It all starts the night Abi goes missing. Or does it? Really is starts a long time before that, hidden in the multitude secrets kept by the residents of Whistling Ridge.
This is a beautifully written, interestingly structured debut from Anna Bailey. The book is atmospheric and the plot unravels, using a time shift structure that keeps you guessing.
I thought the characterisation was particularly strong, aided by the shift in perspective flowing from one character to the next throughout.
Difficult to say why without giving spoilers, but I also loved the ending; bitter sweet, beautiful and maybe even hopeful. I look forward to reading more of Anna Bailey's work.

This is the story of a missing girl Abigail who is from a from a small town called Whistling Ridge and her friend Emma who is living with the guilt of leaving Abigail to go off in the woods to meet up with someone never to be seen again.
This book is so much more than just the mystery of a missing girl it’s a story of small town bigotry and secrets all fuelled by a pastor who preaches fire and brimstone and it’s a compelling and very disturbing read at times.
Told from two different timelines then and now it’s a slow paced read that builds up to a horrifying conclusion and I could almost feel the tension and atmosphere of this beautifully crafted read. The characters to me all felt very real and the story built up as more secrets were revealed and although at first I wondered if this was going to be a book I would enjoy I actually loved it.
So a book I can highly recommend it does start slow but stick with it it’s a book that really is satisfying and addictive.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Uk,Transworld Publishers,Doubleday for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Tall Bones is set in a small American town called Whistling Ridge, where cracks in society begin to show following the disappearance of teenager Abi Blake. The plot follows her best friend Emma who is desperate to discover the truth, as well as the Blake family and an outsider named Rat.

It took me a while to get into this book and I found the pace quite slow, until this picked up about half way through. I do feel this is a slow burning plot and liked how Bailey developed the characters throughout. Bailey writes from multiple characters points of view which definitely helped understand their motives. This book covers many difficult topics including physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as alcoholism, sexuality and religion. In my opinion, Bailey incorporated these topics very well in a way that was both sensitive and raw, at times it was quite hard to read.

I liked Bailey's writing style although this was quite dark because it added to the mystery behind Abi's disappearance and I was pleased I couldn't predict the ending. At times, I did find it difficult to connect to the characters and therefore, wasn't too concerned about their fate until nearer the end.

I recommend this book if you enjoy a dark thriller, also if you like Gillian Flynn I think you would also like this book.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unedited feedback.

Whistling Ridge, a small town with big secrets. A town with menace on every corner and a dark side to every situation. Two friends enjoy a night out, one girl disappears, her friend will never see her again. The townsfolk closes ranks, each with their personal reason for hiding that which must remain unspoken. The missing girls relatives have their own reasons for reluctance to assist in finding Abi. Primarily a dysfunctional family who cannot or dare not disclose or have a light shine on what goes on behind their hidden facade. And Emma, desperate to resolve the mystery more isolated and alone than ever, struggling to identify who can, and who should not be trusted. A heavily compelling thriller expertly demonstrating the prejudices and suspicion at the heart of a town simmering with past slights and offences. The unsolved mystery of a missing teenager is the catalyst to unfold grudges that have festered for years. A psychological thriller that covers a remit of every emotion for both characters and reader until the ultimate conclusion. Many thanks to publisher and NetGalley for ARC.

This book is really sad and quite tragic. It perfectly portrays that suffocating feeling of small town life. Everyone thinks they know your business, everyone has something to say about it, and if you are different then everything is twice as bad. At the same time everyone has secrets and everyone is trying to hide something. Ultimately though this is a very good haunting mystery thriller. The story starts to come together as a patchwork of snapshots are gradually revealed through past and present timeline as the story reaches its climax. I’m not sure how you follow up a debut like this but I can’t wait to find out.

I had heard so much about this book, and it ticks all my boxes. US story of a small town with a dark heart but I felt it could have been better. I liked the setting- the town was well drawn but slightly unremittingly awful, surely there would have been some good in a town of that size. I liked the family relationships, the domestic violence story was harrowing and felt menacing and real. The mystery surrounding the disappearance almost took a back seat to the other stuff going on and the corruption etc. I wanted to love it but could only finish it and feel slightly underwhelmed. Sorry.

Slow paced thriller full of mysteries! All of this American small town's inhabitants keep secrets of their own, and they are slowly unraveled when a teenager girl suddenly disappears.

Incredible book, has everything a psychological thriller needs.

Set in small town America, where the pastor delivers his sermons with a dose of racism and homophobia, but the residents happily turn a blind eye to domestic abuse in the name of God, it’s young residents all want to escape the claustrophobic town in search of a happier life.

One night, tragedy strikes as a teenage girl disappears. Her best friend Emma sets out to discover what happened to her friend, and a chain of events is set in place.

It’s the town you never want to visit! The story is creepy, chilling and I was seriously invested in the central characters. The book explores themes of female friendship, coming of age and domestic abuse.

I couldn’t put this book down as the various threads knitted together towards its explosive ending. Absolute 5 stars from me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you @alison_is_reading for my proof copy of @annabaileywrites’ TALL BONES. Out April 1st - this belongs on everyone’s book shelf.

READ THIS IF... you like small towns, murder, and becoming so emotionally attached to characters that a part of you dies when you finish a book.

THE STORY... In the claustrophobically small town that is Whistling Ridge, the disappearance of Abigail prompts a tidal wave of revealed secrets. Bigotry, abuse, drugs, and overzealous Christianity complicate the relationships in this town - but what (or who) caused Abigail’s death?

TALL BONES... is a crime novel that, at its heart, is a love story. Or, in fact, many love stories: Emma’s love that compels her to seek the truth about Abigail, hidden love between Abigail’s closeted brother and the neighbourhood outcast, and love from mothers towards the children that they are unable to protect - or to understand.

On the subject of love - I bloody LOVED this book. Each sentence has been thoughtfully crafted, and each character carefully constructed. I fell head over heels for Noah and Rat, and raged along with characters at the injustices they faced.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a crime novel where law enforcement was so absent from the plot, and this is part of what makes Tall Bones so unique and intriguing. This was so gripping - I felt the pressure of having to solve the mystery, as no conveniently placed detective character was there to explain everything to me!

NOW... I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. I’m so excited to see what Anna Bailey does next! Get your preorders in now - you won’t regret it!

If I didn’t know that Samuel Blake is in his late fifties and was 18 during the Vietnam war, I would have thought this was set in the 1950s. Whistling Ridge is the kind of place everyone young wants to escape from. The fire and brimstone Pastor Lewis runs the town with a rod of iron. Foreigners are not tolerated, but homosexuality is the worst sin. Yet most of the youngsters seem to be out of control. Drinking and drugs are rife.

The story revolves mainly around two families. Emma Alvarez lives with her mother Melissa. Mexican father Miguel has left them but Melissa will never talk about it. Samuel Blake is married to Dolly and they have three children – Noah, Abigail and Jude. We know there were a number of traumatic incidences in Samuel’s life – his treatment by his mother and his time in Vietnam. He drinks and quotes the Bible, beats his wife and punishes the boys. When Dolly goes to see the pastor, he asks her what she did to encourage the beatings.

But Samuel never touches Abi. They believe that Abi will not return until their son repents his sins. It reminds me of a Louis Theroux documentary called the Most Hated Family in America, aired in 2007. The Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality. The founder Fred Phelps believed himself to be a prophet chosen by God “to preach his message of hate”.

Rat Lacusta is a twenty-something Romanian boy who lives alone in an RV in the trailer park. Both Emma and Noah are fascinated by him. The park is owned by Jerry Maddox whose son Hunter was last seen with Abi the night she disappeared. And so their lives become intertwined and the town descends into a kind of frenzy of hate and blame.

It’s wonderfully written so why four stars and not five? It’s all rather bleak. I just wish there had been some lighter moments to contrast with the darkness. It’s also slow to start and it took a while to get into it. Sometimes the plot becomes a bit over-complicated but it all makes sense in the end. This is an excellent book, but many of the characters are really horrible and you will hope they get their comeuppance.

Many thanks to #NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tall Bones is allegedly the new 'Gone Girl,' but how many times have we heard that before? If anything, it reminded me of 'Riverdale,' with all of the drugs, teen sex and scandal, but none of the camp fun. Because while 'Tall Bones' offers a really good premise (the power of female friendships, a town with a dark secret, the crippling influence of Christianity, a Queer love affair), it just doesn't deliver on its initial promise.

There's the bones (no pun intended) of a good thriller in 'Tall Bones,' but the pacing is so slow that it really put me off. Pages and pages and pages of people being shady, not revealing their 'secrets' - one of which is so drawn out and so anti-climatic when it is eventually revealed that you wonder what all the fuss is about - and a Romanian character who calls the main protagonist 'draguta' every five words because you get the sense that's the only Romanian word the author knows.

While the plot picks up in the last third, it's just not enough promise to hold your attention. Characters - such as perennial moody teen Noah - just aren't developed enough for you to understand their motivations (e.g. if things are so bad where he is and he despises his family so much, why does he stay in town?)

Ultimately, 'Tall Bones,' left me feel frustrated and more than a little bored. However, there's talent in Anna Bailey and I look forward to seeing how her career develops over the next few books.

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.

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey
Rating 4.6/5
A stunning psychological thriller with so many layers and hidden depths in the plots, characters and their relationships. Set in a small town thick with prejudices and violence a teenager goes missing. Why? Her best friend Emma can’t understand it and follows what leads she can. But Emma has problems of her own, the principle one being she is snubbed by many of the town’s bigoted citizens for her crime of being a Latino.
There a number of characters who are very well portrayed with their flaws, bigotry, violence, suffering, shame, cowardly, pious behaviours.
A real page turner, with many twists, surprises and shocks. Recommended. Definitely an author to watch out for.
Thank you to Anna Bailey, Penguin RandomHouse and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Tall Bones for which I have written an honest and unbiased review.

I had a terrible night’s sleep last night...because I had to stay up to finish this book then couldn’t sleep as I couldn’t stop thinking about it!!

There is a lot of buzz about Tall Bones and I was wary that it may be over-hyped. It’s not. It deserves every ounce of excitement! It is a story about Abi Blake who goes missing from the small town of Whispering Ridge and the guilt that her best friend Emma experiences after she’s gone.

Anna Bailey is like a spider weaving a web of intrigue around you. All you can do is watch as she expertly knits the story together, dropping delicate hints along the way. I was mesmerised by the writing, drawn deeply in and grimly fascinated by what was happening in this town. Noah, Samuel, Dolly, Jude, Rat, Hunter, Emma...all of these characters affected me in different ways and I can’t stop thinking about them. The story focuses on dark events including physical and sexual abuse and homophobia, so it’s not always an easy read but my goodness it’s impactful! We are transported between ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ throughout the chapters and there are subtle clues bound in to the narrative and it is so exciting when you spot them. As soon as I’d finished I almost wanted to turn back to the first page and start over again to highlight all the links!

This book gave me Twin Peaks vibes along with The Devil All the Time which I’ve recently watched on Netflix. Some have compared Tall Bones to We Begin at the End but in my opinion this is so much better!

Honestly, I can’t rave about this book enough - I loved it.

Tall Bones
Anna Bailey
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for this review copy. This is my unbiased review of the author's work and style.
I suspect that one of the problems of modern life, for some readers is its pace. Their lives can be fraught and demanding and they have grown used to sitting in a chair watching an adaption on the one-eyed monster. So, when a slow-paced psychological thriller appears in book form they expect it to reflect their hectic existence and they wait for the bodies to pile up, the protagonists to fall in and out of temper or love and the ever-present persons of authority to push the players even harder.
This is why, unless the action is set back before the millennium, I don’t expect to see an adaptation of this intense, gripping book any time soon. It is a pity.
Anna Bailey has captured the oppressive and stultifying atmosphere of a small-town America where the older population clings to the traditions and values of yesteryear covering up their innate sense of failure. Their progeny, like all young people try to break free before the inevitable work, marriage, children, church, and their contemporaries, suck them down to become, in their turn, copies of their parents.
I suggest if the slowness of the writing worries you think back to Harper Lee’s pace in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and remember to joy that bought. Not in the plot, or the characters views but in the feel of the novel.
For me Anna Bailey’s debut novel deserves five stars.

The descriptions of the area and more particularly the Tall Bones are incredible- you are transported right there to the small town fell, the frustrated teen angst, the summer of testing boundaries, the dust, the boredom and then the emotional rollercoaster of a missing girl. AS cracks start to form more adn more secrets are revealed and show that all is not as you presume.
A slow burn but a good read!

The author describes well the small town and the prejudices of its inhabitants. You definitely don't want to be an outsider in this place but I don't think those on the 'inside' are happy either.
The book starts slow and builds up, with some parts set now and some as flashbacks to the past. Secrets are revealed as you see life from different points of view.
I struggled to get into this book, however, but not because of the moving timelines like some readers. I dislike the hints to the future style of writing of which this book had many examples and as all of the main characters have a pretty grim existence I found myself reluctant to pick it up and submerge myself in their lives.again.

This book hooed me in straightaway. I was intrigued by all the characters and hidden secrets and couldn't wait to discover what had really happened. Enthralling and unputdownable, this one kept me guessing right to the end.

Abi's disappearance cracks open the façade of the small town of Whistling Ridge, its intimate history of long-held grudges and resentment. Even within Abi's family, there are questions to be asked - of Noah, the older brother whom Abi betrayed, of Jude, the shining younger sibling who hides his battle scars, of Dolly, her mother and Samuel, her father - both in thrall to the fire and brimstone preacher who holds the entire town in his grasp. Then there is Rat, the outsider, whose presence in the town both unsettles and excites those around him.

Anything could happen in Whistling Ridge, this tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark - the truth of what really happened that night out at the Tall Bones....

Haunting, repressive small town vibes echo throughout this story. Whispering Ridge is a small town deep in the Bible Belt, not a lot happens apart from church on Sundays, all fire and brimstone sermons. Our story begins with teenagers having a party in the warm summer nights, when Abigail goes missing.

Her best friend Emma is distraught, Abi has been her closest and only true friend in the town - but where is she and what secrets is the town hiding?

Full of characters with hidden pasts and unspeakable desires, Tall Bones packs a huge punch. Excellent excellent writing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read it