Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee is a suspenseful murder mystery that keeps you guessing, Who did it and Where is she?? Gee takes us to the outskirts of the Tasmanian Rainforest and a town named Vanishing Falls, where everyone has a secret to keep and hide. Celia disappears without a trace. Did she really walk away from everything, including her four daughters or was it something was more sinister? Was she murdered? Did Cliff kill her in his drug-induced rage and completely forget? Was it Jack, her husband? Joelle, the town outcast and desperate for friends, wants to find Celia and be the town hero. Will she uncover the truth and find Celia before its too late?
Gee writes a very good mystery but I found it too confusing to keep all the characters separate and keep who was married to who. Maybe I am in the minority but I had to keep going backwards in the book to decide who was married to who and too keep the characters straight in my mind, even though the chapters and sub-parts are labeled with the name and place. With that being said, I still enjoyed the mystery and suspense of the story. I would recommend this to others but telling them to pay close attention in the beginning to the characters.
Special Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow-HarperCollins Publishing, and Poppy Gee for the advance digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
#VanishingFalls #NetGalley

4 slow-build stars

This one is set on the island of Tasmania, which is located about 150 miles south of Melbourne, Australia. For some reason, I thought it was desert, but it actually has gorgeous lush scenery and rainforests. A slow-building mystery, this one is set in a remote town called Vanishing Falls. Once known for great apple orchards, the town is now limping by and meth addiction is on the rise.

There are several characters in this one, the wealthy family that lives in the fancy house in town – Jack and Celia and their four daughters. There’s Joelle and Brian and their twins, Brian is the town butcher and Joelle is a little different – mostly because of a horrible childhood and trauma she experienced. Then there’s Kim and Cliff who are friends with Jack and Celia.

The book opens with Celia going missing and then we go back in time to get all the clues. The town is full of secrets and even some dark history from years ago. This tale was filled with water – rain, waterfalls, rivers – and great descriptions of the beauty of this island.

As the police dig into the case, Joelle is trying to put all the pieces together herself. I was a bit worried that some unscrupulous townspeople would take advantage of Joelle, but she can handle things! I really enjoyed her character and I will remember her for sure!

Vanishing Falls
Poppy Gee
Complimentary DR Copy via Book Club Girls, Netgalley, and William Morrow Books

I went into Vanishing Falls with little knowledge of the book outside of the book blurb. I enjoy not always knowing what I am getting into beforehand! Centered in Tasmania, Australia in a dying town, the story follows the mystery of the disappearance of a wife and mother.
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My feels about this one are a bit mixed. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book with it's focus on the days leading up the mystery. I felt it really set the stage and provided the necessary backdrop and information to the actual event. The middle section felt long and a bit meandering to me and I struggled staying engaged with the characters. The ending was interesting and while I suspected who the actual culprit was I appreciated the why and how behind it.
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Overall, it was an entertaining mystery set in an area that I knew little of but enjoyed reading about.

The mystery and suspense didn't happen until the last half of the book. Story takes place in a town called Vanishing Falls in Tasmania, Australia. Get a little bite of the aboriginal indigenous folks, but small mention as the book isn't about the originals to the land who were murdered at the creek called "Murdering Creek". Joelle, who is the main female lead in the story is considered slow, which comes across from how those who love her treats her and is around to help. Joelle has a photgraphic memory even though it isn't mentioned as such. Her husband, Brian loves her to death and we find out he is a descendant of the indigenous people as he fights to keep the ancestral names. Joelle in her sweetness and quirk when nervous babbles on to a degree revealing information that makes others uncomfortable. She witnesses some unsavory behavior by two guys and a missing person becomes a murder that everyone tries to solve, but Joelle pulls all of the pieces together. Received an advanced copy from NetGalley and Scene of the Crime Facebook Group.

Jack and Celia Lily live in the Calendar House in the village of Vanishing Falls, Tasmania. Jack's friend, Cliff Gatenby and wife Kim own a poultry farm, nearby. And the other family that interlocks in this story is the town butcher, Brian Smithton and his wife Joelle.
The story starts with Celia missing . It unfolds slowly but begins to build up in intensity as we get different points of view from our main characters. Each family and individual has their own share of secrets, even the secondary characters have agendas of their own. As the search for Celia expands, the characters become more distraught with each action they take, while more flaws and remorse are unveiled, until the who and why, comes to light.
Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley for this e-copy of "The Vanishing Falls".

I was able to have this free early ebook edition as part of William Morrow Scene of the Crime Early Read program!

4⭐️

The story is a bit slow in the beginning, and it took a while to pick up, maybe like almost halfway through the book. However, I was able to visualize the rainforest and the town of Vanishing Falls based on the author’s very detailed description. The town and its people seem to be hiding too many secrets that push each of them to edge. I mean, the town used to be thriving, people are used to be happy, but for some reason, it stopped, and now there’s a murderer that could be anyone, and everyone is doing their very best not to unravel the past they have left behind. I do feel that it leans more on the suspense side rather than a thriller, but it is a good read.

This book was received from Netgalley to read prior to its release.

I'm not sure what I think.. I enjoyed the story, and getting to know some of the characters. I didn't like or trust a lot of characters in the story. It started out slow, and I found myself distracted at times while reading it.

One night Jack comes home and his wife Cecilia is missing. The butchers wide Joelle is a little different and very observant. She has a rough past and a lot of emotional stress in her previous life. You start wondering who did it, and I ended up figuring it out before the end of the story. It was a good read, but at times it did move slow.

At the beginning of this book, I imagined the characters and setting as something that I would see on public broadcasting television. As I read further, I realized that I didn’t really like the people in this town. Then as I read further still, it became a “whodunnit.” Overall, I’m not really sure of my feelings towards this book. I didn’t love it; I didn’t hate it. Depending on what you’re looking for, this book may appeal to you.

*ARC was provided by the published via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

In Vanishing Falls socialite Celia Lily goes missing and everyone is a suspect. While trying to find out what happened to Celia, the seedy underbelly of this seemlingly nice small town is exposed.

Unreliable narrators abound in Vanishing Falls. Broken up by days, readers get a glimpse into the mind of each character and understand that each of them has something to hide. Joelle Smithton has a past that she's been trying to escape, but is catching up with her. Cliff Gatenby is beginning his descent into addiction, struggling with the fact that his wife, Kim, deserves so much more than he can offer her. Jack Lily, Celia's husband, has his own unsavory "business" association with the Keegan's. Add to this that Celia herself is complex and appears often dissatisfied with her life and the questions keep coming - did Celia find out someone's secret? How far would any of these characters go to keep their secrets safe? Or, did Celia disappear on her own?

Vanishing Falls started off slowly for me, but picked up quickly. There were multiple story lines that seemed disparate, but you knew must converge. Given the number of suspects, the uneasy feeling of paranoia set in as you read the book. No one was trustworthy or above suspicion until Gee finally pulled all the pieces together at the end. I certainly caught on to who was ultimately responsible for Celia Lily's disappearance (but no spoilers here), it took a while to get there and was timed pretty closely with the characters in the book as well.

This was a little predictable, but really good! The Tasmanian setting was fantastic, and the neuro-diverse main character was delightful.

Vanishing Falls delves in to the secrets of the locals living in this Tasmanian community. Celia Lily has disappeared. The book delves into the secrets and connections of their close knit friend group. This book has many twists and surprises. I fully enjoyed this mystery and was kept guessing until the very end.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee. This book is for a patient reader. The pace is slow, but moves with a deliberate motive.
The book takes place in Tasmania where a prominent family resides. One night, Jack Lily arrives home to find his wife Cecilia missing.
A young woman Joelle lives in this quiet place known as Vanishing Falls. She's different, she's a little off balanced, but she feels things. Joelle knows that people don't always see her for what she is, but she knows alot about Vanishng Falls. She knows the secrets of the people and she has some of her own. She may even know what happened to Cecila, but fear and her own demons may prevent her from telling all.
Again, slow paced, but a good beach book.

Poppy Gee’s Vanishing Falls is a spell-binding murder mystery set in a once-thriving, now economically-challenged, rural community on the edge of the Tasmanian rain forest. Vanishing Falls has everything a good mystery requires—flawed characters, any one of whom could be a murderer; an historic old estate whose centerpiece mansion holds clues to uncovering the past; and intense suspense presented in the vein of a true psychological thriller. Flora and fauna are main characters in Vanishing Falls and add to the allure of the story. Detailed descriptions transport the reader not only to the farms, forests, and towns of Tasmania, but to experience the very sights, sounds, and smells of the location. “On the edge,” summarizes Vanishing Falls nicely. Not only is Vanishing Falls on the edge of reclamation by its adjacent forest, it is on the edge of economic ruin. Each of the main characters is on the edge of a moral or mental collapse, and as the story unfolds, the reader is on the edge of his or her seat until the murderer is revealed.

I give the book four shining stars, balking at a fifth only because of one short but raunchy scene. Maybe the scene was integral to plot and character development, but it surely interrupted the intrigue of Vanishing Falls, if only momentarily.

Many thanks to Harper Collins, Net Galley, and Poppy Gee for an advance readers‘ copy of Vanishing Falls in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading more books by Poppy Gee, and hope to see a movie portraying her murder mystery on the big screen with cinematography featuring wallabies, waterfalls, and the Tasmanian rain forest.

This is described as a literary thriller so I think I went into this with the wrong expectations. I wouldn’t call this a thriller at all, more of a slow burn mystery...a very slow burn. I unfortunately ended up DNF’ing this at about 40% because I just couldn’t get into it at all and it was taking way too long for anything interesting to happen.

This book too quite awhile to really get into (for me about 40% of the way into the book). I found myself not connecting with any of the characters because it kept changing every few pages. I found it confusing. I kept expecting something to happen to Cecilia and it took far too long for her to go missing. This one was just okay for me.

Cecilia Lily is wealthy and missing from the 52-room home she shares with her art collector husband Jack. Vanishing Fall, set in the rainforest of Tasmania, explores the search for her whereabouts. The story’s narration shifts from character to character until the solution is discovered by Joelle, a woman who is slow after suffering childhood trauma. Towards the end the story speeds up with suspense, although I did figure out the result before the end. A strong point is the atmospheric setting. It is not every day you find a wallaby by the side of the road. The writing was awkward and some of the characters were inconsistent, but it did hold my interest until the end.

Jack Lily arrives home to find the front door of his house wide open, the lights on and his wife's coat, jewelry and a half-drunk glass of champagne carelessly abandoned. His wife, however, cannot be found. So begins Vanishing Falls a novel set in a small town in Tasmania.

The reader is then taken back a week in time and introduced to the main characters: a slightly mentally-challenged woman named Joelle and her butcher husband, Brian; Cliff, a meth-addicted chicken farmer and his wife Kim; lord-of-the-manor born Jack and his wife Celia. Unfortunately, the only sympathetic character out of the whole lot is Joelle. Her child-like outlook is refreshing but it's hard to watch the other characters try and manipulate her. Her eventual resolve to do what is right and seeing people for what they are is satisfying.

The book starts out slowly as the characters and their relationships are introduced. It seems everyone is hiding something and it feels like it takes forever to find out what happened to Celia. Once it gets going, however, the story moves right along.

Overall, I liked this book. There was some animal cruelty I didn't care for but that went along with the less than desirable characters. I liked the writing and felt Joelle's character especially rang true.

Vanishing Falls is a delightful read. Is it wrong to call a book about someone missing delightful? I did. The quirky characters and town made it quite an enjoyable read for me. The people of Vanishing Falls have secrets and some will kill to keep them that way. It read like a soap opera and I was so into it. When I began reading, I admit I had no clue where it was going. As the story progressed and took on that soap opera vibe, I was hooked and invested! I think my favorite character has to be Joelle. There is so much more to her! The story was so good that I wasn’t trying to figure out who done it. I was surprised at the twist. Nice one!

I highly enjoyed the author’s writing style and will be looking for other books by her. You have a new fan Miss Gee!! Make this your next read! I give this 5 stars.

The setting of this mystery novel sounded intriguing to me, as I couldn't recall having read a novel set in Tasmania previously. I would describe this as having a very slow-burn feel, as the plot proceeds at a very deliberate pace. It is a quiet, but unsettling book that touches on drug use and prostitution in a small town, Tasmania's history, and a past event that continues to impact one of the characters in the present.

Based on the book's description, I was surprised by how long it took before Celia Lily (Jack's wife) went missing. However, that did allow for several elements to be introduced that factored into the conclusion. The chapters are broken down into smaller portions, focusing on the three main characters (Jack Lily, Joelle Smithton, and Cliff Gatenby), which gives the reader a chance to experience the story from various perspectives. Not all of the inhabitants of Vanishing Falls are particularly likable (some could be described as downright unsavory), so some readers may have a hard time connecting to them and the story as a result. That isn't critical for me, but I think it took me a bit longer to get into the story as a result. If you're looking for a book steeped in quiet tension in a remote location, this would be a good choice. It is a fine introduction to this author and I look forward to reading future novels by her.

This review was based on the advanced reader's ebook I received via NetGalley courtesy of William Morrow and the Scene of the Crime. Many thanks for the opportunity to read this novel prior to its release!

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced readers e copy of Vanishing Falls. I found the book to be interesting, however it took almost 1/2 way for it to pick up speed and for the plot to really develop. The characters I found to be a little on the unbelievable side, yet the setting made me want to imagine what it was like in this fictional town. I wished the author spent some more time developing the setting as I really wanted to learn more about the different houses, the farm, the small town that I think would have enriched the story further. The plot was a bit predictable, I think as the author writes future books the writing style will improve and be more enjoyable to the reader.