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Garrett's Bones
Excerpt from Writer’s Digest 24th Self-Published Book Wards Commentary, Judge 11.
In Garrett’s Bones, a genre novel by K. D. Dowdall, we are presented with a historical thriller, with complex overtones of supernatural intrigue and a dash of romance. At the heart of this story are two young people who set out to clear their names the only way they know how, and in a way, that gets them more enmeshed in darkness. The narrative is tightly woven and compelling, moving at a fast pace while still allowing the reader to experience a true depth of characterization as they develop a full appreciation of the events as they take place. The chapters are nicely paced, with enough meat to make them satisfying but not so ponderous as to make it difficult to keep track of the narrative as it develops.
Author’s Description
A haunting tale of young love, mystery and murder. Anna and Garrett are ordinary teens growing up in a small farming community in Connecticut in 1960. While walking through their beloved and beautiful forest preserve, Anna and Garrett happen upon the ravaged body of a young girl and find themselves as suspects in this horrific killing. Together, Anna and Garrett search for clues to find the killer as the ghosts of the past begin to collide with the present evil. They both realize it will be up to them to fight the evil that has taken over their loved ones, their community, and their beloved forest, even if it means losing their own lives.
In Garrett’s Bones, a genre novel by K. D. Dowdall, we are presented with a historical thriller, with complex overtones of supernatural intrigue and a dash of romance. At the heart of this story are two young people who set out to clear their names the only way they know how, and in a way, that gets them more enmeshed in darkness. The narrative is tightly woven and compelling, moving at a fast pace while still allowing the reader to experience a true depth of characterization as they develop a full appreciation of the events as they take place. The chapters are nicely paced, with enough meat to make them satisfying but not so ponderous as to make it difficult to keep track of the narrative as it develops.
Author’s Description
A haunting tale of young love, mystery and murder. Anna and Garrett are ordinary teens growing up in a small farming community in Connecticut in 1960. While walking through their beloved and beautiful forest preserve, Anna and Garrett happen upon the ravaged body of a young girl and find themselves as suspects in this horrific killing. Together, Anna and Garrett search for clues to find the killer as the ghosts of the past begin to collide with the present evil. They both realize it will be up to them to fight the evil that has taken over their loved ones, their community, and their beloved forest, even if it means losing their own lives.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 22, 2016
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349 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 29, 2020
Garrett's Bones is a young adult mystery with paranormal elements written by Karen DeMers Dowdall. I've followed the author's blog and read another of her books in the past, so when this one became available, I added it to my reading list. As I came to love in her first book, the descriptions of the characters and the setting are wonderful, almost leaping off the page as you quickly turn each one to find out what's going on.
In some ways, this felt a bit like a Nancy Drew book. The teens in this one are a little older than Nancy and her cohorts, and the time periods might be slightly different (this takes place in the 1960s), but there is a similar storytelling approach and mindset. Dowdall creates beauty in her scenes by helping readers visualize all of the components, across many of our senses. Adding suspense and thrills, the hint of romance, a strong sense of right and wrong... it's woven well and tells a story about two very likable characters, Garrett and Anna.
The title caught me right away. Was Garrett alive or dead? As quickly as the plot develops, we find out what the title references. A fellow teen girl has disappeared, and no one seems to know how to find her. Garrett and Anna, step-cousins, set out to find her. You can tell there's a love growing between them, but they won't act on it... in fact, others enter the picture and complicate a relationship from brewing. When Garrett and Anna find a body, it is intense, and the cops believe Garrett might've killed the girl. What were they thinking? What a good way to set up the conflict in this story.
Over time, another death happens. A suspect emerges. Then a second. Anna wants to explore the potential clues, but Garrett holds her back. This is a young adult novel, so Dowdall is careful to follow appropriate themes and approaches... especially since it's setting is from over fifty years ago. When the paranormal aspects (minor) are introduced, we feel an almost spiritual connection to the Native American tribe member who appears to help at various time. Something is amiss in this town, and we can't help but wonder if it's supernatural or real. Why don't the cops see it?
Anna is restless. I love her character. Garrett is protective, perhaps moreso because they've grown up together as friends and step-cousins (second marriage for a parent). We want them to cling to one another, it's so obvious -- Dowdall presents a vibrancy between them, but we also know it must be difficult in their time period and location. Especially when a friend seems to be super connected to one possible suspect and a cop who we wonder if we should trust. So many angles, so many parts of this story to enjoy.
When it all comes together, I was a happy reader. Great writing. Strong themes. Clever mystery. I definitely look forward to another Dowdall book in the future. Great job!
In some ways, this felt a bit like a Nancy Drew book. The teens in this one are a little older than Nancy and her cohorts, and the time periods might be slightly different (this takes place in the 1960s), but there is a similar storytelling approach and mindset. Dowdall creates beauty in her scenes by helping readers visualize all of the components, across many of our senses. Adding suspense and thrills, the hint of romance, a strong sense of right and wrong... it's woven well and tells a story about two very likable characters, Garrett and Anna.
The title caught me right away. Was Garrett alive or dead? As quickly as the plot develops, we find out what the title references. A fellow teen girl has disappeared, and no one seems to know how to find her. Garrett and Anna, step-cousins, set out to find her. You can tell there's a love growing between them, but they won't act on it... in fact, others enter the picture and complicate a relationship from brewing. When Garrett and Anna find a body, it is intense, and the cops believe Garrett might've killed the girl. What were they thinking? What a good way to set up the conflict in this story.
Over time, another death happens. A suspect emerges. Then a second. Anna wants to explore the potential clues, but Garrett holds her back. This is a young adult novel, so Dowdall is careful to follow appropriate themes and approaches... especially since it's setting is from over fifty years ago. When the paranormal aspects (minor) are introduced, we feel an almost spiritual connection to the Native American tribe member who appears to help at various time. Something is amiss in this town, and we can't help but wonder if it's supernatural or real. Why don't the cops see it?
Anna is restless. I love her character. Garrett is protective, perhaps moreso because they've grown up together as friends and step-cousins (second marriage for a parent). We want them to cling to one another, it's so obvious -- Dowdall presents a vibrancy between them, but we also know it must be difficult in their time period and location. Especially when a friend seems to be super connected to one possible suspect and a cop who we wonder if we should trust. So many angles, so many parts of this story to enjoy.
When it all comes together, I was a happy reader. Great writing. Strong themes. Clever mystery. I definitely look forward to another Dowdall book in the future. Great job!
March 7, 2017
This month I'm re-reading some of my favorite novels. Garrett's Bones is one of them. First, I love the atmosphere, it's lush and beautifully rendered. From the forest where the main characters, Anna and Garrett run as free as Indians, to the danger and paranormal overtures. An air of mystery is paramount, and beguiling. Anna and Garrett have a supernatural connection, though Garret's connection to the past is deep and abiding. the mystery surrounds the murder of a young girl they happen upon in the forest. Everyone in the town is suspect, including, Garrett because of his unusual behavior. There are several subplots which keep the tension mounting.
All in all, this is a wonderful novel that keeps the reader turning the pages. I Highly recommend this exceedingly well written novel.
March 5, 2017
Garrett’s Bones by K. D. Dowdall is a book that will satisfy readers from the young to the, may I say, more experienced and older. Dowdall combines suspense, intrigue, excellent character development, themes of the forest and spirits, along with a well-paced and well-developed plot into a book that resonates with power and beauty.
This novel is both a coming-of-age Bildungsroman and an exploration of themes of good against evil. The main characters, Garrett and Anna, are young and have a complex relationship throughout the book. It is one of the strengths of the novel that Dowdall creates multi-dimensional characters whose hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties, strengths and weaknesses permeate the tale.
Additionally, this book speaks of the supernatural as well as history, love as well as hatred, and life as well as death. I was moved when I read it, and I consider it to be an extraordinary novel. I give it a 5 star, full-hearted, unreserved recommendation! This is a book to be put on everyone’s to-read list!
This novel is both a coming-of-age Bildungsroman and an exploration of themes of good against evil. The main characters, Garrett and Anna, are young and have a complex relationship throughout the book. It is one of the strengths of the novel that Dowdall creates multi-dimensional characters whose hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties, strengths and weaknesses permeate the tale.
Additionally, this book speaks of the supernatural as well as history, love as well as hatred, and life as well as death. I was moved when I read it, and I consider it to be an extraordinary novel. I give it a 5 star, full-hearted, unreserved recommendation! This is a book to be put on everyone’s to-read list!
July 10, 2016
I read this on my Kindle Unlimited trial and I just can't believe such a great book was free!
March 10, 2017
It would seem impossible to have a beautiful forest with its lush dogwoods and “sunlight filtering through the dense canopy of trees,” and it’s gentle and not so gentle animal life transforming into a paranormal world along with evil emanating beneath and above “rotting tree trunks” and foxes and poisonous snakes disappearing into a “corpse of Hawthorne bushes”; however “Garrett’s Bones” proves it can happen.
Anna and Garrett have grown up together playing and wandering in this beautiful forest near their homes, Garrett being an Indian in his mind, and maybe otherwise, and Anna discovering her ability to know the possibly unknowable and to see the probably unseeable. They create for themselves special hiding places and make contact with fleeting visions of kind Indians, scary ghosts of the past and spirits of the woods of all kinds.
With the help and hindrance of these spirits, they are able to take on and accomplish—
with great difficulty, danger and some violence—what appears to be the impossible, that of locating the murderer of a young girl whose body they discover draped over a fallen log.
When they come across a seemingly out of place mound in the earth, they dig in the dirt and pull out bones, including a skull. Garrett decides this was probably a sacred Indian burial ground, so they vow to make amends for this desecration, especially after having discovered the murdered girl. Clearly evil spirits are at play in the forest, and they must dispel them along with locating the perpetrator of this horrendous crime.
Several subplots enrich this unusual novel, including stories of family dysfunction as well as the developing romance—with its side steps, blockages and intrigue—between Anna and Garrett. I also enjoyed learning the details of Indian lore and fortune telling and about the lives of spirits, past and present.
What I found so satisfying and intriguing was the way the author created and sustained an exquisite feeling of suspense by stopping the narrative at a crucial point in the mystery with lush and rich language describing the secrets of the natural world, both their beauty and their predatory nature. Invariably these descriptions, while beautiful in themselves, point to the presence or resolution of the mystery. As an example, the aforementioned “corpse of Hawthorne bushes” foreshadows beautifully the soon to be discovered murdered body. These foreshadowings, as well as many other ominous figures of speech tell us of future horrors with many springing from “innocent” descriptions of nature, all of which added significantly to my enjoyment of “Garrett’s Bones”, which I highly recommend for an exciting, frightening, and historically accurate good read.
May 5, 2017
Anna and Garrett, the main characters in Garrett's Bones, live far from ordinary teenage lives. As best friends, they're adventurous and in many ways completely fearless in the face of danger. Their characters are very well written and developed. Also, I've really got to hand it to K. D. Dowdall in her ability to draw such a beautiful picture in setting. She is able to tie such a wide variety of commendable characteristics together, and she does it seemingly effortlessly. Garrett's Bones is overflowing with rich culture of past and present, along with absolutely gorgeous wooded areas. The scenery in this book is to die for! Beautiful! This isn't your average haunted forest story. It's unique and completely different from anything I've ever read.
When a young girl goes missing, Anna and Garrett find themselves on a quest to find her. Being familiar with the forest grounds as well as completely in tune with it's rich Indian history and spiritual energy, they are able to find the girl. Unfortunately, what they come across is utterly heinous, and it's clearly upset the order and spirit of the already troubled forest. What makes things worse, is that the police automatically point fingers at Anna and Garrett as their main suspects because they were caught red handed returning the missing girl's body back to town.
From here everything escalates. Anna's father is a drunk. It leaves her to step up and take on extra duties in caring for her younger siblings, as her mother is in a strange emotional state due to her rocky marriage. I love the way that Anna is able to be the rock and hold her family together, all-the-while sneaking out often to meet up with Garrett in their quest to prove their innocence.
Garrett is a somewhat strange and mysterious boy who is matured beyond his years just the same as Anna. Young girls flock to him, but it's Anna who truly holds his heart. She understands the connections that he has with the spirits around them. They have a magical and unique relationship. Dowdall is able to weave their young coming of age emotions for one another into the story in a way that makes it all just fit.
The mystery provided is one of a kind, I never in a million years would have guessed who killed the young girl! Garrett's Bones is an excellent story and I will definitely be recommending it!
When a young girl goes missing, Anna and Garrett find themselves on a quest to find her. Being familiar with the forest grounds as well as completely in tune with it's rich Indian history and spiritual energy, they are able to find the girl. Unfortunately, what they come across is utterly heinous, and it's clearly upset the order and spirit of the already troubled forest. What makes things worse, is that the police automatically point fingers at Anna and Garrett as their main suspects because they were caught red handed returning the missing girl's body back to town.
From here everything escalates. Anna's father is a drunk. It leaves her to step up and take on extra duties in caring for her younger siblings, as her mother is in a strange emotional state due to her rocky marriage. I love the way that Anna is able to be the rock and hold her family together, all-the-while sneaking out often to meet up with Garrett in their quest to prove their innocence.
Garrett is a somewhat strange and mysterious boy who is matured beyond his years just the same as Anna. Young girls flock to him, but it's Anna who truly holds his heart. She understands the connections that he has with the spirits around them. They have a magical and unique relationship. Dowdall is able to weave their young coming of age emotions for one another into the story in a way that makes it all just fit.
The mystery provided is one of a kind, I never in a million years would have guessed who killed the young girl! Garrett's Bones is an excellent story and I will definitely be recommending it!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews