Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones (1998) is a gothic horror novel by American author Stephen King. The novel follows Mike Noonan, a recently widowed author who has an overwhelming case of writer’s block. After experiencing several haunting dreams about his summer house, named Sara Laughs, Mike visits the house to attempt writing one last time. He soon gets embroiled in a legal battle between a local woman named Mattie Devore and her father-in-law, computer tycoon Max Devore, for custody of Mattie’s child, Kyra. Mike also learns that his late wife, Jo, was leading a secret life at Sara Laughs, and uncovers a startling truth about the town itself. 

King drew heavily from the 1938 Gothic novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for inspiration. Bag of Bones won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Dark Fantasy/Horror Novel in 1999. In 2011, the novel was adapted by horror filmmaker Mick Garris into a two-part miniseries starring Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan.

This guide is based on the 2018 Scribner paperback.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, death by suicide, sexism, racism, rape, ableist language, child death, body shaming, and alcohol dependency. Some of the characters also use language that stigmatizes sex workers.

Plot Summary

Mike Noonan is a 36-year-old novelist whose wife, Jo, suddenly dies in 1994 of a brain aneurysm. Mike learns that Jo was pregnant when she died, a discovery that exacerbates his loss. Mike spends the next four years grieving Jo, experiencing an intense case of writer’s block that leaves him physically ill. By 1998, his writer’s block is compounded by a series of recurring dreams set in his summer lake house, Sara Laughs. Mike interprets the dreams as a sign that he should go to Sara Laughs if he wants to try writing again. Mike returns to Sara Laughs in June 1998. As soon as he enters the house, he becomes aware that it is haunted by a number of supernatural presences, including the spirit of Jo.

Mike soon meets a young local widow named Mattie Devore and her daughter, Kyra. The Devores are related to a man named Max Devore, a computer software tycoon who left the nearby town of TR-90 for California many years earlier. Max is fighting for custody of Kyra, believing that Mattie is unfit to raise her. It soon becomes clear that the wealthy Max feels threatened by working-class Mattie, especially since he had exerted multiple efforts to block her marriage to his now-deceased son, Lance. Mattie’s legal troubles escalate when Mike is called to give a deposition to Elmer Durgin, Kyra’s court-appointed guardian. Sensing that Durgin is on Max’s payroll, Mike hires a New York lawyer named John Storrow to defend Mattie. Storrow employs his own legal team to assist in the effort.

Through several conversations with people in the town, Mike learns that Jo had been leading a secret life in the year before her death. She had visited Sara Laughs without Mike and had been seen at one point with another man. Mike demands answers from Jo’s spirit, but hears nothing back other than a plea to help Mattie.

Mike has a vivid fever dream that makes him aware of his growing attraction to Mattie. The dream also marks the end of his writer’s block, as Mike throws himself into work on a new crime thriller novel. Mike attends the deposition, where he outmaneuvers Durgin’s entrapments with the help of a local lawyer. After several more days spent writing, Mike learns that the townspeople, many of whom are financially dependent on Max, have begun to ostracize Mattie. Storrow is confident, however, that the custody case is moving in their favor. He soon uncovers evidence of Durgin’s collaboration with Max.

Mike follows a trail of historical clues related to a writing project Jo was working on before her death. Jo’s research initially concerned the history of a Black musician who lived in the area named Sara Tidwell (the namesake of Mike’s house), though at some point Jo began to inquire about the history of children who had died around Dark Score Lake, where Sara Laughs is located. One of the children was Sara’s son, Kito, who drowned in the lake. While following Jo’s trail, Mike falls out with his longtime caretaker, a local named Bill Dean. Mike begins to suspect that Bill is racist, which sours their friendship. Mike also learns that he may have a family connection to the town, which formed part of Jo’s research.

Max and his accomplice, Rogette Whitmore, confront Mike, urging him to drop his support for Mattie. Mike refuses to be cowed, so Max and Whitmore resort to physical violence, nearly killing him. Mike survives the ordeal with the help of Jo’s spirit. Later, Max and Whitmore send Mike a letter, promising to drop the custody case if Mike withdraws himself from Mattie’s personal affairs. Mike accepts the offer and is surprised when he learns that Max has died by suicide the following morning.

Even though Mattie’s legal troubles appear to be over, Bill urges Mike to leave town to save his reputation and their friendship. Mike refuses, reassuring him that his intentions are good. Soon, Mike and Mattie declare their feelings for one another. Wary of their age gap, Mike asks for time to consider before entering a romantic relationship.

To his relief, Mike discovers that the man who was seen with Jo was none other than her brother, Frank, who accompanied her to assure her safety. Jo’s research revealed that Mike’s town connection made him vulnerable to the psychic influence of Sara Laughs. Kyra demonstrates her own psychic ability when she shares that she is in contact with the spiritual presences around Dark Score Lake. The spirits use a set of fridge magnets to send messages to Mike and Kyra. Kyra’s magnets give her a list of names associated with the lake, including Carla Dean, a relative of Bill’s, and Reg, a relative of Sara Tidwell.

Mike experiences another vivid fever dream that takes him to the time of Sara Tidwell. He encounters Kyra and helps her to escape when a group of men led by Max’s great-grandfather, Jared Devore, attempt to apprehend her. Though Mike becomes too preoccupied with the town mysteries to continue writing his novel, he frequently slips into subconscious trances he associates with writing. These trances grant him further psychic visions of the present and the past.

Storrow learns that Max has left Mattie a lucrative inheritance in his will, provided that Mattie does not leave TR-90 for one year. This causes Mike to believe that Max had something else planned for Mattie before he died. While celebrating their legal victory at Mattie’s trailer, a group of men conduct a drive-by shooting that kills Mattie. Fearing for her safety, Mike takes Kyra back to Sara Laughs as a massive storm falls over the area.

During the storm, Mike loses himself in a trance and enacts a plan to kill Kyra and die by suicide. He is rescued by the spirits of Mattie and Jo, who help him realize that Mattie had hidden messages in Mike’s manuscript. He follows the message to a hidden room under Jo’s old studio, where he locates a box containing all of Jo’s research notes. The discovery reveals that there is a curse upon the lake. At the turn of the century, Jared Devore and several men raped and killed Sara Tidwell because they refused to accept a Black woman in their community. When Sara’s son, Kito, stumbled upon the scene, Mike’s granduncle, Harry Auster, drowned him in the lake. 

The violent nature of Sara’s death allowed her to live on as a ghost, taking revenge on the town’s descendants. Her psychic power influences families to give their children names that begin with “C” or “K” in memory of Kito. These children would then be killed by men from local families. Kyra would have been the latest victim in this series of murders, except that Mike overcame Sara’s influence.

Mike puts an end to the curse by finding Sara and Kito’s final resting place and dissolving their bones. Sara takes on a physical form to stop Mike, but Jo prevents her from harming him. When Mike returns to the house, he finds that Kyra has been kidnapped by Whitmore. He pursues them to the lake dock, where Whitmore is swept into the water by Mattie’s ghost and dies.

Mike retires from his career as a writer, feeling that his latest crime thriller is in bad taste after the experience of Mattie’s death. He applies to adopt Kyra and undergoes the slow process of building a new custody case with Storrow’s help. He finally settles into Sara Laughs, which has gone quiet ever since the curse was ended.