I went into this one expecting a thriller, but it’s more like the kind of heartbreaking drama that surrounds a tragedy, such as a missing girl. It was sad, but insightful. The writing is very pretty indeed, but a little too much prose for my liking. I prefer a tighter, stronger plot.

This book is exactly how I like my movies: dark, extremely dark. If you’re weak of heart, can’t handle reality, love fairy tales, or would like to go through life with your head firmly planted in the sand, stay far, far away from this book. Also, this is not the category of book you would want to read ad nauseum. Life would be too sad. You need to read the occasional human/pet bonds, historical fiction, warm and fuzzy lost loves, and then this: extremely dysfunctional family struggles to grow up in a town run by an overly religious zealot nut and bigoted hateful people.
The characters in this book could very well be real; they remind me so much of the small town I grew up in. There’s not much to be cute and happy about; it’s dark, and just keeps getting darker. But I absolutely loved living in this book for a couple days, at a safe distance and living voyeuristically through the strong bond of friendship between two young teenage girls.
After Abigail disappears, Emma is determined to find out what happened to her. From the first page to almost the very last, we flash back and forth establishing a timeline of horrible events. But please trust me; through this some wounds are healed, some bonds are formed, and some children learn to love their mothers once again. But go into this knowing these facts of life: parental child abuse thrives, some churches are run by extremists, some of the most powerful people in a town are truly evil, and bored kids like to drink and do drugs.
I love this author, I love her writing style and blunt honesty, and I love the believable plot. Ms. Bailey, please keep it up. You have an audience out here that can handle the hard facts.
Sincere thanks to Atria for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is August 3, 2021.

This was a really well written, solid story line, well developed character book. This book was also a bit too close to ugly reality for me. Religious fervor leading people to do despicable things. Homophobia, xenophobia, abuse, etc. You name it and it was taking place in the small town of Whistling Ridge, CO. It was all the things that make my heart hurt about our country right now. I am not sure that is what the author intended, but I struggled reading it for those reasons. Just like I struggle to watch the evening news. So while I would highly recommend reading this book, I might suggest girding yourself for some ugly topics and planning a cute fluffy book to follow.

Abigail and Emma are best friends and one night Emma watches Abigail go into the woods and that is the last anyone has seen of her. Throughout the book, the author takes us back and forth through time to find out why these characters ended up here and to reveal all the details of what happened to Abigail.

For me, this one wasn't one of my favorite reads of my recent reads and it was all about the characters. I couldn't connect and get interested in any of them and for that I had a hard time keeping my attention on this book. What kept me turning pages was wanting to figure out what happened to Abigail and I can say that without that wonderment I am not sure if I would have finished. Not only were the characters just a downer, so was the town and while I can handle unlikability, this one just went beyond that.

A debut novel and because of this I am still intrigued to read another by Anna Bailey. I would never want to judge an author based on only one book and especially a debut. I hope that in the next book I can connect with a character and have more excitement about following them on a journey.

Where the Truth Lies by Anna Bailey is a dark, highly atmospheric thriller that put the fictional town of Whistling Ridge, Colorado, on the map as the town I least want to visit. It is full of either heinous people or spineless victims - no one I could relate to or even empathize with.
Despite this world that pulled me deep into despair, there were aspects that I just loved about it. Dotted like breadcrumbs are the most ingenious teases as to what happened to Abigail Blake. These delectable bites kept me from bolting away from Whistling Ridge. Instead, they held me spellbound to the mystery at hand. I also liked the dual timeline of Now and Then, which allowed me to see the events leading up to Abigail’s disappearance interspersed with the investigation of her case.
Those glimpses into the past let me get to know Abigail, showing more of the attributes I would connect with. Though she is not untainted by this world full of trigger warnings for violence – sexual and physical. And, those aspects of her personality that developed due to her surroundings are the very ones that kept me at a distance.
If you are looking for the epitome of an atmospheric story with the most brilliant teases, and you are not triggered by non-graphic violent scenes, then Where the Truth Lies is just the story you want to pick up this summer.

I really wanted to love this book. The cover grabbed me right away and I dove in. Unfortunately it didn't work for me.. I love a good creepy mystery but this one was at another level. With so many characters and relationships to keep track of I found it a bit much and at times confusing.

Where the Truth Lies (Anna Bailey) begins with a teenage girl missing, but as the reader gets to know the characters they realize this story is like an onion and has many layers and stories to it. I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an early copy to review.

Where the Truth Lies is dark, disturbing, unbelievable book set in a small town full of people with small minds.

The residents of this town are intolerant of anything that is different from their beliefs. At the core of this town is the First Baptist Church run by Pastor Lewis. Pastor Lewis is the opposite of what you would believe a pastor to be. He is racist and homophobic, and doesn’t care who knows it.

In the woods near The Tall Bones, a circle of twelve six feet tall rocks is a beloved spot for the young people of the town to party. They dance, drink, and do drugs. During one of these parties, Abigail Blake disappears. There are rumors about her Romanian friend Rat. Abi’s best friend Emma is a wreck. She feels guilty about leaving her alone at the party. Abi’s brother Noah wonders if she ran away from their drunk of a father, who has PTSD from serving in Vietnam. He frequently beats his wife and children and subjects them to cruel punishments.

This book is dark, disturbing, and suspenseful. It is definitely a slow burn. The characters are well written and although it wasn’t particularly a favorite of mine, I do think it is worth a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Thank you so much to Atria books and Anna Bailey for my ARC of Where the Truth Lies that comes out August 3rd! This book was definitely a slow burn for me. It took awhile for me to get into it, but once I did, I flew through it! Abigail is a young girl who goes missing at the beginning of the story when her best friend, Emma leaves her at a party. The storyline goes back and forth from the past and present to unravel what Abigail’s life was like before she went missing. As secrets start coming out, you soon realize everyone is a suspect.
Anna Bailey really captures the life in a small town and how far people will go to protect their own. The story was dark and had some CW within that could be triggering for people. I enjoyed the writing style and the story and the twist at the end!

A slow-burn, atmospheric suspense hinged on the disappearance of a teenage girl. Strongly character driven and deeply rooted with emotion, the narrative captures all the tension, single-mindedness, and stigma prevalent in a small town set on keeping secrets. Not a light read, the novel holds a certain solemness.

Thank you to #AtriaBooks and #NetGalley for the ARC which was read and reviewed voluntarily.

“… the kind of town where coyotes chew on stray cigarette butts and packs of boys go howling at the moon.”

Where the Truth Lies is a sad and haunting mystery with a dark secret at the heart of it. All good mysteries have a secret to be told and some of them are more dreadful and shocking then others. The secret at the center of WtTL is slow to unveil with a lot of pieces to the puzzle that all came together nicely.

So many themes are present that it’s a bit hard to focus on any one of them as specific problems but as I think about the book, I realize this is the way of the world sometimes, especially in small towns. So much homophobia and racism all balled up with classism, misogyny, abuse and religion. It was a little hard to pull apart at times, sometimes a bit fragmented in the telling with quite a few characters to keep track of but as I went deeper in to the book, I appreciated the realistic look at small town life.

I wanted to say that the character of Emma is really well-done and I’m glad the author showed how deeply Abi’s disappearance affected her and her growth throughout the book. Really outstanding character development!

I think this is a strong debut novel with an important message at its core. My thanks to Atria Books for the DRC!

Where the Truth Lies is a slow-paced whodunit to figure out what happened to Abi, a missing teenager. Did she run away? Is someone in the small town of Whistling Ridge responsible for her disappearance?

I struggled with Where the Truth Lies for a few reasons. First, all of the characters are unlikeable. The residents of this toxic town fear and disdain everyone and everything that isn't like them. Second, the story is told using multiple timeframes and POVs. I found the frequent changes in both to be unnecessarily confusing. And finally, the pace felt way too slow.

Those who enjoy dark, slow-building, suspenseful mysteries that are character driven will appreciate all that Where the Truth Lies has to offer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital review copy.

Thanks to Atria for the free book.
I would not consider this a thriller, but more of a slow-burn, atmospheric suspense novel, so adjust your expectations when going into this one. The book is about what happened to Abi, but there is so much more here. It is a deep look at small-mindedness, toxic Christianity, racism, and domestic abuse in a small Colorado town. The story slowly builds through then and now sections told from many character's POVs. I liked the format because it kept me engaged and invested in the story. However, I felt like I missed some things because of the allusions, but not outright, discussion of some of the things happening with some of the characters. I did enjoy the juxtaposition between the teens and their parents lines of thinking. I think that the exploration of kids being different from their parents was interesting.
If you enjoy novels that focus on the characters and the repercussions of their actions, then I think you will enjoy this one. If you're looking for a fast paced plot, this is not the book for that.

In Where the Truth Lies, Bailey explores racism, bigotry, family abuse, the cycle of abuse carried down through generations, homophobia, the toxicity of conversion therapy, and so much more. At the center of this town is the church, with a twisted pastor who uses the congregation to fuel his hatred using his rigid beliefs, living out the old testament in the bible.

So much comes to light after Abigail disappears. Unfortunately, the townspeople have spent so much time looking down on her family that they aren’t all that interested in her disappearance, including most of the police force. There are too many people carrying secrets that need to come to light.

Where the Truth Lies is a book that addresses so many real-world issues in such a small town. It’s an impactful, slow-creeping thriller that is sometimes a difficult read that will sit with you long after you’ve finished the last page. Thank you, Atria Books, for sending this along!

This book was offered for a free download and because I liked to look of the cover I downloaded it without realising I have already read it as Tall Bones. It has been a good seller at the Bookstore I work in and a pleasure to handsell.
An outstanding debut, Abi and Emma, childhood friends, are at a party out by the Tall Bones. When Abi wants to leave, but Emma wants to stay, Abi leaves without her not realising she will never see her again. Emma’s disappearance divides the town, which is ruled by Pastor Lewis. Abi’s family all have their secrets and as the town becomes embroiled in the disappearance and the Pastor is shown to be anything but the upstanding citizen he portrays himself to be, grudges , racism, incest and abuse show themselves.
I can’t wait to see what this author writes next.

#netgalley #wherethetruthlies

Where the Truth Lies was hard to get a grasp on the storyline. There were different time frames, different narrators and so many things left unsaid. But once I got into it, you realize it is like real life. People think their neighbors and friends know what has happened behind closed doors. But really everyone is just trying to muddle on with their own problems. I always hate when characters use God to justify their actions- because my god would not want anyone to be hurt in his name. For the most part, I was happy with the ending and how justice was achieved. An amazing first novel. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

This is a slow burn mystery that is more atmospheric than 'thrilling'. It's the sort of book that I think would make for a memorable HBO miniseries, a la Mare of Easttown. I think the drabness of the town, combined with the sad circumstances and the lack of hope for the characters who populate the story makes it a tough read. However, if those were depicted on screen and you could follow the plot more (as opposed to getting bogged down with so many dreary descriptives), I think it would be more compelling.

I thank NetGalley, Atria Books publisher and the author Anna Bailey for providing me with complementary ARC of this ebook.

From a distance, Whistling Ridge seems like any other ordinary, sleepy town, which gets crowded in the summer due to it's lush woods and beauty. Tourists and party goers will flock the town
for camping, and by fall, it goes back to it's regular activities, sans tourists. But there is more to this town than what meets the eye. Everyone has his/her own secrets buried, and they like it that way. Until one day when Abigail Blake disappears into the woods one night without any trace. The last person to see her was her best friend Emma, who despite insisting Abi that she will wait for her return, has to go back due to Abi's stubborn behavior. Days turn into weeks, but Abigual is nowhere to be found. Thus begins the investigation into her disappearance which slowly brings out that every person has his own secret that they want to hide.

This dark, mysterious, emotional debut crime novel by Anna made me read for more. The small town set up in lush woods where everyone knows their neighbor, gossips, yet there is a part to every person known only to themselves is a strong premise and I feel the author has done a fabulous job.


I have posted my review of this book in my bookstagram and good reads links given below:

Bookstagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRmVz3Er5jA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4125991394

When Emma Alvarez's best friend Abigail Blake vanishes from a party in the woods on the outskirts of their insular town of Whistling Ridge, Colorado, Emma blames herself for leaving Abi alone. The sheriff is convinced that Abi ran away, but Emma can't believe that she would leave without saying goodbye and sets out to investigate Abi's disappearance herself. During the course of her amateur sleuthing, she'll forge some unlikely alliances and make some powerful enemies, and begin to realize that beneath Whistling Ridge's idyllic exterior, something rotten is at work.

Where the Truth Lies is an impressive debut novel, and I think Anna Bailey is going to be a writer to watch. I'll certainly pick up anything she writes in the future. This book is intensely atmospheric, and there is a haunting quality to Bailey's writing that makes her prose almost hypnotic. There's a lot happening in the narrative and in the town of Whistling Ridge, but Bailey's carefully-constructed, captivating narrative ensures that the plot never feels too full. Weaving among various timelines, Bailey takes her time with the threads of her narrative, revealing just enough at just the right time to keep her readers hooked.

Although there is a disappearance and a mystery at its core, this book is more than anything else a character study. Through various narrative points of view, Bailey introduces a cast of compelling characters: some of them sympathetic, others truly vile, but most of them nuanced and unforgettable. I will say that some of the characters on the "vile" spectrum felt a bit too one-dimensional and just became composites of negative stereotypical traits -- I would've liked a few more shades of gray. And if the book overall feels just a bit too bleak, I will forgive that aspect because the moments of beauty and tolerance Bailey does inject into the narrative are truly affecting.

The town of Whistling Ridge, too, is a character, and maybe the most compelling one: one that breeds gossip, bigotry, homophobia and racism, prejudice, dangerous religious mania, violence, festering secrets and long-standing resentments. If you enjoy reading about toxic towns with dark underbellies, you're going to be sucked in by Whistling Ridge and its rotten heart.

Ultimately, Where the Truth Lies is a book about forgiveness -- both the kind you owe to yourself, and the kind you give to others. It serves as a beacon of hope, while also reminding us how far we still have to go. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story's atmosphere -- totally enthralling. I loved Emma's character, and the pacing of this book was perfect. Lots of great connections between the characters, and the author did an excellent job with dialog.