Tall Oaks

This debut novel by Chris Whitaker (who wrote We Begin at the End) won the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award in 2017. Set in the town of Tall Oaks, somewhere in America, a young child disappears from his home, seemingly taken by a person in a clown costume. His frantic mother gets the police involved and later the State Police and FBI. But the case is overtaken by newer cases and the investigation slows, so eventually only the mother and the local sheriff are still searching. The neighbours watch bemused as Jess, the mother, simultaneously leads the search and descends into self-destructive behaviour. Many of the people around her have secrets of their own, but if they are relevant to the case the reader doesn’t know. There’s no real investigation to follow but the clues are there if you can see them. I thought the writing was good, the characterisation spot-on and the atmosphere brilliant. There are a lot of characters to deal with and it took me time to get into this but I'm so glad I persevered.
Review by: Freyja, Oundle Crime