Book Review: Tall Bones
02/12/20
Book Review | Tall Bones by Anna Bailey
As someone who just finished a Faber Academy course and is in the process of writing her first novel, I’m both deeply envious and completely in awe of Anna Bailey, the 24 year old author of Tall Bones who finished her novel writing course, the Curtis Brown one, just last year (!) and was quickly published.
I received an advance digital copy of Tall Bones thanks to NetGalley and I can immediately see why it achieved such instant success. Set in the small American town of Whistling Ridge, it’s a tightly written whodunnit featuring a fleshed out cast of characters who gripped me immediately. We are initially introduced to 17 year old Emma Alvarez, who is hovering at the edge of the forest at night watching her best friend Abi walking towards a man she cannot see well enough to identify. Despite her offer to wait and drive them both home, Abi insists she leave alone. The next day Abi has disappeared and a police investigation begins.
The depiction of Whistling Ridge is rich and thorough, giving the novel such a clear sense of place and wrapping me up firmly in the world Bailey has created. It’s easy to imagine the homes each character inhabits, the roads Emma drives looking for answers and the men, women and teenagers that make up its population. I can see the diner Noah works in, the trailer park where outsider Rat sits in his RV strumming his guitar, the striking Church where Pastor Lewis drums up anger and resentment. This is a town with the Church at its centre and Pastor Lewis is a man wielding a significant amount of power. Most residents are committed churchgoers and Bailey expresses contempt for the ways in which religion is repeatedly used as an excuse for control and bad behaviour. This plays a particularly important part in the issues embedded deeply within the family of the missing Abigail Blake. The family patriarch Samuel Blake is a Vietnam veteran and deeply religious man who rules his family with an iron fist, creating an unsafe, unhappy and judgemental home.
As the police investigation falls short and the town seems to be starting to forget about Abi, Emma who has her own reasons for feeling like an outsider, commits to finding out what happened to her best friend. Between town gossip, creating unexpected alliances and uncovering a secret held by Jude Blake, secrets begin to spill out and the darker side of the town is exposed.
What I love about Bailey’s storytelling is that, although there are characters who are impossible to care for, she illustrates the systemic problems in society that have led to the creation of both them and the situations they must navigate. Although it doesn’t always work - there are so many characters and some are deeply unpleasant people - she works hard to allow readers a little glimpse into each character’s motivations. Sometimes these are a little simplistic (e.g. Man is religious. Man feels bad for treating his son poorly. Man uses God as justification for his choices.) and in these cases I struggled to see the character as anything other than a ‘baddie’. In other characters though she has created complex, thoughtful souls who are so clearly working as best they can with the cards life has dealt them and making flawed choices.
Although I was kept guessing, ultimately it wasn’t the plot that kept me engaged. I found that towards the end there were aspects that I began to enjoy less. The pace wavered and I felt that some characters’ choices lacked clear motivation. Storylines were opened up that never quite went anywhere. Really, it was the writing itself that kept me completely rapt. Bailey writes like someone much older. Her prose is clean and well crafted, crackling with meaning and I found myself stopping to appreciate phrases over and over again.
Tall Bones is a really, really good debut and I’m excited about what Bailey writes next. If you’re looking for a well-crafted thriller populated by memorable - if mostly rather unpleasant - characters then pick up a copy of this when it’s out next Spring.