Item: The Bones Beneath My Skin
Rating: 4
Author: Catherine

The Bones Beneath My Skin by T.J. Klune
Published by Tor Books
Publication date: February 04, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

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After losing his job Nathan finds himself at loose ends. With no attachments in his life he decides to head to the remote cabin in Oregon that his parents left to him to lick his wounds and regroup. But author TJ Klune is having none of that in The Bones Beneath My Skin so when Nathan arrives at his house it’s to find two unusual squatters living there. Any peace and quiet he’d hoped for is an impossibility and his life will never be the same.

Coming upon people living on your property is not an auspicious opening for a soothing novel. Especially when one of the people is a large, muscle-bound man who appears to be military and is aiming a gun at your head. That the other is a 10-year-old girl isn’t calming either. Nathan is understandably upset and fearful for his life and that of the little girl who introduces herself as Artemis Darth Vader.

In short order, Artemis has calmed both Nate and Alex (the big guy) to the degree that certain facts have been established. Namely: it’s Nathan’s property, they’re on the run, Alex has kidnapped Artemis, but only to return her to her family. Artemis convinces Nate to let them stay while they figure out their next move and the three settle into an uneasy truce. Slowly, Artemis’ picture is filled in, but before Nate can fully understand her situation more men with guns show up and the three have to go on the run.

The Bones Beneath My Skin has all the earmarks of a traditional ‘cross country crime spree road trip’ novel except this is TJ Klune we’re talking about. Artemis is an unusual little girl and her ‘family’ doesn’t fit the standard mold. The people hunting them are the government, but Klune spends less time on the villains and their motives and more time on the people running from them. Nate, Alex, and Artemis bloom on the page thanks to his gentle touch and expansive worldview.

I’ve read a few other Klune novels and they have all been fantasies populated with disarming but cheery supernatural characters so a story more firmly rooted in this world was a new experience. There’s real world drama that feels uneven, but it’s outweighed by his extraordinary imagination, razor sharp humor, and compassionate, inclusive worldview. As our government is working harder and harder to eliminate diversity amongst us there is something sweetly calming about this story of three strangers, each adrift and alone in their own way, coming together to create a family. The Bones Beneath My Skin is joyful reading about love and acceptance that left me happy.

Want more funny, comforting reading and are open to a bit of fantasy? Try Klune’s charming and humorous The House in the Cerulean Sea .

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