Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski

Timy reviews Where the Bones Lie, Nick Kolakowski‘s standalone thriller novel as part of a book tour organised by Datura Books in celebration of its release.

An eARC was received by the publisher, Datura Books in exchange for an honest review.

Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2025 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Freed from Desire

For Dash Fuller, Hollywood’s underbelly is home. He’s spent years making the film industry’s worst secrets disappear, and it’s left him a cynical burnout with a taste for bourbon and self-loathing.

But when a young woman comes to him with a peculiar quest, Dash sees a chance at redemption. Madeline Ironwood is the daughter of Ken Ironwood, a notorious smuggler and murderer who disappeared 20 years ago. Ken’s skeleton has just been discovered in a barrel at the bottom of a dried-up lake, and Madeline wants to know who killed him.

Dash agrees to help, and as this desperate daughter and jaded cynic claw their way through a world of sun-bleached secrets, crooked cops, and Hollywood thugs, they soon uncover a conspiracy involving some of LA’s most powerful people.

Get ready for a fast-paced, darkly funny thriller with a twist you won’t see coming.

“If you were a first-time visitor to Earth and saw the ocean, you’d think: perfection. And then you’d turn to look at the coast with its endless concrete and burning lights and machines belching smog, and think: why did they go so wrong?”

I wish picking songs always would be this easy *sigh*. I went for Always Halloween by Bohnes, because I think it gives back that vibe of Hollywood (and California) that’s represented in the book, the one Dash Fuller needs to deal with on a daily basis. Well, used to, anyway.

I admit I went into Where the Bones Lie somewhat blindly, because even though I must have read the blurb at one point (and I’m 100% sure I did as I helped with the cover reveal ages ago, and also because it got my interest enough to make me want to read the book), I had no idea what was waiting for me. And as this is the first book I read from Nick Kolakowski, I had no previous experiences or expectations, which was nice. No bars to jump – well, at least only just the very high one of my personal enjoyment. Which, thankfully was cleared by Where the Bones Lie.

I always end up enjoying books (and documentaries) that make us look behind the scenes of celebrity life, and I’m not sure what that says about me. I guess it’s the validation that life can’t be as picture-perfect and glittering as Hollywood would like us to believe. And the higher someone climbs on the celebrity ladder the bigger the fall is. I like to believe I’m not interested in these stories to gloat or feel better about myself, but I’m genuinely curious about the hows and whys as well as the human pshyché. I guess that’s also why I find mysteries fascinating.

In the case of Where the Bones Lie, we get to look into the life of a Hollywood fixer, well, an ex-fixer, whose job was to keep various up-and-coming celebs out of trouble, no matter the consequences as long as the public (and the studios) were happy and oblivious. And Dash Fuller was one of the best at what he was doing until a case made him quit. Not that it made things any better, as he became an alcoholic (or nearly so) and attempted to become a comedian, even though he is not funny. And the past always comes knocking.

Madeline hires him to help her find out what really happened to his father, whose remains were recently found at the bottom of a drying lake. Ken Ironwood himself was a sort of Hollywood legend as a smuggler and murderer. Since Dash wants to be as far away from LA as possible for the time being, he agrees and they head out to the Californian countryside. I liked the dynamics between these two, their dialogue, and the way they worked together and I think we can safely say built a friendship. I’m definitely giving bonus points for not forcing the characters into a romantic relationship. But Where the Bones Lie feels more like a plot-driven book, because even though we see everything from Dash’s POV, I never felt connected to him somehow. Oh, I could sympathize with him and liked him as a character with his faults and all, but I never bonded with him on an emotional level. But that happens and it did not lower my enjoyment of the book.

That said, Where the Bones Lie kept me engaged enough to read it much faster than I thought – then again, this is a book on the short side, so it’s not very surprising. And I think it could have done with a bit more as it felt too bare bones (pun absolutely intended). For the majority of the plot, the investigation felt too easy. Things kept falling into their laps, everything seemed to point in one direction and a seemingly obvious conclusion. And I didn’t really mind, because as I said, I enjoyed the ride, Kolakowski definitely has a style of writing that makes reading fun, but I felt that not everyone might feel compelled to stick with it until the end. This in turn leads me to say that the ending feels a bit rushed, if more satisfying than I would have expected. Interestingly, recent events in California add an unintended extra layer of tension to the book, which actually works very well.

All in all, I had a good time with time with book and I’m hoping that at one point there is going to be a sequel, because I very much would like to find out what Dash Fuller gets up to next. Where the Bones Lie is an action packed romp of a book, that shows us the ugly side of Hollywood in Kolakowski’s quirky and highly entertaining style. I sure will keep an eye out for any other books of his.