'Tall Bones' is a novel about small-town life in a place where the bible is used by the church and fathers to attempt to keep their kids - and wives - in line, and yet all sorts of bad stuff is going on under their noses (sometimes perhaps UP their noses). It's a place dripping with hypocrisy, racism, homophobia where small minds get ample opportunity to perpetuate their privileges. When a young woman - Abi - goes missing after a part out in the woods (at a place called Tall Bones), nobody can initially be sure if she's been killed or has run away in search of something better. As we get to learn more about her family - one for which the term 'dysfunctional' seems an understatement - it's not hard to see that running away might have felt like a very realistic option. Her best friend, Emma, soon finds out she didn't really know Abi at all. Emma's got a couple of problems of her own - a drink problem and being mixed race in a very white town. Her friend Rat, the Romanian immigrant, is another outsider, but he's also not really who she thought he was and he's also very deeply tied up with Abi's family. The book is menacing. I didn't know who did it until the 'reveal'. There seemed to be plenty of people who might have and even more who were willing to do whatever it took to cover up the evil of the town. It's a great read. We peel away the layers of intrigue, head down the odd blind alley only to bounce back again, and there are plenty of people who are definitely not living their best lives. There's one event where a baddy gets his comeuppance where I defy you not to cheer out loud when it happens. Highly recommended. I'd read this author again.

Emma and Abi are best friends and have been for years. While at a party one night, Emma chooses to go home early, leaving Abi behind at her request, never guessing for a second that she is kickstarting a devastating sequence of events that she’ll be trying to unpick for months to come. When tragedy strikes in a small town, it can serve to shine a spotlight on all its occupants, revealing their deepest, darkest secrets and showing the hidden aspects of people’s lives. Everyone knows everyone but how well can you really know anyone, and how do you know the difference between the truth and what they want you to believe? This is a dark, atmospheric thriller and I really enjoyed it. I found it a little bit tricky to get into, but it’s a great read. I liked that the main female characters weren’t the typical perfect high school - chearleader Mary Sues, they were complex, imperfect and had hidden depths. The characters were generally all good though, intriguing and with layers to their characters, they all felt 3 dimensional. A great read, I would definitely recommend this! I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tall Bones falls into my favourite sweet spot - crime literature - a genre which is led by Tana French and Jane Harper (who has provided a blurb). I was therefore hugely looking forward to reading it, not least because it is getting a lot of buzz. I wasn’t disappointed. Abigail Blake has gone missing from the small town of Whistling Ridge. The story is held together by the search (or lack of search) for Abi. But what more clearly draws the reader is the secrets and lies which make for a complex web of relationships across the town’s families and bonds. This is an incredible slow burn narrative. Character led, it is one for readers not those who skim as the rich prose is full of small nuggets of detail that take us towards as satisfying ending to most of the strands. A thoroughly recommended 4.5*. Thanks to Transworld and PRH for the ARC.

I loved this book, what I liked most was, how from the beginning, all the characters are clearly introduced. I had no trouble working things out, something which has been a trial in other books. The stage was set in this small American town and I felt part of it from the start. This is a mystery, a thriller that brings out so much about the people of this small town, it's haunting. With the disappearance of 17 year old Abigail, cracks in the town appear and the oppressiveness of the residents apparent. What has happened? This book is compelling reading and I look forward to more from this author.

A remarkable debut novel from Anna Bailey. The descriptive writing, brilliant observations and the incredible understanding of human nature, good and unspeakably bad amounted to an excellent book that explored the small minded, racist and god fearing folk of small town America. The girl at the centre of the story, Abigail disappears one night and there follows the lengthy explanation of what happened to her. My only criticism is that the reader doesn’t get to know her before her disappearance and therefore it is a struggle to find empathy with her for the majority of the book. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC.