"A gripping tale about the power and corrosiveness within families weighed down by the past...storytelling at its finest."
- The Associated Press "With more twists than a bag of pretzels, this compelling family saga may make you question what you think you know about your own relatives."
- Cosmopolitan "A page-turning thriller that will allow you to escape into another world...filled with family secrets and a legacy of death and disappearance for the infamous "Roanoke Girls" -- a privileged Kansas matriarchy with more than its fair share of tragic drama."
- Bustle "A crime must-read to devour...
The Roanoke Girls has nothing to do with Virginia but everything to do with missing girls, as the females in the Roanoke family, who live in a tiny town in rural Kansas not worth naming, are rich, beautiful, and generally short-lived...The farmhouse, which is 'equal parts horrifying and mesmerizing, ' is a perfect setting for a gothic mystery full of small-town secrets, lies, and guilt."
- Literary Hub "
The Roanoke Girls, the new suspense novel by Amy Engel, is one of those captivating stories which make you ask for more from this talented author...an exciting read from a talented new voice in adult suspense.
"- Mystery Tribune "Engel drops a wicked twist in the first 35 pages--in the middle of a paragraph on the middle of the page--and lets it sit like a coiled snake...from that point on, The Roanoke Girls becomes a thrilling mystery and a satisfyingly gothic portrait of Middle America...a dark fable of trauma and acceptance about damaged people accepting their crooked parts and using them to move forward."
- Bookpage "Engel hits a homerun with this "gothic suspense novel" that tells the story of the Roanoke family, a prominent and very private Kansas family...a rollercoaster ride through a dark family history and the one devastating family secret."
- Pulse Magazine "Gripping...[a] gothic page-turner...with revelations readers won't soon forget."
- Publishers Weekly "In her first foray into adult fiction, [Engel] creates a memorable cast of characters and a twisting, tangled plot that attracts readers from the first page...[an] atmospheric and unsettling tale of the secrets and bonds of family, set against the backdrop of small-town Kansas."
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Library Journal "A provocative thriller."
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Telegraph UK "A debt to Daphne du Maurier is evident throughout this remarkably assured adult debut...you are also reminded of the theatrical domestic sagas of Tennessee Williams."
- Sunday Times "An emotionally captivating story."
- Booklist "I was immediately drawn into
The Roanoke Girls, a haunting and riveting look at one family's tangled legacy. You won't stop reading until you've unraveled the darkest of Roanoke's shocking secrets."
- Laura McHugh, award-winning author of The Weight of Blood "This is a poised and haunting novel, whose enchanting prose belies its dark and intense subject matter. An evocative modern take on Southern Gothic, with a compelling twist which will remain with you long after the book's last sentence."
- L.S. Hilton, New York Times bestselling author of Maestra "An emotionally compelling page turner,
The Roanoke Girls takes you inside the dark world of a twisted family and one woman's fight to break free from the chains of her own history. This is family intrigue at its very best!"
- Wendy Walker, author of All Is Not Forgotten