I devoured this book -it was such an atmospheric thriller ,
Set in a small southern town -think Ozarks -a young girl Abi -goes missing after a late night party in the woods.
The town is at the centre of this story - a small population full of racism -long harboured grudges and ofcourse the fear of the Lord -courtesy of the local pastor .
Riveting !

A tale that is both lyrical and poetic, whilst at the same time being engaging and intriguing. This debut reads like a masterpiece.

Tall Bones centres on the disappearance of Abi, 17, who ups and vanishes one night after a party. And though she is the centre bones of the structure, it is more than a whodunnit.

Bailey is character-centric and paints the picture of small-town America so vividly it was hard to read at points. Some characters were so hard to like, but Bailey explained why through prose so well written I just got lost in their stories.

The question posed throughout Tall Bones is brought to a conclusion, but really it wasn't the need to know the answer that kept me so rapt in this book. It was Bailey's incredible storytelling and tight prose.

Thank you so much to Bailey, Netgalley, and Random House for the opportunity to read and review Tall Bones.

The Blake family live in a small, remote town in the Colorado mountains where the community is centred on its Christian church and beliefs. The father, Samuel, has been psychologically damaged by his military service in Vietnam and is a violent, controlling and god fearing husband and father of his three children. When his teenage daughter, Abigail, goes missing following a BBQ in the woods, suspicion falls upon a Romany boy who lives alone in a camp near the town. The novel explores the relationships and tensions in this small community as the search for Abigail continues. This is a totally absorbing story with carefully drawn characters and it is beautifully narrated. .

A little slow to start with but once it got going, wow!
An atmospheric thriller set in a small almost backward town of godfearing hypocrites that take the law into themselves when a girl goes missing.
The characters were well written and each one had a good back story behind them like poor Abi and her brothers.
The plot, once it got going, settled into a good pace with a few twists that left me guessing, even leaving an optimistic opening at the end.
A Good solid story for a cold winters eve.

This literary thriller from a debut writer who is only 24 years old is very impressive! The writing is beautiful and the plot compelling. I think the way she describes a small town community ruled by fear and religion is excellent. The issues here ; domestic violence, complicity and rebellion, alongside an intriguing mystery make for an excellent few hours of escapism.

A great story with lots of moving parts that keep you guessing for so much about what has actually happened and who is to blame for it all.

Set in small town America this debut novel peels away the layers of what it's like to live in a place which has closer ties to the 1950's than the present Told through multiple characters with the narrative moving between the past and now this literary crime novel shows us the difficulties faced in living and growing up in small town America, it's certainly not as many would imagine it to be.

When a young woman, Abigale Blake goes missing, her friend Emma blames herself for her friend's disappearance and so tries to work out what has happened In doing so she opens a huge can of worms with the town's dark secrets coming to the fore. The institutions which are supposed to protect and support the community are not to be trusted and the citizens show their true colours.

This is a slow burn of a novel, it needs time to get under your skin, you may find you are more interested in the characters and their secrets than the mystery itself. It should be on plenty of award lists in 2021.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an early reading copy.

As someone who just finished a Faber Academy course and is in the process of writing her first novel, I’m both deeply envious and completely in awe of Anna Bailey, the 24 year old author of Tall Bones who finished her novel writing course, the Curtis Brown one, just last year (!) and was quickly published.

I received an advance digital copy of Tall Bones thanks to NetGalley and I can immediately see why it achieved such instant success. Set in the small American town of Whistling Ridge, it’s a tightly written whodunnit featuring a fleshed out cast of characters who gripped me immediately. We are initially introduced to 17 year old Emma Alvarez, who is hovering at the edge of the forest at night watching her best friend Abi walking towards a man she cannot see well enough to identify. Despite her offer to wait and drive them both home, Abi insists she leave alone. The next day Abi has disappeared and a police investigation begins.

The depiction of Whistling Ridge is rich and thorough, giving the novel such a clear sense of place and wrapping me up firmly in the world Bailey has created. It’s easy to imagine the homes each character inhabits, the roads Emma drives looking for answers and the men, women and teenagers that make up its population. I can see the diner Noah works in, the trailer park where outsider Rat sits in his RV strumming his guitar, the striking Church where Pastor Lewis drums up anger and resentment. This is a town with the Church at its centre and Pastor Lewis is a man wielding a significant amount of power. Most residents are committed churchgoers and Bailey expresses contempt for the ways in which religion is repeatedly used as an excuse for control and bad behaviour. This plays a particularly important part in the issues embedded deeply within the family of the missing Abigail Blake. The family patriarch Samuel Blake is a Vietnam veteran and deeply religious man who rules his family with an iron fist, creating an unsafe, unhappy and judgemental home.

As the police investigation falls short and the town seems to be starting to forget about Abi, Emma who has her own reasons for feeling like an outsider, commits to finding out what happened to her best friend. Between town gossip, creating unexpected alliances and uncovering a secret held by Jude Blake, secrets begin to spill out and the darker side of the town is exposed.

What I love about Bailey’s storytelling is that, although there are characters who are impossible to care for, she illustrates the systemic problems in society that have led to the creation of both them and the situations they must navigate. Although it doesn’t always work - there are so many characters and some are deeply unpleasant people - she works hard to allow readers a little glimpse into each character’s motivations. Sometimes these are a little simplistic (e.g. Man is religious. Man feels bad for treating his son poorly. Man uses God as justification for his choices.) and in these cases I struggled to see the character as anything other than a ‘baddie’. In other characters though she has created complex, thoughtful souls who are so clearly working as best they can with the cards life has dealt them and making flawed choices.

Although I was kept guessing, ultimately it wasn’t the plot that kept me engaged. I found that towards the end there were aspects that I began to enjoy less. The pace wavered and I felt that some characters’ choices lacked clear motivation. Storylines were opened up that never quite went anywhere. Really, it was the writing itself that kept me completely rapt. Bailey writes like someone much older. Her prose is clean and well crafted, crackling with meaning and I found myself stopping to appreciate phrases over and over again.

Tall Bones is a really, really good debut and I’m excited about what Bailey writes next. If you’re looking for a well-crafted thriller populated by memorable - if mostly rather unpleasant - characters then pick up a copy of this when it’s out next Spring.

This book is really gripping and has a great plot. I loved the characters and the town itself was a character too. It’s a story that starts like any other. One friend disappears. You wonder how this would affect your own life. Really good.

This book is set in a small hillbilly American town centred around the church and it’s disturbing pastor alongside the corrupt police service and a whole crew of villagers harbouring secrets. It is about a young girl, Abigail, who goes missing one night and backtracks many of the villagers experiences that night, with Then and Now sections throughout the book explaining their possible part in her disappearance. Her best friend, Latino Emma, feels huge regret that she left her on her own whilst we are left wondering if it could have been the Romanian gypsy boy, Rat, or budding basketball star and all-American homeboy Hunter who could know what happened. What about Noah, Jude and Abi’s father, Samuel who is a huge supporter of the pastor? It took me a while to get into the book but once drawn in, the way the characters were interlinked was very well written and my thoughts on who ‘done it’ changed regularly with new secrets revealed. There is also a tender love story running through it along with how Samuel’s family, including his wife, deal with his abusive, controlling behaviour.

I found the pastor sections really hard reading - I am not a religious person but it felt almost cult-like in the villagers’ obedience to his homophobic ‘teachings’ and I could, depressingly in this day and age, actually see this happening. The police were complicit in many of the key scenes in the book, which given the current problems with Black Lives Matter, I again feel this could be nearer the truth than feels comfortable in some areas of America.

I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a murder mystery with a secret love story running through and plenty of delightfully odd characters, any of whom could have been the murderer.

Small Colorado town ,Whistling Ridge is the setting of this novel. A story about guilt, prejudice and fear. This town has a very dark secret that is known by many, and spoken of by far less.
A young girl goes missing, Abigail Blake and all the tensions start to surface as the hunt continues as to the whereabouts of this young girl. Her family of two brothers and mother and father come under scrutiny, but the weird family doesn't get too much of a look at, in case old wounds are picked.

A really great read enjoyed the writing the descriptive pages that are hastily turned to find out what happens.
A dark novel that is difficult to get into the mind of the people of Whistling Ridge .This leaves you wondering ,could something like this really happen?

This had so many twists and turns in the book, I honestly did not know who the killer was until the reveal. There were so many undercurrents to the book, but at the end the majority were tied up. I really wanted to know more about Dolly and how she got into the situation - it was hinted at

I am not going to go into the plot as the publisher does it so much better and I would be so worried about giving away spoilers.

This author is very talented and I really would like to read more by her in the future.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest and fair review which I have done.

For a first novel, this book is nothing short of incredible. It is the equivalent of lighting fireworks in a box and watching it burn & explode.
The plot simmers and begins to burn straight away and it just captivates you from that moment and never really lets you go. I'm not going to give anything away from the story, but the way the author tells the story and lets glimpses of the truth come out, is just done with such breath taking skill and aplomb that you just can't read it quickly enough and try to understand more.
The characters are each individual creations of brilliance, each wonderfully unique and realised with care. As the story progresses, you learn more about these core characters as they become more intertwined & more important to the clever and very satisfying conclusion. I just cannot recommend this book highly enough, so clever, so skilled and so readable.

Tall Bones was an immediately absorbing and beautifully written psychological drama, Anna Bailey creates a group dynamic of intriguing, multi layered characters within an atmospheric small town setting, where a girl goes missing and everyone’s secrets and prejudices start to bubble to the surface.

I found it entirely enthralling, the haunting undertone really has an impact. This is not your standard whodunnit or what happened, although of course all that gets answered, but is more an insightful and intelligent snapshot of life in one place, where an eclectic and close knit community holds its secrets close.

The people you meet within the pages are all so relatable, even the most hateful, their personalities and interactions are completely addictive, you won’t want to put it down until the final emotionally tense finale.

Really excellent. Highly recommended. Pop it on your must reads of 2021.

Took a few chapters to get into, but then romped through the whole book, loved it! Interesting characters and very cleverly revealed the back story, interweaving it with the current missing/murder of a young girl. As I was reading it, I could see it as a TV series in my minds eye. Will definitely look out for more from this author.

I loved this book, and found it difficult to put down, even though at times it was almost painful to read. A well-written and gripping story, with believable characters who are hard to forget. I would thoroughly recommend this excellent book.

The story is set in modern-day, small-town America although it feels more like the Wild West with its nineteenth-century prejudices, violence, brutality and fundamentalism. This is a dark story with little light until, perhaps, the redemption of one character towards the end.
The Blakes are a dysfunctional family who become a whole lot more dysfunctional after daughter Abi disappears. Her best friend, 17-year-old Emma - who was the last one to see Abi before she went into the Tall Bones woods to meet a boy - takes it upon herself to investigate the crime when the sheriff's office gets nowhere.. But with a surname like Alvarez, and all the anti-Mexican racism that comes with it, no one wants to help her. Despite the bullying she faces, Emma starts to uncover some ugly truths not only about Abi but about the town itself. Unsurprisingly, folks want her to stop sleuthing and she' is soon in danger.
The story has several viewpoint characters, including Emma, Abi's mother and brothers, a posh boy drug dealer and the son of the town preacher. There are two timelines: a few months before Abi's disappearance and the first month afterwards..
Some very good turns of phrase. I would read another book by this author.
Thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for allowing me to read an early copy.

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey.
Wow this is a stunning debut by Anna Bailey. It is set in a small town in America where small minds, racism and homophobia are very much in existence. The story revolves around the disappearance of a teenage girl, Abigail but it is about so much more than that.
The book is beautifully written and atmospheric but also violent and disturbing. The prejudices of the small town feel like a throwback to another era but unfortunately they are alive and well in current times. The book is a slow burner but well worth reading.

Not an easy book to get into because of the time lines. I did not identify with the small-town America setting with all its prejudices. I had to force myself to continue reading despite there being some good moments. The story wasn’t terribly original.

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.