Set in a small town in America full of racist, homophobic prejudice from God fearing folk who know everything about hellfire and damnation and nothing about Jesus’ teaching. I had to keep pausing to reorientate myself when drugs and technology intruded as it seemed to be set so firmly in a distant time, it’s horrible to think places like this might still exist in the so-called civilised world. The story centres around the disappearance of teenage Abi and the reaction of those around her as they gang up on those the outsiders leading to a violent climax. It dragged in parts and was so depressing to read scenes like the one where Abi’s mum asks the pastor if she should report her drunken violent husband to the police for brutally assaulting her and their children. His response is to ask you if her what she’s doing to deserve it and leave it to him and ‘the man upstairs’ to deal with. I kept reading in the hope of a positive ending but it’s not really one I would recommend.

This is an amazing book. It's not a comfortable read (it's disturbing on several counts) and the time shifts 'then' and 'now' mean that it isn't always easy to follow the thread of the story, but it's well worth making the effort!

It's hard to give a detailed review without giving too much away. All I can say is that I found it very hard to put down. Read it for yourself. You will be glad you did.

I rarely give out 5 stars but this one deserved every one of them.
I couldn't believe some of the mediocre reviews and it made me wonder if we were reading the same book.
It's an absolutely beautiful novel with such clever, bordering on poetic, writing that I found myself immersed in the setting of small town America with it's prejudices and closed-minded attitudes and felt myself getting angrier by the page.
As a thriller it surpasses many that I've read. The characters are well thought out, the plot is twisty and thoroughly engaging and the ending is absolutely satisfying. In fact I was falling asleep in the early hours with just 2 pages to go and I refused to close my eyes before finishing it.
Huge praise to the author for capturing the very essence of what the book was saying at the same time as making this an entertaining and thought provoking read.
When you find yourself reading passages out loud to the family, you know you are enjoying something special.
Wouldn't hesitate to recommend to family and friends and I know they will thank me for it.

Now, this was just not a book for me, which, initially, I didn't expect to rate it this low because the premise had such promise and is usually something I would love. Small towns, disappearances,a mystery. Yes please! But this book fell short to me in many ways.

THE PLOT:
As I said, I expected to get really immersed in this book and it just didn't happen. The book was slow first of all. Not like reasonably slow but like slower than how my Grandma drives and I honestly found it eye-watering. Nothing happens in this book which only adds to the pace. I mean I was honestly waiting for something for what felt like 80% of the book and got a whole load of filler. It was awful.
THE CHARACTERS:
I didn't care for anybody. They were all forgettable, one dimensional or over-done and I just didn't feel anything for them. I could see where Anna was trying to take this book but for me, it just didn't work and the character development lacked.
THE MYSTERY/DISAPPEARANCE:
As I said before, this was just predictable and not even in the way you could say - hey, I get it, this works. I didn't even like Abi's character which means I didn't care for her disappearing either. I just felt frustrated with the whole thing because the set up was great but the execution just didn't work.
OVERALL:
This was not my type of book and whilst I think Anna has some writing talent, I just don't think enough thought went into this book and more planning needed to be done initially to make the story make sense.

<I>I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

very enjoyable read full of mystery and suspense ,following the story of a young girl who goes missing and those who are left behind .

I've read a few rather bad reviews for this debut book, and in a sense they slightly put me off from reading it. But, after getting my head lost in it for the past two days, I really must disagree with the bad reviews. It started off a little bit slow, but honestly I couldn't put it down once the story got started. It's absolutely gripping and too say it's a debut it's a bloody good read. I think it must have a trigger warning on it though because of all the abuse Samuel puts his family through. It's barbaric and utterly heartbreaking, especially when he locked four year old Jude in a wardrobe for crying too loud and four years later when he was eight Samuel threw him down the stairs. I no this is a completely different book but Samuel really reminded me of Olivia Foxworth, the grandmother from Flowers in the Attic by the brilliant Virginia Andrews, he's always preaching God's words and telling his family their all sinners. I'm so glad he got his comeuppance at the end and his family were free from his tyrannical ways, apart from beautiful Abigale who lost her life being chased by Samuel, that was a bit of a twist because I thought it was someone else. The setting, the name "Whistling Ridge" and the Tall Bones was described beautifully, although the tall bones is quite creepy. It adds an atmospheric air to the book, it's full of secrets and it's also a little bit of a love story between Rat (brilliant character by the way) and Noah who try their hardest to keep their love a secret. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the characters and Anna Bailey should be so proud because it's a truly gripping read. I will definitely be recommending it when it's published. I can't wait to see what AB brings out next. I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to Netgally and Transworld, Penguin, Random House publishers for allowing me to read this amazing ARC.

A mixed bag for me this one. The story was one I have read before but what was very well done was the setting as this was spookily claustrophobic and the religious fever, the strange people and the secrets there were something else. I don't think I will forget the Pastor in a long time.

The small town of Whistling Ridge sounds nice but here it's not. It's mountainous and covered in wetlands and sounds like a great place to explore when you're young. Not for the girls in the book of course but for the reader looking in...

Not the most enjoyable story I have ever read despite this I read to the very end hoping it would improve, but this was not the case. Based around the wetlands in America the main event took part at the beginning and was alluded to throughout the story and led to other happenings throughout but wa never satisfactory concluded to the very end.

An interesting story set in a small town basically about a group of friends, their Families and the pastor. I’m sorry to say I struggled to finish the book as it flipped between ‘then’ and ‘now’. Not a book to keep my interest

I very much enjoyed this small town mystery. The tragic fate of a young girl is the epicenter of the novel, and everyone is a suspect...