Reviewed by Twilight Sage Moon
Released 22 July 2025 from Little, Brown & Company
Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is not an easy read. It is gritty, painful, and filled with dread. Including true-to-life horror concerning murdered and missing indigenous women (MMIW). The book also highlights the atrocities that Hispanic folx go through.
With the state that the United States is in, this book could not have been released at a more perfect time. Givhan’s powerful, poetic voice and spirit shine through her work, and I am utterly in awe.
Salt Bones focuses on Mal, a mother with trauma from her own mother. She tries relentlessly to be the best mother that she can be; while trying to manage the aftereffects of the trauma she has endured. Mal has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). As a survivor of C-PTSD and IBS myself (IBS being one that is embarrassing for me to talk about a lot of the time), I found this representation to be so essential. Trauma shows up in our bodies in many different ways, and this was important to highlight.
Intergenerational trauma is a big theme of Salt Bones, as well as motherhood. A family tree map is included to help readers keep track of all of the characters, making the book easy it navigates. It helps to create a visual of the characters, as well as the aspects of intergenerational trauma.
Mal starts seeing visions of La Siguanaba when her daughter goes missing—a folkloric legend known as the horse-headed woman. La Llorona is a similar folkloric figure and has been incorporated into horror countless times. But the way Givhan incorporated La Siguanaba and challenged her being seen as a malevolent entity was brilliant.
No one seems to listen to Mal when she’s searching for her daughter. Distrust of police was highlighted throughout the novel with Mal’s experience in a way that had me in tears. The fear associated with this is scarier than any phantom, folkloric figure, or ghost.
It’s true to life horror.
As a mental health professional, I loved how Givhan incorporated coping techniques and references to therapy and PTSD with Mal’s nightmares and mental health struggles. She also incorporated Spanish in a way that those who don’t speak the language will be able to grasp the story, its characters, and message. Agricultural work and butchering are fundamental pieces of the novel, and the way Mal describes the artistic way of honoring the animals was gorgeous.
There is so much wrapped up in this novel—horror, the supernatural, mystery, and thrills with achingly beautiful prose. It makes it almost impossible to properly sum up. Jenn’s poetry background was evident throughout the language of the novel, and it wove its way into my soul in a way that was searing and left me changed.
If you don’t read any other books this year, please pick up Salt Bones. That is how important this book is.
Twilight Sage Moon (He/They/Just Use My Name) is a horror critic and scholar, author, and mental health professional. They are the Founder and CEO of Releasing the Phoenix, a holistic LGBTQ+ mental health and wellness organization. As a certified bibliotherapist, they specialize in using horror to address trauma, grief and phobias, as well as erotica to help folx safely navigate their sexuality.
Sage has been involved in publishing since 2013 when their first novel was published. Throughout their time in the publishing world, they have worked with traditional, independent, and self-published authors and publishers. Sage has extensive experience in publishing, editing, interior design, and marketing. This has given them a rare multi-faceted viewpoint of the industry, and horror continues to be a solace for them through their mental health concerns.
Stephanie Ellis writes dark speculative prose and poetry. She is the author of The Five Turns of the Wheel, Reborn, The Woodcutter, Harrowfield, The Barricade, A Fragile Thing, and novellas Bottled, Paused and Rat-She. Her short stories appear in a variety of magazines and anthologies, some of which have featured on Ellen Datlow’s Best of Horror Recommended Reading Longlist. She is a Rhysling and Elgin-Award nominated poet and has co-authored Mason Gorey (a novella in verse) and Lilith Rising with Shane D. Keene and Foundlings with Cindy O’Quinn. She can be found at https://stephanieellis.org and on bsky: stephellis.bsky.social
