The Bone Clocks is in a line with Mitchell’s previous novels Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas. Various episodes are loosely linked by main characters of an episode appearing in others as well. All this in an urban fantasy framework of modern life spiced with supernatural mystery transcending the border of reality. The central character is Holly Sykes, born in 1969 as the author. We follow her across 6 episodes ranging from 1984 until 2043 with every decade getting one. Two of those episodes, the first and the last, are told from her point of view. Four others have narrators which are more or less important for the plot.
I don’t want to get into what the mystery is about other than it concerns immortality. Considered as an entertaining read, it succeeds. But I don’t think that it’s a successful book. The main culprit is the construction. Mitchell himself said that originally, he planned with 70 episodes. But even the 6 episodes are too much. At least two of the narrators don’t even remotely deserve having their own episodes as they don’t have any importance for the plot. Nothing would be amiss except for some flavour if they had been skipped. A third one is important in so far as he’s the only baddie getting his own story. But not a remarkable one. That leaves the two Holly stories and a third one by the one member of the Horologists, the ‚good ones‘. His story is the final culmination and reads like a cheap Marvel movie clone. I wondered why there was one more story after this end battle. And honestly, I’m surprised by the final near future dystopic ending in 2043. While I share Mitchell’s doubts about a blooming future presented in this episode, it doesn’t really fit as an ending with the theme of civilization breakdown coming from out of nowhere.
From a Mitchell book, I’ve come to expect more.