- Title: Where the Truth Lies
- Author: Anna Bailey
- Genre: Fiction
- Rating: 4 out of 5
The town of Whistling Ridge guards its secrets.
When seventeen-year-old Abigail goes missing, her best friend Emma, compelled by the guilt of leaving her alone at a party in the woods, sets out to discover the truth about what happened. The police initially believe Abi ran away, but Emma doesn’t believe that her friend would leave without her, and when officers find disturbing evidence in the nearby woods, the festering secrets and longstanding resentment of both Abigail’s family and the people of Whistling Ridge, Colorado begin to surface with devastating consequences.
Among those secrets: Abi’s older brother Noah’s passionate, dangerous love for the handsome Rat, a recently arrived Romanian immigrant who has recently made his home in the trailer park in town; her younger brother Jude’s feeling that he knows information he should tell the police, if only he could put it into words; Abi’s father’s mercurial, unpredictable rages and her mother’s silence. Then there is the rest of Whistling Ridge, where a charismatic preacher advocates for God’s love in language that mirrors violence, under the sway of the powerful businessman who rules the town, insular and wary of outsiders.
But Abi had secrets, too, and the closer Emma grows to unraveling the past, the farther she feels from her friend. And in a tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark—the truth of what really happened that night—to change their community forever.
Whistling Ridge is a horrible place. This is such a dark book—I didn’t feel like there was a single ray of light to be found anywhere. Everyone is keeping secrets—and not little ones, either, but dark and ugly ones. Good writing and vibrant characters, but this book is just so…hopeless, that it negated the positives of the writing. I found the setting and characters to be completely believable and realistic, which is just sad in this case.
Anna Bailey is from England. Where the Truth Lies is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)
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