Synopsis/blurb….
For fans of Lisa
Jewell, Holly Seddon and Local Girl Missing, All the Wicked Girls is a gripping
thriller with a huge heart from an exceptional talent.
Everyone loves Summer
Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she's a ray of light in the
struggling small town of Grace - especially compared to her troubled sister,
Raine. Then Summer vanishes.
Raine throws herself
into the investigation, aided by a most unlikely ally, but the closer she gets
to the truth, the more dangerous her search becomes.
And perhaps there was
always more to Summer than met the eye . . .
-----
'A very real, very
rare talent' Sarah Hilary
'Chris is so amazing.
He just has this real knack of creating characters that you're completely
engaged with . . . I was hooked by his beautiful prose and by the end I was
absolutely ruined' Lisa Hall, author of Between You And Me
Difficult to do this one any sort of justice in a review. After
a slightly slow start, once I got into the rhythm of the book I really liked it
and was loathe to put it down.
A 15 year-old girl, Summer Ryan goes missing and it isn’t
the first disappearance that the small communities in the area have
experienced. Several girls have previously vanished and the mythical Bird is responsible.
Only he’s not just a made-up bogeyman to frighten the kids, he’s real.
Raine, Summer’s twin and the more wilful of the pair has
little faith in Chief Black’s ability to find her sister, so takes to riding
the lanes and countryside around Grace with a couple of misfits Noah and Purv
to look for her sister.
We experience parts of the book through Summer’s eyes and gradually
uncover her secrets and in time discover her fate.
I think I would have enjoyed reading this book, even without
the mystery of the disappearance of Summer and the other girls. Whitaker paints
an incredibly detailed picture of a small God-fearing bible belt community Grace.
The town is in economic decline, work is scarce. There are limited prospects
for the youth, criminality could be a legitimate career option.
Within our community we have the usual conflicts and shared
histories. The twin’s
father, Joe Ryan was sent away, jailed for a number of years and missed a large
part of their childhood. Raine blames Chief Black and hates him with a
vengeance. Uncle Tommy stepped in and looked out for the pair during Joe’s
absence. Chief Black has issues. His authority is under threat. His own faith
in his competence is shaky, perhaps the bottle and the magic medicine he
injects between his toes isn’t the best way of dealing with things. The manic
preacher, Pastor Lumen semi-retired after a stroke still holds great sway in
the community. His replacement, the milder meeker younger Pastor Bobby has his
own skeletons and burdens to carry. Him and his wife, Savannah are dealing with
the loss of their baby son separately, their grief and guilt driving them
apart. Savannah is Summer’s cello teacher and Bobby is an important influence
in her life.
The two characters who gripped me were Noah and Purv. Almost
brothers, one long-suffering at the hands of his abusive father, with bruises
and welts Purv’s normality and Noah. Noah has his own burden to carry. His long
dead dad was a lawman and died in an incident involving Chief Black, a death
which many blame on Black. Orphaned, Noah lives with his ailing grandmother and
his dream of following in his father’s footsteps may not be fulfilled. His
growing fondness and love for Raine may not be reciprocated and could add to
the load he carries. A load borne without self-pity.
It’s been a while since I shed a tear reading a book, but
Whitaker pushed me close. The characters were that real and that haunting.
Guilt, secrets, love, loss, grief, awakening, maturity, friendship, community,
family – all resonate strongly throughout.
5 from 5
Chris Whitaker’s debut novel, Tall Oaks sits on the pile – not for too much longer.
Read in November, 2017
Published – 2017
Page count – 448
Source – review copy from publisher Bonnier Zaffre
Format - paperback
Oh, this sounds powerful, Col. I do like a novel where the characters are that real that you care about them a lot. And the setting sounds very well-done, too. I may have squeeze in some space on the radar for this one...
ReplyDeleteMargot, I hope you can find the time to read this one, I do think it is one where out tastes converge. Ticks in every box.
DeleteThis is a change, a Londoner writing about small town Alabama. I would almost read this just to see how close he gets but then I haven't spent that much time in small town AL and have been away from AL a long time, so how would I know? Anyway, if it were shorter it would be a sure thing to try for me.
ReplyDeleteTracy, I think you would enjoy it. It didn't read like a long book.
DeleteCol - You got me with your review. Even though I’ve been trying to working my way through the mountain of books I’ve already got, I am going to get Whitaker’s novel. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteElgin, I hope it works for you. Worth the effort in my opinion.
Delete