Published August 3rd and a debut novel for Anna Bailey. Three stars for me and not sure I would recommend unless someone is looking for specific themes that are included.
*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and Atria Press for my honest review.*
A small Colorado town. A missing girl. Highly questionable values of the townspeople. Unreliable police officers. And secrets - everyone has secrets.
There was a lot going on in this novel. Many, many POVs and NOW and THEN timeframes. And multiple POVs in a single chapter. I'm not gonna lie, it was confusing without headers on each section knowing which view I was reading. At least the differing time frames had headers. I found it hard to get into the story because of the points of view changing all the time. I could see this being an effective novel in an audio version with multiple narrators.
Once I got to about the halfway point, I was better able to get into the story and want to see what happened and how everything ended with most of the characters. None of the characters were really likeable, but I always have a hope of redemption. And I did appreciate the ending.
I did struggle with the aspect of blatant racist attacks and homophobic actions in small towns in this day and age. Almost like reading about the living conditions of some families - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Educated by Tara Westover. It's hard to think about the mob mentality a group has while attacking a person with law enforcement joining in instead of trying to stop it. And the pastor egging everything on. Maybe it is my naivete thinking this doesn't happen in the US.
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