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A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE MONTH

'A wonderfully haunting debut.' JANE HARPER, author of The Dry

'Irresistible, compelling.' PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train

When seventeen-year-old Emma leaves her best friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes, like most girls her age, that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, but Emma will never see her friend again.

Abi's disappearance cracks open the façade of the small town of Whistling Ridge, its intimate history of long-held grudges and resentment. Even within Abi's family, there are questions to be asked - of Noah, the older brother whom Abi betrayed, of Jude, the shining younger sibling who hides his battle scars, of Dolly, her mother and Samuel, her father - both in thrall to the fire and brimstone preacher who holds the entire town in his grasp. Then there is Rat, the outsider, whose presence in the town both unsettles and excites those around him.

Anything could happen in Whistling Ridge, this tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark - the truth of what really happened that night out at the Tall Bones....

'A clever, twisting debut, about the dark side of small town America. It is packed with secrets like firecrackers ready to ignite.' FRANCINE TOON, author of Pine

© Anna Bailey 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021