COUNT ALL HER BONES is the newest book from April Henry! She has written an amazing selection of mysteries! It’s the sequel to GIRL, STOLEN, which describes how Cheyenne gets kidnapped and how Griffin, one of her kidnappers, helps her to escape.

I read GIRL, STOLEN, my first April Henry book, years ago. It was an exciting mystery that my younger self loved. You definitely need to have read it to understand COUNT ALL HER BONES. The book was always a little open-ended, so I was super excited when I found out that there would be a sequel. I really felt that Cheyenne and Griffin’s story wasn’t done, and it turns out it wasn’t!

"COUNT ALL HER BONES was nice and to the point. There wasn’t extra fluff or side-plots surrounding the main story."

Like the first book, COUNT ALL HER BONES is very short. I ended up reading it in an afternoon. The plot takes no time to take off, and it is one thing after another. While some books take a lot of time to build the world, this did a quick recap of book one and then sent us right into the action. I really like this style of plotting, and so of course I enjoyed the book!

One of the cool parts of the book was that almost all the characters had a viewpoint at some point. We got to be in the head of not just our heroes, but our villains as well. It was cool to know things that the main character didn’t know, and as a result it amped up the tension.

COUNT ALL HER BONES was nice and to the point. There wasn’t extra fluff or side-plots surrounding the main story. I enjoyed that, but it did detract from the mystery aspect. From the beginning of the novel, the reader pretty much knows what’s going on. The main story was done well, but it wouldn’t have hurt to have a couple side-plots.

While COUNT ALL HER BONES wasn’t a necessary companion novel, I really enjoyed it. I’m a reader that loves to have all her loose ends tied up, and this does that wonderfully. The first book purposefully left things a little open, and this assuaged all my doubts about what might happen.

If you liked how GIRL, STOLEN ended, you do not need to read this book. You might still enjoy it, but it is not necessary. If you like a book with some loose strings, this is not the book for you. Any questions you have after book one are almost definitely answered in book two.

I definitely liked COUNT ALL HER BONES and I encourage fans of April Henry’s books or mysteries in general to pick it up! It’s appropriate for middle schoolers, but older readers will like it too!