Monette, Sarah - The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchinson Booth

[oyceter]

Kyle Murchinson Booth is the insomniac, horrifically shy, socially awkward archivist at the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum. Thanks to a semi-unwilling foray into the supernatural (detailed in the first short story), he now seems to attract all sorts of ghosts and curses. The Bone Key is a set of short stories about Booth and the things that happen to him; all were published first elsewhere save the final story.

Monette writes in the introduction that she was inspired by M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, both writers I haven't read, one because I haven't heard of him and the other because I avoid horror like the plague. I'm still not sure why I started this book, given my loathing of horror—I am really easily scared, as in, The Sixth Sense scared me—but I'm glad I did, despite several cases of the chills. Also, I think my long-held phobia of mirrors is back again.

Mostly I love the style of the book, and I'm glad I can read something like it without having to actually dip my toes into Lovecraft. I feel for Booth in particular, whom I think is the adolescent in all of us, and as such, "Elegy for a Demon Lover" ended up being my favorite story for the last line. Although I enjoyed getting more Booth backstory, I ended up being the most intrigued by the longer case files; the Booth-centric stories felt like they didn't have enough meat for me to sink my teeth into. As such, the two I enjoyed the most outside of "Elegy" were "The Venebretti Necklace" (which I also liked for the main female character) and "The Wall of Clouds."

In conclusion: a good read with beautiful style, and amazingly not as scary as I had dreaded (this is a plus).

Links:
- desdenova's review
- buymeaclue's review