Reflection on The Novel Bonechiller by Graham Mcnamee

After reading the first two chapters of the novel “Bonechiller”, I decided to read one extra chapter before writing this essay. This is because the first chapter is only one short, vague paragraph about the setting.

That being said, the book so far has introduced the main character Danny, and his odd but amiable group of friends that includes Ash, brothers Pike and Howie. It did not take long to establish character roles in the group, with Pike being the protective yet psychotic older brother, Howie is the wimpy, jumpy younger brother, Ash the typical boxing tomboy, and Danny being the passive, indecisive, emotionally unstable main character. It takes place in a small, northern Ontario town by the name of Harvest Cove that is located right beside Base Borden, where interestingly enough my dad (named Dan) grew up. Danny and his father moved there to maintain the marina throughout the cold winter, and also because they are running from the memories of the death of his mom. So far Pike has lead the gang to a convenience store owned by Fat Bill, a known child predator. He then proceeded to rob it and burn it down.

Although nothing strange or otherworldly has occurred yet, this book has kept me flipping the pages because of the suspense and atmosphere that something horrific will happen soon. This atmosphere is created through the isolation of the community, and the suspense through the questionable decisions made by Danny. One of these decisions was after Pike burned down Fat Bill’s, Danny wants to abandon the most reliable way home, Pike’s car. He instead wishes to run the long distance home along an unlit gravel road. Besides that, the author’s writing style has also kept me enthralled in the book. Graham McNamee wrote this in first person, to really focus on Danny’s emotions and thoughts, and this suites the horror element of the story as it would be difficult to write a scary story if you already know everything from third person. As well as that, Mr. McNamee creates great images through metaphors, for example “When the sun catches his ’hawk he looks like a lit match”, comparing the bright red hair of Pike to a lit match. My best shot at a prediction, which I do not have a lot to base off, is that Fat Bill will morph into a murderer or monster of some kind and terrorize the kids. Thus far I have nothing negative to say except that I hope the author can keep the action packed pace up for the entirety of the novel.

As I finished reading the novel “Bonechiller” by Graham McNamee, I was slightly disenchanted with the conclusion. The story evolved a lot since my previous log, as Danny and Howie get stung by a large, pale skinned beast that has hunted and killed teenagers in Harvest Cove for centuries. This sting changes them, making their body temperatures drop to inhumanly low, developing photophobia, having joint nightmares while being tormented by this beast and having urges to run away from home. They team up with Ash and Pike to defeat the beast by luring it out of its lair using a snowmobile, then planting dynamite to destroy it. This climax was quite exciting, but it did feel rushed and way too easy to defeat such a powerful beast. I was left feeling unfulfilled, like there would be a second book where the beast lives and returns to torment them again. The ending could have been superior if, instead of everything just returning to normal, they expose the police or authorities in the area for the lack responsibility and protection given to kids in the area. The theme was weak and even non-existent, but the plot was deep enough in terms of action and drama to compensate.

In my opinion, the most exciting part of the book was when Howie and Pike were ice fishing, and Pike leaves to grab some food, and while he was gone Howie gets attacked and pulled through the ice by the beast. I had two main problems with the book. The first one is the ignorance of the adults, if these disappearances have been going on for so long how could no one realize? How could the parents also not realize the obvious symptoms in their children. The second was how aggravating it was for the reader to watch them to not be able to connect such obvious dots and clues. For example, Ray Dyson, the school bully, just going crazy, referencing a beast then running away, while Danny couldn't figure out that he was attacked by the same creature.

Besides from that, however, I enjoyed the well the characters developed throughout the story, especially Danny. He went from being a pitiful wimp to being a brave leader. This is shown when at the beginning he is terrified to even talk about being stung, yet by the end he comes to lead the group in defeating the beast. The characters were by far my favourite part of the book. The brought the setting and plot together to form the heart of this novel.