This was dark. I felt as I was reading this novel that I was being led down different paths, roads that never really connected to one another till later in the book. I knew immediately when Emma left Abigail at the party that she had made the wrong choice. The beer is flowing freely, the bonfire is hot and the guests are ready to party. Abigail leaves Emma behind as she walks off into the woods with the boy. Abi tells her friend that she’ll be fine and that, she’ll find a ride home later. Abigail never made it home that night.

So, where is Abi? To answer that question, we’ll need to time travel and return to “Then” and get some history on our characters. Throughout this book, you’ll be rotating time periods from “then” and “now”, so don’t lose track of where you are.

Welcome to Whistling Ridge, a small community, where not-even the preacher was honorable. It seemed as if every citizen has a secret side of themselves, a side that only a few others see. That hidden side can hold many different attributes and, in this town, it holds a great number. From prejudices, abuse, phobias, anger and lying, these are just some of the issues that you’ll find on their city blocks. I really find it interesting how all these individuals can live together in one small community and they can actually exist with one another. With everything that is dividing our country now, how can such a small town have such a high number of issues and still function as a community? The history of these individual play a major role as they investigate where Abi went.

I, myself have never lived in a small town but my grandparents did when I was growing up and I visited there quite frequently. My grandfather owned the general store in town and we’d see lots of folks stop in. I don’t remember hearing or hearing my grandparents talk negatively about their neighbors. Perhaps, it depends on where you live and perhaps, they kept that information away from my ears. I seem to gravitate towards dark stories and this one definitely checked that box, while also keeping me engaged and energized.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A slow burn suspense involving a claustrophobic town filled with secrets, debauchery and prejudice!⁣
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This town made me so angry - it was filled with bigotry and festering secrets. I was seriously wondering why any one would want to live in this town. It was like a cesspool of corruption, dirt and sleaze. Told in multiple POVs, we unravel what really happened to 17 year old Abigail after she goes missing during a party in the woods. Her best friend, Emma is determined to find out what happened to her. The investigation leads to her uncovering secret after secret in her community. The truths revealed were sad and heartbreaking at times.⁣
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I enjoyed the Now and Then timelines but the changes in viewpoints and time jumps were a bit chaotic and hard to keep straight at times. Still, I definitely enjoy when stories unfold like this - making me feel like I am part of the story, versus being told what happened. This was a dark and haunting debut by Anna Bailey and I look forward to more from her in the future.

This book is disturbing on so many levels. When Abigail Blake goes missing, the worst secrets of the town begin to be revealed. These are some of the worst human beings in and a part of her life - the prejudice, homophobia and bigotry, masked in religion. The vile nature of these people disgusted me with every page but I kept reading holding out hope that there would be some good to come to those who had been victimized. It hurts along the way, but you should stay with it.

Where the Truth Lies is a fantastic domestic suspense novel.
The story of a missing 17 year old that brings up all kinds of shocking secrets.
The characters were well written . The story was perfectly paced.
I really enjoyed the twists and turns, that kept me flipping through the pages.

Seventeen year old Abigail is missing from the small town of Whistling Ridge. Her best friend, Emma, goes in search of answers and what might have happened the night she went missing. All of the town’s hidden secrets will come to light as Emma starts asking questions.

The way the town was run by white men who listened to the pastor like he was in charge was disturbing. Everything was twisted and explained away in a way that suited his narrative.

So many events in this book that made me mad and sad. But then the way the author wove all the secrets together kept me from wanting to put it down.

Highly recommend this one!

This debut novel by British author, Anna Bailey, is a dark and atmospheric drama which centers on the disappearance of a teenage girl in a small town just outside of Rocky Mountain NP in Colorado. Neither a thriller or a mystery, I would characterize this more as a character study and you’d be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable cast of characters.


The story itself is both complex and well written. It evolves piece by piece, at a fairly slow pace, through the (re)cycling of the various plot lines told from multiple points of view within two timeframes – “now” and “then.” This gave the novel an interesting and somewhat unique structure which worked for the most part. A few transitions, especially in the “then” sections, were a bit confusing as the timeframe of the flashbacks varied a great deal.

The early sections grabbed my interest but somewhere near the middle it lagged. It actually was a push for me to finish this book primarily due to the weight of the darkness of the story in both the issues as well as the characters. This town had more than just “secrets” – it was a caricature of every evil or ugliness that could be found in one place. Ranging from physical and substance abuse, hatred, prejudice, corruption, lies, cruelty, to brokenness and guilt… it was overwhelming and pushed the boundaries of believability. There was little contrast in the mood and I got little sense of the lost dreams or hopes which got left behind.




FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars rounded up because it wasn't a total loss of a read.

There were a lot of things in this story that didn't work for me at all. I did enjoy the premise and the mystery/crime aspect of the story (even if it read a little too predictable for my taste). I just think that the story would have benefited from more development of key characters instead of the inclusion of the many one-dimensional characters that comprised the town's residents. In all honesty, I didn't like the town or its people. They were some of the meanest, most hateful characters I've yet to read.

Also, I would have appreciated a little less "diversity" of themes that only served as "fillers". Not one of these (racism, homophobia, addiction, abuse, religion) was fully developed and only served to frustrate me every time they came up, which only served to drive me further away from the story. IMHO, there should have been a lot more conflict-building and a better execution of its resolution. As it was, the story dragged and felt disjointed.

In addition, the frequent changes in POVs and the constant switching from the present to the past were confusing and hard to follow. It didn't help any that some of those flashbacks varied in regards to the timeline--some took place years before and some happened just a couple of days before. It was very confusing to say the least.

All in all, a promising premise that lacked in its execution. At least for me.

Where the Truth Lies by Anna Bailey was a random pick from NetGalley that I had heard nothing about. The cover and synopsis pulled me in pretty blindly. The novel is focused on a very well written small town, Whistling Ridge, This place is just thriving on gossip, resentments, secrets, rage, lost dreams and hopes, judgements, bigotry, a pent up mass of hatred that revolves around the central place of the First Baptist Church. The plot revolves around a teenaged girl, Abigail Blake, who disappeared after leaving a party and going into the woods. She had come to the party with her friend Emma Alvarez who feels guilty for not waiting on her friend and commits to finding out what really happened to Emma. Did she meet someone; and if so, who? Most, including the police, believe she ran away from home. But is that what really happened? I don't want to say much more except that this book is about so much more than finding out what happened to Abi.

Readers of “Where the Truth Lies” intuitively suspect what happens without it explicitly being said, however, that perception is not always accurate. The narrative also hints that everyone in this small town knows what others do not; that is absolutely not correct.
Abigail Blake, seventeen, went to a party. Emma Alvarez left her there; Abigail did not make it home. The police question everyone, and by the end of the week, Abigail’s face grins emptily from a hundred flyers tacked to telephone poles and church billboards, flapping in the Rocky Mountain breeze. She still does not come home.
This is the story of people, both adults and children, and a town. It points out the things that people take for granted and the things they should not. The narrative goes back and forth in time, before all “this” happened, setting the scene for what actually did happen. Everything appeared to be ordinary, usual, blissful, and not dangerous at all, but once people started down that path, the situation proved to be none of those things.
“Where the Truth Lies” is a thought-provoking look at how things can go so wrong for so many so quickly. No one wins in this scenario. The story is focused and evenly paced. Details are important because one small modification along the way could have changed things. But in the end, there are just too many secrets in this town for anything but a self-imploding tragedy.
I received a review copy of “Where the Truth Lies” from Anna Bailey, Simon & Schuster, and Atria Books. It is a story of viciousness and exploitation by evil-minded people. It is thought provoking, but perhaps not for every reader.

Reading Where the Truth Lies I would have never guessed that this was Anna Bailey's debut novel! A lot of small towns have everyone supporting each other and watching out for them. Whistling Ridge is not one of them! When Abigail goes missing nothing is the same again for her friend Emma who feels so guilty for leaving her alone at a party. She will do anything to find out what happened to her. This book is FULL of shady characters and awful secrets that start to come to light after Abi's disappearance. Keeps you guessing right up until the end!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Where the Truth Lies was a mostly engrossing read. The author understands how to properly bread crumb people into not putting her book down, and I appreciate that quite a bit. The characters are well developed, which helps because there are many of them, and there’s not an instance where that becomes confusing (which is niiiiice because I think my brain is running at like 1/4 power lately!).
My biggest issue with this novel is that I didn’t feel much after reading it. You know that kind of pride/zeal type feeling you get after finishing a great book? That feeling just wasn’t there. There should also be trigger warnings for some concerning the content. There is abuse, dark sexual content, death, and many other topics that maybe aren’t for everyone.

So I guess we’re going to go for a middle-of-the-road three stars. I would recommend this book to those that enjoy a low-action kind of whodunnit with excellent character building.

This was a very interesting spin on a typical thriller. It was very juicy and disturbing. I enjoyed the writing, but the "then" and "now" within the chapters was a bit difficult for me to follow. There should definitely be a lot of trigger warnings associated with this book!

The town of Whistling Ridge guards its secrets. Boy do they! It is a small town with secrets worth killing for.

This book is told in several different storylines and different points of time. We progress through the book bouncing between the storylines while we tried to learn the whereabouts of Abigail "Abi" Blake.

The characters were well created and I felt empathy for some and disdain for others. While I had trouble getting into the book, I enjoyed it overall. Push through it and you'll be glad that you did.

4 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-arc for review.

Dark, depressing and SO good!! A lot of dark subject matter, but extremely engrossing. Teenager Emma leaves her friend, Abi at a party at Abi's insistence. Abi disappears and Emma searches for her. In searching, Emma exposes so many secrets and evildoings. Such a horrible little town! There are a lot of characters and this is not a feel-good story, but it is engrossing just the same! Well done for a debut and I look forward to more!

In this author’s debut thriller, a teenage girl disappears. The story takes place in a small Colorado town. The characters are a mix of personalities that seemed very unlikeable to me and I had a hard time relating to them. The people seem to all have ugly secrets hidden and threatening to be exposed. Some good suspense and lots of dark characters.

4.5 stars!

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for an advanced review copy of Where the Truth Lies. This was a striking debut from Anna Bailey, and I look forward to her next novel!

Where the Truth Lies follows the lives of Abi Blake and Emma Alvarez after Abi goes missing one night in their small town of Whistling Ridge, Colorado. As her best friend and one of the last people to see her, Emma stops at nothing to find out what happened to her friend.

This book offered more than the missing girl trope, with its rich character development and atmospheric tone. The Blake family had a strong cast of characters, and I was anxious to learn their backstories. Noah's struggle to confront his homosexuality, in a religious town that does not accept that identity was a key part of this story. Samuel Blake was one of those characters that makes you sick, yet he was also fascinating in terms of how he justified his actions. As a mother, I was saddened by Dolly Blake's relationships with her three children, and how she failed to protect them - especially Jude. There is so much to unpack with this book, and it was truly remarkable.

There was a lot of emotion in this book, with the theme of denial and disapproval of cultural and theological differences faced by many of the characters. I was deeply affected by the events and interwoven stories within this book, and highly recommend it!

A teenage girl disappears from a small town and soon everyone’s secrets come to light. 17 year old Abigail goes missing and her best friend Emma is full of guilt after she left her alone at a party. The police believe that Abigail ran away but Emma does t believe this. She embarks on a mission to find out what happened!
I haven’t been able to get into this book. I have read lots of great reviews but it hasn’t held my interest. I’ve tried starting it a few different times but just can’t get through it. I like the storyline so I think it is just a me problem not a book problem. I wasn’t sure how I would rate it so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and left 3 stars.

Emma feels guilty after leaving her best friend Abi after a party in the woods, and now Abi is missing and she is afraid something bad has happened to her. As she sets out to find out what happened to Abi, she starts to find out that she didn't really know her best friend all that well. The more she digs into it, the more secrets start to come out from this small community. Will she uncover the truth about Abi's disappearance or will the town's secrets overpower the truth?

This book is an absolutely gripping mystery about missing teenager Abi, and the community left behind in her wake. I love the way this book examines the perspectives of so many people in the community, giving the reader a closer look into the psyches of all of the main characters. This book kept me on my toes, and kept me turning pages the whole time. I highly recommend!

This was too much of a slow burn for me. It had a lot heavy topics going on that were quite distracting. It actually hardly focuses on the missing girl. I did enjoy the short chapters and the way the ending wrapped up though.