All Who Wander by Joe Cliffird sounded like the perfect thriller for me. But I did not connect with the writing and decided to not keep reading it. Thank you for the early copy!

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

All Who Wander is my first book by author Joe Clifford, a dark mystery that takes the reader through dual time periods. One is a countdown of days before Brooke goes missing, (ostensibly who the story is about) while the other time frame is seen through her half-brother's eyes about 20 years later. Robert, aka Bobby, aka 'fecto (short for defective) has never gotten over the trauma of his missing half-sibling. When a female college student makes contact with Robert claiming to be his long-lost sister's daughter, things start to spin out of control. Robert now a small college professor starts to spiral as does his entire life he so carefully constructed after his dysfunctional upbringing.

The reader can feel Robert slipping mentally, particularly when he starts referring to himself in the plural. There are many suspects that could easily be the reason for Brooke's disappearance so the reader continues to wonder why Robert feels so guilty about it when he was just a young teenager when she went missing. I was pre-cringing over what I thought was going to happen. I also was misdirected on by who (kudos to Joe Clifford) and continued to try and sleuth out the details.

The ending is quite satisfactory, if not shocking. The author already knows per his notes and quotes what things happen in the book that will set some readers off.

Thank you to Square Tire Books and Swell Media for access to an early e-copy. All opinions are my own.

The plot seemed very promising but I felt myself being unable to delve deeply into.the book. Too much description and felt slow paced at points.

Enormously Atmospheric..
Secrets, lies and unexplained events surround a mysterious disappearance in a rural and snow bound Vermont. Twenty one years later, that same case is once again brought into the limelight and lives may well begin to unravel but will secrets out? Enormously atmospheric and emotionally charged psychological suspense, often dark and haunting and peppered liberally with a keenly observed narrative and often unexpected twists.

Why do we allow others to manipulate us with their “truth”.

In "All Who Wander", we travel between the present and the late 1990’s, just days before twenty-year-old Brooke Mulcahy disappeared.

Brooke lived with her father in a small Massachusetts town. He didn’t know how to deal with her wild behavior, drug abuse, and affection for the wrong men. Her mother, who had abandoned them a decade earlier, returned on the brink of death, accompanied by a baby boy. Brooke understood her mother’s desire to escape, but harbored resentment toward her newfound half-brother, Robert, or "Bobby." The narrative in the present unfolds through the lens of Robert, now a thirty-six-year-old civil engineering professor, husband, and father.

When a young woman, claiming to be the daughter of Brooke comes to visit Robert, his life starts to unravel. Brooke’s disappearance was considered a cold case, as her body was never found. However, even authorities believed that she was a victim of a known serial killer. The problem for Robert though, was that it brought back excruciating childhood memories of his life as "Bobby".

This intoxicating novel transports us to uncharted territories of human emotion and psyche. The characters are meticulously crafted, and we understand their motivations. Author Joe Clifford writes with haunting clarity, and we can feel the intense emotion of the characters as well as the smell of the stench and sweat of everyday life. The conclusion hits you as a complete surprise, and from start to finish, this book captivates, refusing to release its grip.

I seldom give a book the highest rating of “5 Bookmarks", but "All Who Wander" meets the necessary criteria. I look forward to reading more from this author.

My first from this author and definitely not my last! Wow! This is a compelling and dysfunctional psychological thriller. It is told in alternating narratives. Brooke disappears one snowy night after her car veers off the side of the road. She tells her story prior to her disappearance with so many upended wrongs in her life. As her life falls over the edge of destruction with an abusive boyfriend, she must also deal with an alcoholic father.

Even more bone-chilling after Lily appears claiming she is Brooke's daughter. Brooke's brother, Robert, must deal with the matter after 21 years have passed since her disappearance. You are unable to put it down in order to find out what happened to Brooke. Robert has quite the story from his own past.
Thank you NetGalley and Square Tire Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

The book didn’t work very well as a thriller because there seemed too much information added about unimportant thoughts etc and this seemed to drain any tension for me.

A dark psychological thriller that I found lacking… in what I can’t pinpoint, but the ending felt kind of sudden for one.
And I felt that the story dragged at times, and the characters were a little flat. I would have liked to know for instance what Bobby went to therapy for, it was never really explored what was ”broken” in him, even though it’s referenced serveral times.
It was good in describing difficult family dynamics though.

went into this book blind, not reading the blurb or anything else. All Who Wander by Joe Clifford is a dark story into the dysfunctional family. The book started off well for me with a woman on the run in a blizzard who then crashes her car. We do not find out her fate until the end.

Brooke, is the woman in the car. Her mother pcked up and left without a trace when Brooke was young. She left her with a distant alcoholic father in a dysfunctional situation. During this time, Brooke meets Mike, who also comes from a mess of a home. Ten years later, her mother returns with a child, Bobby, who is now Brooke's step brother. The two children are distant, Brooke angry that Bobby was able to receive her moms love for ten years and she wasn't. A year after the mom returns, she dies from cancer leaving Brooke and Bobby with the alcoholic father.

The book explores the way the psyche adapts to dysfunctional situations and the outcome of such situations. It was well written and interesting, but I felt it dragged on so much. I enjoyed the book but unless you are into domestic dysfunction, I wouldn't recommend it. The ending for me was totally underwhelming after reading so much about their lives. This was an ARC. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley. I truly appreciate the copy.

The plot and setting to begin with had promising premise: woman on the run, high stakes, country I know. Settled in for a thrilling ride
However, I was thrown off by the telling of the story in broken sentences, information dumps, and feeling that the reader was being steered to certain feelings, thoughts, and experiences. This novel rambled on so much and didn't even continue to the main plot at times. I was dragged away by the mundane activities about 98% of the time! How is that a thriller?
I am sorry to be so brutal with what started out so anticipated. I could not finish this story although I did want to know if the protagonist ultimately triumphed over daunting odds.

All Who Wander by Joe Cliffird definitely knows how to write crime and keeps me very interested.
AWW is a gripping thriller that took me on a rollercoaster ride of suspense, intrigue, and unexpected twists.
From the very first page, Clifford's amazing storytelling grabbed hold of me and refused to let go until the final sentence.
An excellent leading character, and an amazing story.
Cliffird is a spectacular crime writer and it shows here.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Square Tire Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

What a dark, twisty story!
What a broken and dysfunctional family!
If you are in the mood for a dark psychological thriller…..you need to pick this book up!
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

273 pages

4 and 1 / 2 stars

This is a psychologically heavy novel. It is the story of a very dysfunctional family, a missing young woman and her half-brother who is tortured by the past despite years of therapy.

Robert “Bobby” Kirby is an eminent professor of civil engineering at a very prestigious college. He seems competent - until he doesn't. His half-sister, Brooke, was just twenty when she disappeared. Following an auto accident in a snowstorm, she is nowhere to be found. Robert’s mother died and his stepfather is an alcoholic who paid little attention to him, or, indeed, to Brooke.

This book takes a look at the depths of human experience and consciousness. Mr. Clifford lays out his story in two timelines. Flashbacks to just before Brooke disappeared and the present day.

At first the reader is drawn into the mystery, all along suspecting that this is a “normal” tale of a missing woman. Very slowly, and craftily, Mr. Clifford turns the plot into something heartrending and sometimes horrible. We begin to see the characters as they really are: flawed and unlikable. The author also adds to the ambience of the story by setting it in torrential rain and snow. It added nicely to the depressing tone of the book.

In spite of the fact that I did not like any of the characters in this book, I was nonetheless compelled to keep reading. I moved through this novel very quickly. Mr. Clifford is a very talented writer. His character development is superb. I felt like a first hand witness to all of the exchanges between the people in the book. This book will stay with me for a long time. This is my first Joe Clifford novel and I immediately went to Amazon to look for more from this author.

I want to thank NetGalley and Square Tire Books for forwarding to me a copy of this remarkable book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Thank you to Joe Cliffird, Square Tire Books, and NetGalley for this ARC.

I read the blurb and I instantly found this book interesting. But as I started to read it, I did not like it. I could not stand Robert. There was just something about him.

I did like the different POV, especially Brookes. But unfortunately, that didn't save the book for me and it was a DNF.

This was a book with a huge depth to it. I thought it was going to be a fun thriller but it definitely wasn’t that. This was a serious and a dark thriller. It is definitely much more suitable for older readers with similar life experiences.
It personally wasn’t my favorite as I didn’t like the main character, brooke was just a bad character in my opinion. And I don’t mean a person with a bad personality, i mean just a badly written character. And i hated the ex. But i always hate the ex trope so there is that.
This was a three star read for me.

All Who Wander is a dark tale of a truly dysfunctional family. The plot twists and turns leave the reader wondering what will come next. All Who Wander is too dark for my personal tastes, but I imagine it will have a lot of loyal fans.

A respected academic with an apparently bright future, the recipient of grant funding, and the father of a young son, Robert Kirby (aka Bobby) would seem to have everything anyone could want. But things are not as they seem in Bobby's life, and at one point, his wife Stephanie has had enough. She takes their son Peter to stay with family, and leaves him to sort himself out.

Not that he hasn't tried to do that already. Bobby has been through years of therapy to get over a complicated and unpleasant childhood, which culminated in the disappearance of his half-sister Brooke Mulcahy in the midst of a winter storm. The mystery of what happened to her has haunted Bobby for over two decades.

Brooke and Bobby were not close, primarily because their mother abandoned Brooke's father Paul and Brooke herself for several years, returning with another child by another man i.e. Bobby. The two kids lost their mother a few years later to cancer, and Brooke grew up to be a troubled young woman making bad choices in life and keeping very bad company in terms of boyfriends.

Now, Bobby is taken aback when a young woman shows up in his life, claiming to be Brooke's daughter. But strange things begin to happen after Lily, as she calls herself, comes into Bobby's life. Could it be possible that Lily is lying about her parentage? And if so, why?

This is a very dark story, going to the heart of a deeply dysfunctional family and demonstrating the fallout of that dysfunction for all concerned.

The last part of the book actually became a bit too scary for me. The exploration of the darkest corners of the human psyche was more than I was comfortable with.

But there is no question that this is a gripping story, and if you can cope with the many trigger factors involved - multiple forms of abuse, problematic family dynamics, addiction and violence - it is a compelling read. I give it 3.5 stars.

In typical fashion, Joe Clifford's narrative unfolds against the backdrop of the grim, damp, and snow-covered East Coast, delving deep into the shadowy facets of human existence rather than basking in sunny beach settings. His characters are exposed at their most vulnerable, providing readers with a raw and intense exploration of their lives. My introduction to Clifford's writing came through the Jay Porter series a few years ago, and I was immediately captivated by his unique style.

In "All Who Wander," Clifford crafts a psychological labyrinth that may unsettle some readers with its disturbing events. The story revolves around Robert (Bobby), a successful academic who, on the surface, should be content with his life—a loving marriage, a son, and professional success. However, he remains haunted by the unresolved mystery of his half-sister's disappearance during his childhood. Despite numerous therapy sessions, closure eludes him, and he hungers for answers. Recent developments suggest that he might finally uncover the truth, but as the saying goes, the truth isn't always what we hope for, and it may be more unsettling than the ambiguity he's lived with. As Robert embarks on a quest to reconnect with individuals from his sister Brooke's past, long-buried and distressing memories resurface.

Brooke, his missing sister, was just twenty years old when she vanished, trapped in a grim home environment and entangled with unsavory characters. Her life was marred by poor decisions and ill-fated romances. Did she simply leave in pursuit of a better future, or did something sinister befall her? With the passage of time, both memories and witnesses become unreliable, adding to the complexity of unraveling this mystery. Clifford's meticulous character descriptions paint vivid mental portraits, allowing readers to envision each individual vividly.

The urgency of Robert's quest to unearth the truth had me on edge throughout the narrative. "All Who Wander" is a relentless journey filled with revelations, concealed secrets, and morally questionable characters. I found it impossible to find a moment to pause and ended up devouring the book in just twenty-four hours.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to NetGalley for providing me with an advance digital copy of "All Who Wander" by Joe Clifford, a publication of Square Tire Books. These thoughts and opinions are entirely my own, offered willingly and without any form of compensation.

All Who Wander- Joe Clifford 4 Star review.

Joe Clifford is know for his work in thrillers and psychological thrillers at that- and this book is no different. It is dark, very twisted and gets under your skin in the best way possible. Unlike most thrillers where your mind is constantly trying to guess the plot twist- this book kept me engaged and "living" in the moment. I truly felt as though I was there in the moments with the characters and just as stunned by the ending. I highly recommend picking up this book and finding a cozy place to sit because you wont want to put the book down.