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Borrowed Bones
When grief cries loud enough, something answers.
After the death of his wife, Russ Simmons is barely surviving. He walks in the woods behind his house every night, whispering his love into the darkness. He never expected the darkness to whisper back.
Something emerges from the woods behind his home. It talks to him in her voice, and with each passing night, it becomes more of what he's lost.
As the creature learns, the town of Hachette begins to suffer. A body is found in the woods, a farmer's livestock is butchered and sorted like specimens, and a young child goes missing.
At the center of an ever-tightening circle of violence sits a small house where a grieving widower has stopped asking why his wife had to die, and started asking what he’s willing to sacrifice to get her back.
For fans of dark literary horror and emotional devastation, Borrowed Bones explores the terrible weight of love that refuses to let go, and the monstrous lengths we'll go to when we can't accept goodbye.
A haunting meditation on grief, obsession, and the things we build from our broken hearts.
After the death of his wife, Russ Simmons is barely surviving. He walks in the woods behind his house every night, whispering his love into the darkness. He never expected the darkness to whisper back.
Something emerges from the woods behind his home. It talks to him in her voice, and with each passing night, it becomes more of what he's lost.
As the creature learns, the town of Hachette begins to suffer. A body is found in the woods, a farmer's livestock is butchered and sorted like specimens, and a young child goes missing.
At the center of an ever-tightening circle of violence sits a small house where a grieving widower has stopped asking why his wife had to die, and started asking what he’s willing to sacrifice to get her back.
For fans of dark literary horror and emotional devastation, Borrowed Bones explores the terrible weight of love that refuses to let go, and the monstrous lengths we'll go to when we can't accept goodbye.
A haunting meditation on grief, obsession, and the things we build from our broken hearts.
200 pages, Paperback
Published June 23, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 21, 2026
The story is set in Hatchette, a small town where everyone knows everyone, looks out for each other, and where nothing strange or untoward happens… until it does. Russ Simmons has just lost his wife to cancer. A beloved member of the community, she is sorely missed, but no one feels her absence more deeply than Russ. Their house was meant to be the place he and his wife started a family, grew old together in, and lived out their days. Now he sits there alone, ruminating on a future he will never have. The house was chosen because of his wife’s love of nature, the view of the nature trail leading into the forest, and the myrtle tree in the backyard that catches the light just right. After she passes, it takes some time before he can walk the trail again, and when he does, he thinks of his wife, of everything she meant to him, and of the grief that pours out of him like a tide. His love is so loud it speaks to the forest, and the forest listens. From within its depths, something emerges which speaks to him with voices far too familiar. It visits him, watches him, this thing that isn’t human but is learning to be.
Meanwhile, Hatchette is shaken by a string of disappearances, violent incidents and deaths, the circle of violence all surrounding Russ’s house. Suspicion grows, the town closes ranks, and Russ finds himself at the centre of it all. How it ends, I won’t spoil. You’ll need to read it for yourself, and I urge you to do just that.
This is a phenomenal novel about emotional devastation and the power of grief. Sometimes we hold on to the people we’ve lost for so long it’s unhealthy because letting go feels impossible. The love is too powerful; the ache too deep. Borrowed Bones explores what happens when someone clings so fiercely to memory and longing that they’ll sacrifice anything for even a shadow of what they lost.
Morris’s writing is rich, poetic, and full of emotional weight that hits hard with each word, and man, that ending lands like a punch straight to the gut. For those of you who have recently lost someone dear to them, I urge you to tread lightly, but if you need a good cry, this is one that will have you reaching for the tissue box.
Meanwhile, Hatchette is shaken by a string of disappearances, violent incidents and deaths, the circle of violence all surrounding Russ’s house. Suspicion grows, the town closes ranks, and Russ finds himself at the centre of it all. How it ends, I won’t spoil. You’ll need to read it for yourself, and I urge you to do just that.
This is a phenomenal novel about emotional devastation and the power of grief. Sometimes we hold on to the people we’ve lost for so long it’s unhealthy because letting go feels impossible. The love is too powerful; the ache too deep. Borrowed Bones explores what happens when someone clings so fiercely to memory and longing that they’ll sacrifice anything for even a shadow of what they lost.
Morris’s writing is rich, poetic, and full of emotional weight that hits hard with each word, and man, that ending lands like a punch straight to the gut. For those of you who have recently lost someone dear to them, I urge you to tread lightly, but if you need a good cry, this is one that will have you reaching for the tissue box.
August 28, 2026
Winona Morris’s Borrowed Bones is the kind of horror that refuses to stay neatly contained on the page. Russ Simmons has lost his wife, Liza, to cancer, and the loss is felt far beyond the walls of their home. Liza was the kind of person who carried a light with her, someone whose connection to the earth and everyone around her seemed to radiate hope, joy, and happiness. When she dies, the entire town of Hatchette mourns, but Russ is left to carry a grief so profound it threatens to consume him. Then something begins moving through the woods, something that knows his grief, knows what he has lost, and understands exactly what Russ desperately wants to hear.
This book is beautifully broken. I don’t know how Morris managed to make me feel afraid and heartbroken at the same time, but I experienced this story with every emotion and every sense I had. I could feel the trails beneath my feet, see the woods, and almost smell the earth as the story unfolded. Even the descriptions of the bones were so vivid that I found myself completely immersed in every word on every page. Yet beneath all that atmospheric horror is a devastating exploration of grief, love, and the terrifying lengths we might go to when we cannot accept that someone we love is truly gone. The horror isn’t simply found in what is lurking in the woods. It is found in what grief can make us willing to accept.
Morris takes something as human as mourning and slowly transforms it into something deeply unsettling, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. I went into Borrowed Bones expecting horror, but I wasn’t prepared for how it would make me feel all the way to my soul. This is haunting, atmospheric, beautifully written horror at its absolute best, and without question, one of the books I will be talking about for a very long time.
This book is beautifully broken. I don’t know how Morris managed to make me feel afraid and heartbroken at the same time, but I experienced this story with every emotion and every sense I had. I could feel the trails beneath my feet, see the woods, and almost smell the earth as the story unfolded. Even the descriptions of the bones were so vivid that I found myself completely immersed in every word on every page. Yet beneath all that atmospheric horror is a devastating exploration of grief, love, and the terrifying lengths we might go to when we cannot accept that someone we love is truly gone. The horror isn’t simply found in what is lurking in the woods. It is found in what grief can make us willing to accept.
Morris takes something as human as mourning and slowly transforms it into something deeply unsettling, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. I went into Borrowed Bones expecting horror, but I wasn’t prepared for how it would make me feel all the way to my soul. This is haunting, atmospheric, beautifully written horror at its absolute best, and without question, one of the books I will be talking about for a very long time.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Russ is drowning in grief. Recently widowed, he now spends his days alone in the house at the edge of the woods. But grief has a way of changing people... and in Russ's case, it seems to have awakened something lurking in the darkness beyond the trees. As bodies begin to pile up around town, everyone knows one thing for certain: somehow, Russ is at the centre of it all.
This was a beautifully bleak exploration of loss, grief, and the devastation left behind when someone you love is gone. What I loved most was that it didn't just focus on Russ's pain. It showed how grief ripples outward, touching everyone around it and leaving destruction in its wake.
The pacing is definitely a slow burn, but it never felt dull. Instead, it simmers beneath the surface, quietly building tension chapter by chapter. Much like Russ's grief itself, the story grows heavier and darker as it progresses, until everything crashes together in a heartbreaking finale that left me feeling completely hollow.
This was my first book by this author, but it certainly won't be my last. If you're looking for a haunting, atmospheric horror that balances the supernatural with a deeply human story about loss, this one is well worth your time.
🩸 The Panic Verdict: A slow-burning, grief-soaked nightmare that proves some wounds never truly heal.
This was a beautifully bleak exploration of loss, grief, and the devastation left behind when someone you love is gone. What I loved most was that it didn't just focus on Russ's pain. It showed how grief ripples outward, touching everyone around it and leaving destruction in its wake.
The pacing is definitely a slow burn, but it never felt dull. Instead, it simmers beneath the surface, quietly building tension chapter by chapter. Much like Russ's grief itself, the story grows heavier and darker as it progresses, until everything crashes together in a heartbreaking finale that left me feeling completely hollow.
This was my first book by this author, but it certainly won't be my last. If you're looking for a haunting, atmospheric horror that balances the supernatural with a deeply human story about loss, this one is well worth your time.
🩸 The Panic Verdict: A slow-burning, grief-soaked nightmare that proves some wounds never truly heal.
June 22, 2026
Winona Morris' debut horror novel is quintessential grief horror fiction, an exploration of the power of one man's grief, and "the woods that listened", as the novel puts it. The premise is indeed that simple: a grieving widower, his grief raw and dark and brutal, retraces the trails his wife loved spending time on - and the trees respond to his overwhelming grief. What comes back, however, patiently feeding on the widower's love, and slowly learning to imitate his wife by trying to heal his loss, is a monster made of bones, rot, and false promises. Soon, the whole town will suffer the consequences of this man's profound grief; the man's pain overflows and spills into other people's daily life, the entity starting to attack his friends, neighbors, and close relatives.
The story is a definite slow burn, diving deep into emotion, but what truly impressed me was, by contrast, the man's coldness - and especially the way Morris allows it just to be, just to exist, without apology or regret - whatever the cost. The story becomes the chronicle of a small town disaster, and all because of one man's loss. How much of that is selfishness, loneliness, or simmering rage towards the world itself - however you slice it, the tale shows the danger of neglecting one of those deep-seated complexities that make us human. There's power there, and woe to those who call evil good.
The story is a definite slow burn, diving deep into emotion, but what truly impressed me was, by contrast, the man's coldness - and especially the way Morris allows it just to be, just to exist, without apology or regret - whatever the cost. The story becomes the chronicle of a small town disaster, and all because of one man's loss. How much of that is selfishness, loneliness, or simmering rage towards the world itself - however you slice it, the tale shows the danger of neglecting one of those deep-seated complexities that make us human. There's power there, and woe to those who call evil good.
Review of advance copy received from Author
In Borrowed Bones, grief has a voice…and it knows your name.
Russ Simmons thought he found the home he’d grow old in with his wife. But after tragedy rips that future away, the familiar trails they used to walk behind the house begin to change. The woods don’t just hold memories anymore, they call to him…and the voice waiting in the tree-line sounds like someone he lost.
Borrowed Bones signals Winona Morris as a future literary horror giant. Morris doesn’t just tell a horror story, she weaponizes grief. Every page tightens like a vice, wrapping your heart in its bony hands and squeezing until you can’t breathe.
Borrowed Bones is perfect for readers that want to get lost in slow-burn, psychological horror that latches on like a parasite long after the final page.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This was a wonderful and terrifying story about love, grief and what can happen if you wish hard enough. Russ has lost his wife, Liza to cancer. He is so depressed and grief stricken that he is barely able to function. But a horrible presence has come to the woods behind the cozy home he shared with Liza. People are dying as the creature in the woods tries to build itself into an image using parts of its victims. Russ and the creature share a bond that makes Russ refuse to betray it to the towns people and the police all of whom want it dead. The story is very fast paced and you will not want to put it down.
July 3, 2026
Absolutely loved this one. It’s a haunting story about grief. How is someone meant to keep moving through life after losing their soulmate? What would they be willing to do to get them back?
Watching the protagonist endure an emotional gauntlet until he’s left feeling numb was heartbreaking. He no longer truly lives, only exists, his mind constantly drifting back to memories of his beloved wife.
I found myself in tears at one point, and that’s no easy feat for a novel. The writing felt so immersive that I genuinely felt like I was there with the characters, living through their pain alongside them.
A deeply atmospheric and unsettling read.
I can’t recommend this enough. Fans of grief horror should absolutely check this out.
The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the book cover and I almost didn't read it because it looked a little tacky. I feel the cover should have been more subtle to match the theme of the book.
Watching the protagonist endure an emotional gauntlet until he’s left feeling numb was heartbreaking. He no longer truly lives, only exists, his mind constantly drifting back to memories of his beloved wife.
I found myself in tears at one point, and that’s no easy feat for a novel. The writing felt so immersive that I genuinely felt like I was there with the characters, living through their pain alongside them.
A deeply atmospheric and unsettling read.
I can’t recommend this enough. Fans of grief horror should absolutely check this out.
The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the book cover and I almost didn't read it because it looked a little tacky. I feel the cover should have been more subtle to match the theme of the book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews