~Shanessa Gluhm

It’s summer 1986 in the small Texas town of Bluesummer, and the quad — Tilly, Greer, Hayes, and Troy — want nothing more than one last unforgettable 4th of July blowout before life pulls them in separate directions. Unfortunately, they never got that final celebration. Tilly became the fifth victim of the killer the town would come to call the Songbird Strangler, and all evidence pointed toward someone within the quad. Troy was sent to death row, while Hayes married Greer and refused to acknowledge Troy from that moment forward.

Now, with Troy’s final appeal in hand, attorney Joaquin Ramos of DPAP is searching for a procedural error that could delay the execution date quickly approaching. But Joaquin, along with his office team Bernie and Melrose, discovers something far more disturbing: the possibility that an innocent man is about to die while the real killer has been hiding in plain sight all along.

Everyone connected to the original investigation becomes a suspect again, and Greer — a former journalist turned stay-at-home mom — begins pulling at threads she thought were buried decades ago. The story she has told herself for thirty-five years begins to unravel, including the truth about her own role in Troy’s trial. In Bluesummer, justice was swift. The truth was simply left behind.

Gluhm separates herself from the pack when it comes to character development. There are no throwaway characters in The Bone Nest. Even the smallest roles carry weight — private histories, hidden motivations, and choices that ripple across timelines. By the final pages, it doesn’t feel like you’ve simply read a story; it feels like you’ve spent time with these people and carry pieces of their lives with you.

Each character brings something recognizable and deeply human to the story. Tilly may be short-lived, quite literally, but her presence leaves a lasting mark. Greer is a standout: her decades-old unresolved feelings for Hayes and her growing doubts about the man she built a life beside become the emotional heartbeat of the novel. But her moral compass begins to slowly fracture, revealing the complicated humanity beneath the surface. Despite what it costs her personally, she fights for what she believes is right. Troy, despite everything stacked against him, holds onto his convictions while maintaining a realistic understanding of his situation. Yet he still carries hope. Joaquin balances determination and idealism with a self-deprecating humor that brings moments of needed lightness, while his commitment to a client the world has already condemned makes him impossible not to root for. The romantic threads — Greer’s buried emotions and the slow-building connection between Joaquin and Melrose — add depth without ever overshadowing the mystery. Nobody is reduced to a label or a verdict, which is exactly the point of a story centered around a verdict.

One of the things I found most compelling is the moral complexity Gluhm brings to her characters. Feeling two opposing emotions about the same person at the same time is not easy to accomplish, yet Gluhm captures it beautifully: sympathy and suspicion, tenderness and resentment, grief and anger. The characters live in those uncomfortable gray spaces where real people exist.

The dual timeline structure is handled with impressive control, moving between the sweltering summer of 1986 and the present-day countdown to Troy’s execution. The transitions feel intentional, allowing the past and present to constantly push against each other while building tension. The ticking clock becomes the heartbeat of the story, reminding readers that every second matters as everyone races to uncover the truth buried inside a thirty-five-year-old case.

And then there is Texas — not simply a setting, but a character with its own heartbeat. You feel the suffocating heat, the weight of a small town that remembers everything, and the pressure of expectations that follow people long after they thought they escaped them. Gluhm’s writing is deliberate and vivid without becoming overwhelming. The pacing never loses momentum, the misdirection works beautifully, and the twists feel earned rather than forced. The final revelation lands because the atmosphere has been quietly laying the groundwork all along.

I can’t recommend The Bone Nest by Shanessa Gluhm enough. It’s a compulsive, character-driven psychological thriller that delivers everything you hope for from the genre. Gluhm gives readers a gripping mystery, unpredictable twists, and a moral question that refuses to offer an easy answer.

Thank you to author Shanessa Gluhm and Lone Star Literary Life for the opportunity to Alpha/Beta/ARC The Bone Nest. As always, all opinions and reviews are of my own volition — Karen Brooks, The Tx Lit Chic. I have not been promised any compensation, current or future, for a fair and honest review.