The Bone Clocks

Marinus meets with the other Horologists in New York to share Elijah’s offer. The Horologists are skeptical, but Marinus argues that they know enough about the Anchorites to anticipate their traps. The group listens to Esther’s tape.

In a car going to Blithewood, Marinus learns that his driver was also previously helped by Esther Little. She gives Marinus a message from Esther: “Three on the Day of the Star of Riga” (421). Marinus doesn’t know yet what this message means. He erases the driver’s memories. At Blithewood, Marinus finds Holly Sykes at the grave of Crispin Hershey. By this time, Holly’s cancer is in remission. Marinus introduces themself to Holly’s incredulity—she met Marinus in a different body in 1984. Marinus tries to convince her that he really is Marinus by recounting Holly’s encounter with Ian and Heidi. Holly leaves, upset.

Marinus visits a restaurant he frequented when he was still Yu Leon Marinus. He recalls an earlier life as Pablo Antay Marinus, who came to the Australian colonies during the late 19th century. While exploring the wetlands near Perth, Marinus encountered a group of warriors led by Esther Little. After Esther saved Marinus from his treacherous guide, Marinus spent time with Esther’s people, studying their ways and culture. Esther told Marinus about the great number of lives she had lived, making her older than any of the Horologists Marinus knew at that point. Marinus was greatly impressed by her. Eventually, Esther shared her millennia-old true name with Marinus.

Back in the present, Holly finds Marinus at the restaurant, now convinced by his claims. When Holly shows Marinus a current photo of Hugo Lamb looking exactly as he did in 1992, Marinus tells Holly about the Anchorites, adding that Hugo has been mentored by the same Miss Constantin that visited Holly in her childhood. If Marinus hadn’t intervened, Holly would have been abducted in Jacko’s place. Marinus gives Holly a key that will lead her to substantial proof, but Holly resentfully refuses to use it.

Marinus is anxious about the upcoming Second Mission to defeat the Anchorites. Oscar Gomez gained prominence as a street preacher the week before, making eerily specific proclamations about the lives of passers-by. Marinus receives a series of messages that lead them to believe that Hugo Lamb influenced Oscar and extracted him from the hospital. Soon after, Marinus survives an assassination attempt.

Marinus visits Sadaqat, who maintains the apartment the Horologists use as their primary safehouse. Holly arrives at the apartment using the key that Marinus gave her. In a dream the night before, a Horologist named Arkady told her to come.

Marinus and Arkady explain the war between Horology and the Anchorites to Holly. Horologists are Atemporal beings, which means that when their bodies die, they are resurrected into the body of a child close to death. Anchorites, meanwhile, are immortal beings who preserve their bodies by consuming the souls of children with psychosoteric potential, a process referred to as decanting. Both sides have access to a wide range of psychic abilities, which they use to battle one another.

The Anchorites began as a heretical sect of the Catholic Church, founded by the Blind Cathar. Baptiste Pfenninger had been the first recruit; he had communed with the Blind Cathar through an icon in a monastery chapel. Holly recognizes the description of the Blind Cathar from her daymare at the underpass. Pfenninger and the Blind Cathar had struck a deal to bring new souls to the Cathar’s chapel, feed upon them, and stay immortal. Marinus saved Holly as a child by tampering with her soul, preventing the Anchorites from decanting her. Jacko, meanwhile, was the host of Horology leader Xi Lo, who was abducted by the Anchorites and destroyed.

Holly struggles to process everything she’s learned. Just after she leaves, Elijah calls Marinus to tell him that Constantin is planning to kidnap Holly. A police officer tells Holly that the consulate reports that Aoife has been in a car accident. Holly gets into the police car and ends up next to an Anchorite. Marinus and another Horologist, Ōshima, pursue the police car, rescue Holly from her would-be assassins, and bring her to another safehouse.

Marinus remembers more of his past lives: a surgeon in Japan and a peasant girl in Russia. During the latter, he met the married philosophers Holokai and Xi Lo, and learned about the existence of Atemporals. Xi Lo had been proximate to Marinus’s presence in Japan, recounting events from David Mitchell’s 2010 novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Xi Lo and Holokai offered to help Marinus manage life as an Atemporal—an offer that resonates with Horology’s origins as a support group for Atemporals.

Back in the present, the Horologists decide it is time to extract Esther Little from Holly Sykes. During the First Mission, several Horologists hid in Jacko’s mind as he was being lured to the Anchorites’ chapel by Constantin. Although they thus succeeded in infiltrating the chapel, the Blind Cathar noticed the Horologists’ presence. The resulting battle led to deaths on both sides, including that of Xi Lo and Holokai. In the aftermath, the Anchorite named Rhîmes pursued Esther and Marinus, resulting in his death, as well as the deaths of Ian and Heidi.

Marinus navigates Holly’s memories and recovers Esther from the day Holly had met her along the River Thames, recognizing the Star of Riga from Esther’s messages. Marinus uses Esther’s true name to summon her.

Esther enters the body of a Horologist named Unalaq. She tells the others that the chapel of the Anchorites has formed a crack that they can exploit as a weakness. Moreover, she predicts that if they are successful, it will mark a decisive victory against the Anchorites, thus ending the war. Marinus shares Elijah’s plan to escort the Horologists to the Anchorites’ lair. Once inside, Esther will destroy the crack, filling the space with the void between life and death, called the Dusk. The Dusk will, however, destroy Esther. The other Horologists must buy Esther time to execute her plan.

The Horologists hope that Xi Lo may have survived the First Mission, hiding in the Anchorites’ chapel to pave an escape route for them. Holly declares that she will join the mission; to her, Xi Lo is the Jacko she loves.

The Horologists mobilize at Sadaqat’s safehouse for the Second Mission. Sadaqat joined their side after being used as an Anchorite informant. Holly and Marinus talk about Atemporal families, resurrection, and normality while playing pool. During the briefing, the Horologists discuss every possible contingency plan to ensure success.

Traveling to the Chapel of the Dusk, they deposit Sadaqat at a halfway point to cover their rear. They eventually find the crack in the same hall where the Blind Cathar’s icon is housed. The Horologists use their psychic powers to target the icon and destroy it. They initially think they are victorious, but soon realize that the Blind Cathar has survived their attack, and that Elijah has betrayed them. The Anchorites arrive, led by Pfenninger and Constantin.

The Anchorites now reveal that Sadaqat had been a mole all along, set up to betray the Horologists to become an Anchorite. The Horologists point out to Sadaqat that the Anchorites have no intention of accepting him, which Constantin confirms. She kills Sadaqat shortly after.

The battle begins as the icon of the Blind Cathar is restored to its normal state. Esther and Ōshima carry out their part of the plan. The body of Dr. Iris Fenby is killed by Pfenninger, so Marinus enters Holly’s mind and forces her to play dead. Just as the Horologists are about to lose, there is large flash: An explosion shatters the Chapel as Esther succeeds. Pfenninger is killed by falling debris and Elijah is killed by the Dusk. As other Anchorites try to escape, Holly and Marinus are trapped inside the ruin of the Chapel.

Holly and Marinus enter a series of passages, which Holly realizes is the labyrinth Jacko had given her before she left home. Marinus speculates that just as the Blind Cathar became the Chapel, Xi Lo transformed into the maze to give the Horologists their escape route from the mission. When Holly and Marinus bump into Constantin in the maze, Holly bludgeons Constantin to death because she threatens Marinus, whom Holly considers family.

They continue through the maze and reach a room where a golden apple hangs suspended in the air. Marinus tells Holly that it is a soul and urges her to touch it before the Dusk can reach them. Holly does so, vanishing. Marinus remains in the room, where he finds Hugo Lamb. Marinus wonders why Hugo didn’t take the golden apple for himself. In response, Hugo asks if Holly ever loved him. Marinus suddenly realizes that they can both escape if they use their shared energy to summon a portal out of the Chapel.