Knucklebones is a brilliant debut novel written with a poetic eye, filled with characters that truly live, and a pace that had me barrelling through the last half of the book. For decades, Marni Scofidio has written such incredible short stories that I’ve long wished for a full novel, and Knucklebones is even better than I dared hope. It’s dark, chilling, and delicious, written with a unique and individual style. You’d be a knucklehead to miss it. A marvellous book.
Scofidio has an inspired and unique way of looking at the world, and, what’s more important, is able to convey to us her vision, not only of the landscape that lies before her eyes, but the landscape of the soul . . . She is fully there in every word. She knows. And she can make us see.
[Scofidio is] a world-class writer whose stories have appeared in prestigious ‘Best of’ horror anthologies. To get an idea of her style, imagine the ghost story writer M.R. James colliding with Pats and Eddy from Absolutely Fabulous... If you consider yourself an aficionado of dark fiction, please do not miss the opportunity to read her works, exquisite macabre treasures to be cherished.
Knucklebones is one of the sharpest horror novels I’ve read in the past two years, a truly fascinating study in human psychology, repression, and rage. . . Like Poe and Blackwood, Scofidio excels at exploring both sides of the human condition: the physical and the psychological; the corrupted sinews of the flesh and the sublime expanses of the soul.
