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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:Bag-of-Bones-King-Stephen-9781439106211_477.jpg|frame|Sara Laughs. Just not on this cover image.]]▼
| title = Bag of Bones
▲
| caption = Sara Laughs. Just not on this cover image.
| author = Stephen King
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Horror
| publication date = September 22, 1998
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''"...any good marriage is secret territory, a necessary white space on society's map. What others don't know about it is what makes it yours."''}}
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What Michael doesn't realize is that what appears to be a simple custody battle is really the final act of a vindictive ghost haunting the town, bent on avenging itself on the descendants of the men who murdered her a hundred years ago... and the seemingly nice country folks of this town are more than ready to let her finish.
The novel was made into [[Bag of Bones (miniseries)|a miniseries]] in 2011.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Abusive Parents]]: Averted. The main allegation against Mattie Devore in Max Devore's custody case is that Mattie is abusive and neglectful towards her daughter. The charges are ridiculously false, but money has a way of making people ignore this.
* [[Adaptation Decay]]: The A&E miniseries.
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* [[Big Bad]]: Max Devore.
* [[Bigger on the Inside]]: In a dream/living projection, Mike and Kyra are chased into a county fair's haunted house which is much bigger than it looks from outside.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]:
* [[The Cameo]]: Ralph Roberts and Norris Ridgewick. A few other King characters are mentioned in passing.
* [[Canon Welding]]: It's a [[Stephen King]] novel. What did you expect? Several of his works are referenced, including ''IT'', ''[[The Dark Half]]'', and cameos by the main character of ''Insomnia'' and Norris Ridgewick, who appeared in several Castle Rock stories in various capacities.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The Stenomask and bottle of lye.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Also Max Devore, though his business in TR-90 is strictly personal.
* [[Cosmic Horror]]: It is implied that the intervention of an "outsider" is what caused the ghost of Dark Score Lake to become vindictive, though its nature or origin is never explored.▼
* [[Covers Always Lie]]: The [http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166254250l/10589.jpg American paperback version] depicts a lake, which is the extent of its accuracy. The naked woman in the badly-done CG of the lake and the little shack in the distance bear no resemblance to anything in the story, and the denuded trees seem a bit unlikely considering that the part of the story set on the lakeside takes place in ''July''.
▲* [[Cosmic Horror]]: It is implied that the intervention of an "outsider" is what caused the ghost of Dark Score Lake to become vindictive, though its nature or origin is never explored.
* [[Creepy Child]]: One of the ghosts haunting Sara Laughs is that of a crying child. It appears to disturb Mike more than the others.
* [[Dead Little Sister]]: Bill Dean. He doesn't like talking about it, either.
* [[Dirty Cop]]: George Footman.
▲* [[Distressed Damsel]]: Mattie Devore all over the place.
* [[The Dragon]]: Rogette Whitmore is one of the more unlikely examples in literature.
* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: {{spoiler|Mattie Devore's murder is sudden, brutal, and completely senseless. Michael later realizes he has written many fictional murders of this type, and is disgusted with himself.}}▼
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: The fate of most of Jared Devore's accomplices, though not Jared himself.
▲* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]:
* [[Erotic Dream]]: Mike has an explosive and disturbing three-way orgy with Jo, Mattie and Sara Tidwell in one of his dreams.
* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: Max Devore provided well for his children and truly seemed to love his youngest son, Lance, though even that love had its limits.
* [[Fauxshadow]]: Mike lives in the town of Derry, which will lead the savvy King reader to assume that its dark history will play a role. All of the creepy, supernatural stuff only starts to happen after he leaves, however, and he never goes back once he's gone.▼
* [[Face Heel Turn]]: The result of certain individuals becoming a [[Living Bodysuit]]. Max Devore ''appears'' to pull one of these late in the book, in the opposite direction.
▲* [[Fauxshadow]]: Mike lives in the town of Derry, which will lead the savvy King reader to assume that its dark history will play a role. All of the creepy, supernatural stuff only starts to happen after he leaves, however, and he never goes back once he's gone.
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Mike is a novelist, so he knows a good trope and frequently identifies them when he comes across one in his life.
* [[Happily Married]]: Mike and Johanna.
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* [[It Got Better]]: Mattie's husband dies, leaving her a poor, single mother with few prospects. [[It Got Worse|Enter husband's father]], who intends to take away her daughter--mostly out of spite--and has more than enough money to make sure it will happen. Then, when things seem completely hopeless, a fortuitous encounter with Mike Noonan changes everything.
* [[Jerkass]]: Max Devore, again. Mike himself has a pretty cynical outlook, and his personal thoughts on people, even those he likes, have a tendency to be less than flattering.
* [[Living Bodysuit]]: When
* [[Magic Feather]]: Michael believes that it was discovering his old IBM typewriter which enabled him to start writing again. His superstition regarding the apparent defeat of writer's block is so strong that he's afraid to even take it out of his office, which has no air conditioner and is uncomfortably hot in mid-July.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Max Devore is throwing around scads of money at the townspeople of TR-90 to buy their good opinion and grease the skids for his custody battle.
* [[May-December Romance]]: Mike and Mattie.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Devore = devour.
* [[My Death Is Just the Beginning]]: Max Devore, unfortunately for everyone on Mattie's house.
* [[New House, New Problems]]: Mike's life, none too good before coming to Sara Laughs, gets a whole lot more complicated once he does.
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: How
* [[Rape as Backstory]]:
* [[Self-Deprecation]]: As with his other writer-characters, King uses Noonan to occasionally mock the habits and pretensions of writers.
* [[Town with a Dark Secret]]: TR-90.
* [[Trapped in Another World]]: Michael fears that if he and Kyra can't make it out of their shared dream of the 1901 Fryeburg Fair, they'll be trapped in it forever. He even speculates about what he'd do for a living if it happened.
* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: {{spoiler|Sara Tidwell}}.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Works
[[Category:Horror Literature]]
[[Category:Bag of Bones]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Literature of the 1990s]]
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