In 1999 the world was introduced to British writer Mo Hayder’s violent and disconcerting debut, Birdman. She went on to write 10 more crime novels, including seven in the Jack Caffery series, before she unexpectedly passed away of motor neurone disease in 2021. Readers lamented the loss of an author who explored humanity’s dark side, pushing the limits of the genre by fusing horror and crime, while developing an entirely distinctive style in a relatively short career. Hayder completed one final standalone crime novel, Bonehead, which has been published posthumously this year.
After serving with the Metropolitan Police in London, police officer Alex Mullins returns to her hometown of Eastonbirt, in Gloucestershire. Nearly three years prior, Alex left the town having been one of seven survivors of an accident. A coach transporting a group of students unexpectedly veered off the road and into a lake. The accident left the town’s residents reeling and had a profound impact on Alex.
The crux of it is that Alex remembers seeing a woman standing by the stand of the road just before the coach swerved and crashed. Why was she there that night and did she cause the accident? The driver of the vehicle was killed so these questions have never been answered.
Alex thinks the woman was Bonehead, a restless spirit said to haunt the area, drawing people into the woods. The folk story tells of a Roma prostitute who was murdered by a john at some time during the last century and thrown into a ravine. Her face eaten to the bone by rats and foxes, Bonehead is said to bring bad luck, and many people have mysteriously disappeared in the area. The legendary skeletal woman is an ominous presence throughout the novel.
The question arises as to whether Bonehead exists or if those who see her are delusional, fuelled by some sort of shared paranoia. Hayder demonstrates succinctly that the psychological aspects of a crime novel can be more terrifying than describing the graphic details of a murder. She defies expectation by not making murder the main plot point – as in horror, the terror lies in the unseen.
The tension increases further when dogs start to disappear from Eastonbirt. The first is owned by Rhory and Maryam. The couple search the area, including the large woods, for six weeks without success. Here, Hayder is especially cunning in tricking us into thinking something different – a red herring that heightens the scare factor significantly. But she doesn’t just describe the search for a missing dog; she also tells the couple’s story, including how they met, their ups and downs, and their struggle to have children. Of course, all of this is relevant to the story, as is the stigmatisation of postpartum depression and perimenopause. Another of Hayder’s strengths is her ability to create three-dimensional characters with detailed backstories and complex psychological makeup.
The novel is told from the perspectives of Alex and Maryam. Aaron, who is Rhory and Maryam’s son, is assisting Alex in solving the Bonehead mystery. Aaron worked for the police as an IT trainer in the forensic unit in Gloucestershire. In contrast to many crime duos, Alex and Aaron are more than just coworkers – being accident survivors, they are also coping with their trauma together.
In addition to telling a gripping tale, Hayder expertly captures a tragedy that has torn apart a small town while offering a study of small-town life. The woods bordering Eastonbirt turn into a persistent, menacing force threatening to swallow it. An almost tangible sense of place is created and the forest becomes a living thing; a character of its own. Alex believes it’s trying to take things from her and she describes it as “…black, sinewy and low, stretching out from the bunker, twining around tree trunks, pulling living things down into it.” It also holds centuries of secrets, but most importantly it conceals Bonehead.
Mo Hayder is often described as fearless, a woman who broke new ground because her writing was unlike anything written by a woman before, often tackling the dark side of humanity head-on. She is already missed but for now, at least, we still have one last novel to savour.
Read our review of one of Mo Hayder’s earlier novels, Wolf.
Hodder & Stoughton
Print/Kindle/iBook
£7.99
CFL Rating: 5 Stars
