The Bone Key [Paperback]

Sarah Monette (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2007

The dead and the monstrous will not leave Kyle Murchison Booth alone, for an unwilling foray into necromancy has made him sensitive to-and attractive to-the creatures who roam the darkness of his once-safe world. Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writing in the tradition of M.R. James and Algernon Blackwood, Monette reconstructs the traditional English ghost story—insinuated horror, no gratuitous sex or violence—with a decidedly modern-day approach in this laudable collection of 10 necromantic mystery stories featuring introverted museum archivist Kyle Murchison Booth. Noteworthy selections include Elegy for a Demon Lover, which chronicles Booth's entanglement with a seductive otherworldly entity who teaches him about pleasure and pain and the shadowed places in-between. In the brilliantly Lovecraftian Bringing Helena Back, Booth agrees to help an old college friend bring his wife back from the dead, with horrifying results. Booth also investigates the skeleton of a woman sealed within the basement walls of the museum where he works, a house haunted by the spirit of a young girl and the ghost of a murdered private school student. Cerebral, ethereal and stylishly understated, this entrancing collection will appeal to fans of literary horror, dark fantasy and supernatural mystery. (Jan.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: Prime Books (July 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809557770
• ISBN-13: 978-0809557776
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading., October 19, 2007

By 

S. Johnson "Book Junkie" (Fort Smith, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bone Key (Paperback)

I do not usually write reviews. Not because I don't read. I would simply rather read than write a review. The Bone Key is the first book by Monette that I have read, and it will not be the last. This book is a shining example of great writing. It is a series of interconnected short stories about a man named Kyle Murchison Booth. Booth is shy, brilliant and, through some fault of his own, a magnet for supernatural...things. A museum archivist/curator he lived in a very safe and isolated world until a brush with necromency brought his attention to things that he had not known existed. He could have lived quite nicely, and gone back to his safe little world, if not for the fact that the "brush" also brought the attention of the things to him.
If you like your horror with a bit of a twist, I recommend this book. It does not rely on blood and gore to get its point across. It is subtle, often funny, sometimes sad, and always disturbing.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gothic and Modern, and most importantly, Wonderful., December 19, 2007

By 

Christa (Decatur, Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bone Key (Paperback)

I'm not a big fan of short stories, most of the time, even by authors whose novels I love, but this collection had me hooked from the first page to the last. Monette manages to capture the feel of those wonderful ghost stories from the Victorian writers, with their romantic melancholy while sparing us the excesses of prose and also giving us a fascinating protagonist.

'Elegy to a Demon Lover' is one of the most haunting stories I think I have ever read, and the book is worth buying for that one alone, but the others are also excellent.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superior literary creepiness, December 27, 2007

By 

Glinda Good (Michigan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Bone Key (Paperback)

I love it when an author takes the time and trouble to include an introduction, or forward. Monette took the time, and what she said about literature and horror struck a chord with me. Monette names James and Lovecraft as two important influences on her desire to write fantastic fiction, noting that although she loves their use of language and crafting of story, she missed a more modern examination of the sexual and psychological aspects of characters.

The stories in The Bone Key are pure gold. Short, with as much of the stories left to the imagination as she puts into words, the language is reminiscent of the old fiction Monette says she loves. Her character, Kyle Murchison Booth, is eccentric yet sympathetic and appealing. Since he is such a shy, lone man it takes time to accumulate knowledge of the other people in his world. But slowly and surely Booth's experiences begin to build a population of interesting fringe characters -- some dead, some living. Booth's brushes with the unnatural are simultaneously creepy and thought-provoking.

If you're looking for subtle, literary stories with themes of horror (and how the most excruciating horror arises from the way people treat each other), try The Bone Key. You'll read these stories more than once!