This is one of those books that sucks you in without you even realising it and then forces you to read until you find out exactly what happened.

Based around the legend of the Tall Man, a mythical character with echoes of Slender Man, we know that someone died, but we don't know who. We know that Amber killed someone, but we don't know why she was found not guilty. So many unanswered questions and so much mystery that aren't finally resolved until the final, hearth breaking page.

I absolutely adored this book and couldn't wait to find out exactly who the Tall Man was and what he'd forced everyone to do.

With thanks to Netgally for the ARC with no obligation.

This book is great: it’s gripping, it’s scary and it’s fascinating. But (confession!) the only thing I could think of when I was reading it was ‘Slenderman’.

The Tall Man is, as far as I can tell, a riff on the same thing. He’s an urban legend. He hides in the woods. He comes and takes children away. He can make you special if you ask him, and three girls do: in 1990, they pledge themselves to the Tall Man.

What follows is a mazy trail of betrayal, vengeance and tragedy that has repercussions all the way to the present day. Jumping between time periods with remarkable fluidity, Locke has created a really interesting take on the urban legend that really resonates with anybody who’s ever wanted to fit in- and makes for a very unsettling read into the bargain.

The focus of the story are Sadie and Amber Banner. In 2000, Sadie goes missing, leaving Amber behind; sixteen years later, she returns, but things aren’t as they seem. Sadie wants to fit in, but Amber doesn’t want her there. And in the shadows, dark things are stirring… as in the present day, Amber Banner, declared guilty of murder in court, takes to the road as a celebrity- whilst a film crew do their best to monitor her every waking moment.

Locke really skirts the horror genre with this one. The story is all twists and turns and hidden motives, walking the line between what’s real and what’s in your imagination. Through the eyes of the film crew, we see one perception of Amber Banner, whilst remaining in the dark about what’s happened to her family; in the past, we look back and try to piece the details together. It’s a little like the TV show ‘Making a Murderer’- in book form. Did she do it? Or did the Tall Man make her? And why did Sadie run?

It helps that the characters are so memorable, too. The troubled and fractured relationship between Sadie and Amber is at the heart of this book, and both women are drawn with exquisite care. Locke makes sure to reserve her judgement, showing us the sympathetic sides inside each woman’s head, juxtaposed with the way the world views them- and the crimes they may have committed. Neither of them are perfect; they are flawed and dark. But that just makes it more engrossing.

The Tall Man a slow-burning read, but the end result is utterly addictive. I was hooked, and practically read it all in one go. Locke has taken the urban myth and made it all her own; read it, if you dare.

What a creepy book!

There was something about The Tall Man that caught my attention from the beginning. The blurb was so intriguing: urban legends, a haunted woman, a teenage killer… I admit I love stories about curses and hauntings so I obviously thought this would be the perfect summer read for me.

The book’s opening chapters grabbed me immediately and I love how they introduced the tall man’s character. I could picture the flashback scenes as if I were watching a horror movie. I believe they were my favorite part.

Despite the great start, I did feel that the book was kind of a slow-burner and the middle section dragged a bit. I honestly didn’t know where the story was going and there was a specific pov that had me extremely confused. But despite feeling I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I had at first, I really wanted to know how the story would end. What exactly had happened to Amber? What had she done?

Fortunately, the last few chapters completely made up for the slow parts. I loved the ending, enjoyed how everything came together and thought this was a really smart concept for a mystery novel. And that last page gave me goosebumps!

In 1990, three girls devote themselves to a sinister figure.
In the year 2000, a young mother disappears, leaving behind her husband and baby daughter.
In 2018, a teenage girl is charged with murder.

The Tall Man is filled to the brim with intrigue, with aspects of the mystery being referred to but never fully explained for the majority of the book. Although this does build suspense and interest, there was a bit too much. It was over 40% of the book before anything started to be explained and, by that point, I was more fed up than intrigued.

However, it is still a very good story. I really liked the way it was told: through the filming of a documentary about Amber Banner and what she did (which you don’t get to find out until a good three quarters of the way through).

This story was not as creepy as I would have liked. I am a bit of a horror-freak, so I was looking for something closer to a properly dark thriller instead of the suspense/murder-mystery that it is.

I’ll admit it, I expected this to be a straight-up rip off of Slender Man. A tall mysterious shadowy man who lurks in forests and takes kids? Check. Even the title sounds similar. Despite this, the summary sounded interesting and NetGalley kept emailing me about it, so I decided to see what the fuss was about. Besides, I like a good psychological horror because I am apparently a fan of scaring myself when I read just before bed.



I have never claimed to make any sense.



I got about 50% of the way through the book before I liked anyone even a little, and not much happened before then to grip my attention sadly. I understand that it’s a slow-building novel, with threads that cross over time to form a pattern, but the burn was so slow for the first half of the book that at times I thought the fire was out. The changing time periods and points of view confused me at first, they weren’t clearly marked or explained (bear in mind this was a Kindle file from Netgalley so maybe the formatting was off?) and towards the end a page might have been missing because two words that made no sense together ended and started two pages respectively. So a certain amount of leeway has to be allowed here for potential, and completely uninteresting, formatting issues. All formatting aside, the novel bounces between the filming of a murder documentary in 2018, the run-up to the murder in 2016, the events that started the whole ball rolling years before in an obscure British town with the world’s creepiest forest and extracts of a diary. I did enjoy the way the stories came together to explain how and why the murder happened, but there were areas that fell a little flat for me.

The book focuses on Sadie and Amber Banner, sometimes through their own eyes and sometimes through the eyes of those around them. We know that Amber, the girl being filmed for said documentary, has recently been deemed not guilty of murder, though she did kill someone, and that it all somehow ties in to The Tall Man and the effect the myth had on her mother. I was all ready for supernatural, psychological horror throughout, and there were parts of it I really liked – Sadie’s apparent delusions of the Tall Man whispering in her ear, of blood-covered children whispering words of warning over her newborn baby, the image of Amber appearing from the woods covered in the evidence of her crime and staring out over the lake – but parts of it dragged a little beyond enjoyment for me. We got more of the documentary crew following Amber around Disneyland than we did the murder – or the Tall Man, who we saw disappointingly little of given he is the namesake of the book, though what we did see of him was wonderfully creepy in a way that made you question if he was really there at all.



The chapters coming up to the end of the novel were great, the overlapping of those threads becoming clear, of how the children link to the family, link to the diary, link to the murder…but then it just sort of ended. I still don’t know if the Tall Man is real or just a shared delusion that culminated in the collapse of a family and the loss of several lives. On top of this, very few of the characters were likable at all – Amber put up a front, I understand that, but she’s not the nicest person anyway. You are encouraged as a reader to pity her by documentary crew member Greta, but really she’s a bit too flat, a bit too guarded and a bit too mean. It was only once that facade dropped at the very end that I found myself wanting to know anything about her – and her last words in the novel are ones that linger with you. Sadie’s delusions are frightening and vivid, and the scene where she sees the Tall Man in a cupboard as a child was one of my favourites, blurring that line between reality and nightmare through the eyes of a child. As an adult however she doesn’t seem to be much more than a drunk with a somewhat lacking personality of any kind, though a lot of this can be explained through trauma I suppose. Miles was likable for the most part, if unsettlingly optimistic for a man whose wife left him with a newborn at about 20 years old and then reappeared with no explanation fifteen years later. Leanna and Billie were interesting towards the end, and the last scenes they shared with Amber were tense and well-done – I just didn’t get enough of them for a truly lasting effect.



Overall, do I appreciate what the book is trying to do? Yes. Did it do it? Sort of. Would I recommend it? Not really. When the most enjoyable part of a book is the end, there’s something to be said there. Don’t get me wrong, I’d probably watch the documentary, and the twists towards the end were enjoyable enough, but it just hasn’t been one of my favourites.

A very chilling read from start to finish. It is about the tall man who lives in the wood and takes children. Is he real or just stories told down the years. It was a bit slow in places but managed to finish it in the end.

A gripping horror/thriller about an unsettling entity named the Tall Man and a group of girls, murder and mayhem.
The characters were interesting and the plot solid although a bit slow with a few twists and turns.
It fully explains itself and leads to a satisfying ending, would recommend for something a bit different.

A terrifying and chilling book,the story had me hooked and was a great psychologicsl read that was intense,scary and dark

Thanks to Net Galley and Headline for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book at all. The book is titled, The Tall Man, The story constantly refers to The Tall Man, but I didn’t feel The Tall Man made an actual appearance. I did not like any of the characters, they all have secrets The story I found was often hard to follow and confusing at times. I struggled through to the end as I hate giving up on a book.

This is a disturbing dark plot of a story that follows a young girl Amber as she retells her account of what led up to that fateful night two years ago.
An urban legend known as the tall man plays a big part in the life's of the charectors you meet along the way and the writer keeps you guessing right up to the explosive end. A very good read!

The Tall Man is an unsettling, eerie and a compelling read. The story is creepy and had me guessing throughout.

I could not wait to start this book as I know it was inspired by the internet Slenderman mythology and subsequent attempted murder case, and as you all know by now I’m fascinated by the nitty gritty, true crime and horror.
I couldn’t get into this book at first and I was frustrated as I so wanted to enjoy it. I ploughed on though and I’m so glad I did as once I got past the first 25% or so, I was hooked! I think the novel is quite slow at first and can be confusing and appear disjointed as it swaps back and forth between timelines and points of view. But once you get past all of that, this is a great, intense, scary, disturbing and shocking story!

I was gripped by the paranoia and mystery surrounding the Tall Man- was he real? Was he made up? Were characters truly delusional, or did the Tall Man really appear to them, whisper to them- make them Special? A rollercoaster of a story which had me feeling so many emotions and coming up with so many different theories, with a great twist at the end! I also liked how the premise of the book is that a documentary is being made about the Tall Man and crimes committed in his name and honour- we’ve all watched Netflix series like Making a Murderer and I’ve watched the documentary Beware the Slenderman. I would highly recommend this book to fans of true crime, horror and psychological stories.

Thank you to Pheobe Locke, Headline/Wildfire and Netgalley for letting me review this book.

Unsettling and utterly creepy, The Tall Man kept me guessing till the end not only about what the hell is happening, but also what genre I’m actually reading.

Little girls in the woods, trying to summon the Tall Man to make them special, whatever that means. Disturbing, but surely nonsense. Or is it? Throughout the whole story I debated whether the Tall Man is actually real (and I could be special too, hehe), and we are going into the sort of paranormal territories I was introduced to by authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, or if there’s an actual explanation to all the shit that went down in one of the timelines set in the past. I have to admit, until the very end I couldn’t decide. Awesome! Love it when a book keeps me on my toes!

1990. Four little girls on a mission to become special through the powers of some mysterious figure. Urban legend? Actual possibility? Fuck knows, but I was creeped out for sure. Little girls are vicious and not something to mess with. They reminded me all to well of some of my elementary school classmates with their cruel nature and inherent nastiness.

2000. Sadie Banner disappears, last seen with a tall man. Possibly. Who can be sure? Her husband is baffled, alone with their two-week-old baby. Postpartum depression or something more sinister?

2018. Amber. Eighteen years old, and famous for all the wrong reasons. Some call her the spawn of Satan. Is she evil? Is she a victim? That’s what Greta, a documentary film maker is trying to find out. The week she spends with Amber does not give her the answers. On the contrary. More questions arise as we delve into the details of Amber’s past couple of years. Who died, and how?

A cleverly written mystery, The Tall Man will lead you astray and chill you to the bone.

Be careful. You don’t find him… he finds you.

Quite creepy, and quite confusing for the most part.
The twist came a little late, but this is definitely one that may make you sleep with a light on!
Enjoyable, even-paced read that I would recommend.

I couldn't work out if this had an element of truth, but it was a chilling story. The way it was told I hadn't worked out what had happened and was shocked when it came out. The final sentence caused a gasp too.

I didn't know which characters I trusted or liked, but I found it interesting that the story was told from the angle of the film company, adding an extra element with the stories of Greta, Federica and the guys, their relationships and what they thought of and how they related to Amber.

It was a sad story, and I did wonder how Sadie's early story linked to what had happened when Amber was a baby and in the present. Left me wondering how children could be even more easily led in this current time of social media influences. #thetallman #netgalley

The Tall Man is a creepy, tense story of psychological suspense and impending horror. It's gripping - I couldn't put it down and read until the early hours, immersed in Phoebe Locke's atmosphere and addictive writing. It's hard to believe this is her debut, because the plot and characters are really well crafted.

Firstly, I thought the mix of the possible 'supernatural' with the story's doubt around which characters are trust-worthy, made this novel have a satisfyingly jumpy feel. I was so intrigued as to whether this legend is all a figment of over-imaginative young minds, or whether there's some truth in it... it's the kind of eerie tale passed from generation to generation which should have you thinking twice about offering anything up to a mysterious man who can 'make you special'...!

The various narratives, showing different timeframes as well as some characters at different points in their lives, provides some great surprises and things I didn't see coming, and they had me excited to try and work out how they would link together - if at all. Why did Sadie abandon her daughter and go missing for all those years? Why was Amber on trial for murder - and did she really do whatever she was supposed to have done, despite getting off the charges? I love that feeling, when reading a book, of trying to second-guess how it all might fit together - and (for me) then usually getting it wrong, but I always enjoy the process anyway!

The modern-day story was strange in many ways, as it provides quite a different feel - you're suddeny back with the documentary crew trying to make a film about Amber, and you see her as she's grown up and wonder exactly what happened. This part of the story, because it focuses on people outside of the family and Sadie's friends (ie. documentary maker Greta and the crew she works with), feels more 'normal' than the other parts, but there's still that strong sense of mystery and the unknown. I also liked this narrative as it feels like the part where we as the reader is going to get the most answers!

I don't want to give too much away about this novel so I'll stop this review here, but if you're looking for an original thriller/ mystery/ horror that is quite likely to leave your mind on edge, I'd definitely recommend this. Above all, it's a really fun, well-crafted read that makes you want to keep turning those pages, whatever the time, right until the end!

The Tall man takes daughters but he needs help. Greta is working on a film about the Banner family and the Tall man's influence there but what really happened. Is Amber a victim or a killer or maybe she's both.

This was quite the gripping thriller. I don't think it was as creepy as suggested but then I'm a huge Stephen King fan and he's very good at creepy. That being said the story was so good and I couldn't be sure of anything until the end. It jumps time frames and POV quite a bit but I soon picked up the rhythm. The end was so clever I loved it.

Amber is very cold and it's hard to like her but it adds to the mystery of her character. I think I liked Greta best, she did seem to actually care about Amber over the film.

The Tall Man is a chilling, eerie and intelligent thriller that kept me guessing. This is definitely not a book to read at night as it gets inside your head making you think you can see and hear things. I jumped at quite a few shadows at night, turning on a light to check everything was ok.

The story goes back and forth between a few time lines as it covers Sadie and her families experiences of The Tall Man. I thought this was very cleverly done as not only does it help increase the suspense and tension in the book, it also helps the reader to understand the characters more as you are aware of what has happened in their pasts.

Despite some of her dubious actions in the book I felt quite sorry for Sadie. I don’t think she really understood what she was getting herself into and she seems pretty terrified when things start to happen. My favourite character was Miles who seems to be a lovely husband and father who clearly adores both of them. His fear and concern over Sadie’s erratic behaviour was quite heartbreaking to read about.

This was a very fast paced read for me which I couldn’t put down. I raced through the pages wanting to find out what happened and how it all gets resolved. If you want a gripping read for your holidays I really recommend this one.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater and Wildfire books for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.

I'm delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for debut thriller The Tall Man today – I was intrigued by this novel as soon as I heard about it, and it did not disappoint.

A SENSELESS MURDER. A TERRIFYING LEGEND. A FAMILY HAUNTED.
1990: In the darkest woods, three girls devote themselves to a sinister figure.
2000: A young mother disappears, leaving behind her husband and baby daughter.
2018: A teenage girl is charged with murder, and her trial will shock the world.
Three chilling events, connected by the shadow he casts.
He is the Tall Man. He can make you special...

I find urban legends fascinating, and so the idea of a novel based around a mysterious figure known only as “The Tall Man” made this novel hugely appealing when I first heard about it.
"The Tall Man takes daughters"
The Tall Man is held responsible for the disappearances of missing children and can be summoned through various rituals of which no one seems entirely sure of the exact details. This gives the novel a supernatural vibe, which I realise won’t appeal to everyone, but I thought that Locke was very clever in the way in which she based her story around this figure whilst always leaving open the question of his existence and whether he is to blame for what happens in the story.

I enjoyed the structure of The Tall Man which takes the form of a documentary on Amber Banner, recently accused and acquitted of murder, the trial becoming such high profile that Amber has acquired (temporarily at least) celebratory status. The reader follows the crew filming the documentary, and I loved being a fly on the wall in the interviews with Amber as well as the behind the scenes access with the crew. There are also diary extracts, and flashbacks to 1990 which I particularly enjoyed, and which add to the story brilliantly. The Tall Man is a novel in which what happened takes as long to be revealed as why it happened, in that Locke very cleverly only reveals who was murdered towards the end, and I loved this slow reveal of exactly what was going on.

I found the characters in the novel to be largely unlikeable. Amber is milking her fifteen minutes of fame for all its worth, and the reader gets an insight into how those making the documentary will manipulate the people they are interviewing in order to put on the best possible show and to achieve the best possible ratings, consequences be damned. The only one who really shows any kind of moral reservations in this is Greta, who spends the novel trailing Amber around and being largely unhappy with the approach taken by her boss, although she does go along with it. Whilst I didn’t particularly like the characters, I thought that they worked brilliantly for this novel, and by not liking Amber, I was able to view her case objectively.

As the end of the novel approaches, the various narratives come together brilliantly, and whilst being kept in the dark for much of a novel can sometimes be an issue (for this reader at least), I didn’t mind it at all here – I desperately wanted to know what was going on and I loved the hints that Locke dropped throughout. I would say that if you feel bereft of information then it’s worth persevering with The Tall Man, as the denouement is brilliant, and took me completely by surprise.

The Tall Man was published by Wildfire on 14 June, and I think this will be a huge hit over the summer. Many thanks to the Anne Cater and Wildfire for the review copy, and the opportunity to take part in the blog tour.

Half way through this book I found myself wondering just where it was going. It really did not hold my attention and I think that the way it is written is just not to my reading taste. I struggled to finish it!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a preview copy