic past, which strangely mirror events that transpire in the present. We are given hints about a tragedy – a back story that unfolds in parallel with a more recent secret history within the family Ilse has become involved with. Ilse is a complex, intriguing character, and we see everything through her eyes – but can we entirely trust her take on things? I found myself at times suspicious of each of the major characters – all of whom are skilfully drawn. There is death at the dark heart of the story – as we continue to read we realise increasingly that the 5 year old child, Amy is haunted and disturbed with good reason. She has been the unwilling witness to something traumatic that happened before she had the language to describe it, and its horror wakes her every time her missing aunt Clare is mentioned. Ilse, who has arrived to take on the job as Amy’s governess, seems to be the only adult who really understands her and relates to her – seeing reflected in this troubled child her own distressing, lonely childhood. We feel sympathy for them both as Ilse sets out to find the cause for Amy’s nightmares. What is it she has seen? What does she know? Like me, you will read on with increasing fascination as the story takes you on a journey into Ilse’s mind as well as following her quest to dig deep enough to find the truth. To the very end, you will remain uncertain as to how things will turn out. And the revelatory denouement will finally make sense of the chilling beginning as the last few pieces fall into place. When I began reading ‘Deep as Bone’ I recognised elements of Gothic fiction, and was reminded of Jane Eyre – the dark mansion, the house of secrets, the handsome husband who has lost one wife and is in thrall to her successor, the coldly resentful Melissa. But as I continued reading I found that this was not fiction that belonged to any particular genre, nor does it need to. It is literary psychological fiction at its best, worth every one of the 5 stars I’ve given it. I will be reading more of Malla Duncan’s novels, all of which can be found on kindle at Amazon.
September 19, 2013
“Deep as Bone” by Malla Duncan is an excellent dark thriller about a South African governess in England, entrusted with a difficult 5 year old child. Being the fourth nanny in the space of only six months Ilsa’s success with her charge, Amy, comes as a pleasant surprise. Harmony however never settles as tension, chemistry and unresolved mysteries from the past cast their shadow onto a web of lies, deceits and hidden agendas. Since the prologue - set in 1970, 23 years prior to our story - we know for an example of an evil murderess and later in the book we learn about the murder of Margaret Forthering in 1970 committed by the family’s nanny who was having an affair with the husband. A child abduction, secret letters and suspicions of murder are amongst the many ingredients for this thriller that has a strong cast of characters and plenty of bite.
Malla Duncan tells the story with great suspense and an always present sense of foreboding. The story is cleverly told with good surprises and twists throughout. I found myself drawn into the book from the beginning and found it hard to stop.
Chilling, surprising, dramatic, tense and highly recommended.
Malla Duncan tells the story with great suspense and an always present sense of foreboding. The story is cleverly told with good surprises and twists throughout. I found myself drawn into the book from the beginning and found it hard to stop.
Chilling, surprising, dramatic, tense and highly recommended.
August 27, 2012
It is hard to let go of this complex and thrilling book.
Ilsa Joubert is an unreliable first person narrator, a woman steeped in tragedy, looking, always looking for what she cannot have. Ilsa takes a job as nanny to a troubled child, Amy, a girl with nightmares and subject to violent outbursts. Meanwhile, bits and pieces of Ilsa's troubled background are gleaned while Ilsa investigates the disappearance of Amy's favorite aunt, Clare.
A cold blooded murderess keeps tabs on Ilsa, but Ilsa is not so innocent herself. The interweaving of Ilsa's storyline in South Africa with the mysterious deaths surrounding Amy's family keeps the reader on his toes. Can Ilsa's narration be believed? Or is she hiding things from us? What excuses does she give herself for the unsavory tidbits she occasionally lets us in on?
Couple with the author's poetic descriptions of both the Karoo in South Africa and the typical English country manor, Deep as Bone is a haunting and fascinating tale of deep seated emotional dysfunction that spirals into a climatic and tragic ending.
Ilsa Joubert is an unreliable first person narrator, a woman steeped in tragedy, looking, always looking for what she cannot have. Ilsa takes a job as nanny to a troubled child, Amy, a girl with nightmares and subject to violent outbursts. Meanwhile, bits and pieces of Ilsa's troubled background are gleaned while Ilsa investigates the disappearance of Amy's favorite aunt, Clare.
A cold blooded murderess keeps tabs on Ilsa, but Ilsa is not so innocent herself. The interweaving of Ilsa's storyline in South Africa with the mysterious deaths surrounding Amy's family keeps the reader on his toes. Can Ilsa's narration be believed? Or is she hiding things from us? What excuses does she give herself for the unsavory tidbits she occasionally lets us in on?
Couple with the author's poetic descriptions of both the Karoo in South Africa and the typical English country manor, Deep as Bone is a haunting and fascinating tale of deep seated emotional dysfunction that spirals into a climatic and tragic ending.
March 15, 2018
It is hard to let go of this complex and thrilling book.
Ilsa Joubert is an unreliable first person narrator, a woman steeped in tragedy, looking, always looking for what she cannot have. Ilsa takes a job as nanny to a troubled child, Amy, a girl with nightmares and subject to violent outbursts. Meanwhile, bits and pieces of Ilsa's troubled background are gleaned while Ilsa investigates the disappearance of Amy's favorite aunt, Clare.
A cold blooded murderess keeps tabs on Ilsa, but Ilsa is not so innocent herself. The interweaving of Ilsa's storyline in South Africa with the mysterious deaths surrounding Amy's family keeps the reader on his toes. Can Ilsa's narration be believed? Or is she hiding things from us? What excuses does she give herself for the unsavory tidbits she occasionally lets us in on?
Couple with the author's poetic descriptions of both the Karoo in South Africa and the typical English country manor, Deep as Bone is a haunting and fascinating tale of deep seated emotional dysfunction that spirals into a climatic and tragic ending.
Ilsa Joubert is an unreliable first person narrator, a woman steeped in tragedy, looking, always looking for what she cannot have. Ilsa takes a job as nanny to a troubled child, Amy, a girl with nightmares and subject to violent outbursts. Meanwhile, bits and pieces of Ilsa's troubled background are gleaned while Ilsa investigates the disappearance of Amy's favorite aunt, Clare.
A cold blooded murderess keeps tabs on Ilsa, but Ilsa is not so innocent herself. The interweaving of Ilsa's storyline in South Africa with the mysterious deaths surrounding Amy's family keeps the reader on his toes. Can Ilsa's narration be believed? Or is she hiding things from us? What excuses does she give herself for the unsavory tidbits she occasionally lets us in on?
Couple with the author's poetic descriptions of both the Karoo in South Africa and the typical English country manor, Deep as Bone is a haunting and fascinating tale of deep seated emotional dysfunction that spirals into a climatic and tragic ending.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews