Harare Review of Books

Expected date of publication: Nov 2021.

Finished reading on 31 Aug 2021.

Genre: Fiction.

Publisher’s blurb: A homecoming snares a young woman in a dangerous tangle of lies, secrets, and bad blood in this gripping novel by the bestselling author of An Accusation.

Running from a bad relationship, journalist Jo Sharpe heads home to Arthurville, the drought-stricken town she turned her back on years earlier. While some things have changed—her relationship with her ailing, crotchety father, her new job at the community newspaper—Jo finds that her return has rekindled the grief and uncertainty she experienced during her childhood following the inexplicable disappearance of her mother and baby sister.

Returning to Arthurville has its unexpected pleasures, though, as Jo happily reconnects with old friends and makes a few new ones. But she can’t let go of her search for answers to that long-ago mystery. And as she keeps investigating, the splash she’s making begins to ripple outward—far beyond the disappearance of her mother and sister.

Jo is determined to dig as deep as it takes to get answers. But it’s not long before she realises that someone among the familiar faces doesn’t want her picking through the debris of the past. And they’ll go to any lengths to silence the little bird before she sings the truth.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Lake Union Publishing for this galley.

A better-than-pleasant read, this got off to a pretty slow start, but picked up once the mystery was revealed. I had never read Ms James before (or even heard of her; and I did not pay a lot of attention to the blurb), so the grim revelation took me by surprise, as it came in the middle of fairly mundane small-town things.

In all, a satisfying story, with loose ends very nicely tied up, and enough that was unexpected to keep me glued to the page by the second half of the book.

Rated: 7/10 for a good story, and good writing.