​I just finished this book Ink and Bone, my first by Lisa Unger. I’ve fallen off of thrillers since my teens and early twenties, mostly because they all start to run together. Once in a while one jumps out at me, and this one did not disappoint. 

The book begins with Finley, a young heavily tattooed woman juggling the college experience with something less conventional: she sees dead people. Though unwilling to cede control of her life to her visions, she is connected with a family looking for their missing daughter. Once she becomes involved in the search for young Abby, this pink-haired motorcycle-riding spiritual medium (who minus the motorcycle reminds me a lot of myself, or at least what I wished I was like as a younger adult) soon finds extricating herself from the situation is not only impossible, but also not something she wants. Can she really ever live a “normal” life when so many people need her help? Her battle against who she is meant to be will surely resonate with the millennial age group, but I also doubt it will be lost on older adults. 

I consider a mystery or thriller a successful read if there are things about it I know I’ll remember; in this case it’s the young adult protagonist. I’m a fan of YA lit and while this book is not advertised as such, it fits the category via some of the characters without actually becoming the type of coming-of-age book you’d expect in the Young Adult universe. The story is narrated from multiple perspectives encompassing a full range of age groups, and it’s safe to say all of them do some growing over the course of this pulse-pounding book. 
In the past I’ve had a tendency with newly discovered authors to go crazy and start flying through all of their work consecutively. But I’ve noticed that no matter how good the books are the result will be that they all start to run together on me if I take in too many too fast. This woman’s work deserves better than that! So instead of jumping headfirst into a pile of her books, I’ll keep her on one of my many literary back burners for next time I’m craving a suspenseful book. She’s written plenty and they’re not going anywhere.

It’s hard to be reasonable and read one book at a time when there are so many of them out there that I’m aching to read. But one at a time is the only way they can really be experienced, so I might as well enjoy it. I’m actually still reflecting on what I gained from this particular book, so rushing right into the next would mean cheating myself as well.