Tall Oaks: Winner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award - Softcover

Whitaker, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1785770306 ISBN 13: 9781785770302

Publisher: Zaffre, 2016

Synopsis

***A MISSING CHILD THRILLER WITH A DEVASTATING TWIST***

'Noir has an anarchic new voice' SARAH HILARY

'A brilliant, beautiful, sad, funny book . . . also made me cry more than any other book I've read this year' EMMA FLINT

ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME THAT YOU MADE A DATE TO VISIT TALL OAKS?

Tall Oaks is an idyllic small town, until the disappearance of a young child throws the tight-knit community into crisis.

Jess Monroe, the boy's distraught mother, is simultaneously leading the search and battling her own grief and self-destructive behaviour. Her neighbours watch on, their sympathy masking a string of dark secrets.

This is a small town where nothing is as it seems, and everyone has something to hide. And as the investigation draws towards a climax, prepare for a devastating final twist . . .

Dark, full of suspense and packed with twists, this brilliant new thriller is like nothing you've read before.
SEE WHAT THE WORLD IS ALREADY SAYING ABOUT THIS BRILLIANT DEBUT NOVEL

'An absolute delight . . . Highly original' LAURA WILSON, GUARDIAN

'Completely blew me away' LISA HALL

'One of the best books I've read this year' JO SPAIN

'Chris Whitaker builds an entire town in the reader's head and masterfully inhabits it with comic, poignant, gripping life. Tall Oaks becomes a part of you' DAVID WHITEHOUSE

'It's rare that a novel can be both brilliantly comic and tragic, and balance the two so effortlessly' SUN

'A gripping debut' MAIL ON SUNDAY

About this title

Review

“Noir has an anarchic new voice” Sarah Hilary, Sunday Times bestselling author of Someone Else’s Skin

“A perpetually fascinating read” Heat

“This quirky debut entertains and intrigues” Sunday Times

“A gripping debut” Mail on Sunday

“I always know when a book has completely blown me away - as a reader, I want to weep because I've finished it and I will never again get to experience it for the first time, and as a writer, it makes me want to weep because I wish I had written it myself. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE BOOKS"  Lisa Hall, author of the No.1 Bestseller Between You and Me

“Chris Whitaker builds an entire town in the reader’s head and masterfully inhabits it with comic, poignant, gripping life. Tall Oaks becomes a part of you” – David Whitehouse, author of Bed and Mobile Library

“A cast of characters that wouldn’t be out of place in a Steinbeck novel” David Young, bestselling author of Stasi Child

“A truly remarkable debut” Neil White, bestselling author of Cold Kill

“Chris Whitaker has the potential to become the David Lynch of fiction.” Deborah O’Connor, bestselling author of My Husband’s Son

“I absolutely loved this debut . . . a brilliant cross between Twin Peaks and Fargo . . . It’s wonderfully plotted, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Highly recommended” Raven Crime Reads Book of the Month

“There are characters in here that deserve their own books, they're that good. Hope for lots more from this author - he's destined for big things” Jo Spain, bestselling author of With our Blessing

“Manny is a brilliant mix of bravado and teenage angst. This character gives the novel an extra little sparkle which makes it worth seeking out” (Reviews Revues)

“You seriously have to read this book...brilliant” (Lipstick and Lace Blog)

“Chris Whitaker cleverly set many clues and red herrings as to what had happened to Harry and when it was finally revealed, I was taken totally by surprise! The reader is treated to a cast of intriguing quirky characters and their stories all come together painting a great portrait of life in this small American town (Portobello Books Blog)

Tall Oaks was an amazing read...Clever, atmospheric and with possibly the most diverse and divisive set of characters found together in one book...a deeply absorbing, character driven joy to read. All the characters are intensely well drawn, the setting is pitch perfect, the dialogue crackles most especially when Manny is involved - oh Manny how I will miss you...From the haunting and really quite scary opening salvo to the utterly unexpected and totally killer ending, the goings on in the town of Tall Oaks will grip you entirely. Pure brilliance. Highly Recommended. In my running for book of the year” (Liz Loves Books)

“A dramatic and totally unexpected conclusion - it is well worth reading the book for that plotline alone and Manny and his family were really loveable characters, but I think Jared's back story touched me the most” (It Takes A Woman)

“Chris Whitaker writes at a good pace and the ending of the book took me completely by surprise. It is fantastic” (Dot Scribbles)

“It's so original and captivating and weird and interesting and a really, really great read. It's a thriller but also funny with dark humour and its gripping, like really gripping. It sort of feels like a bit of a classic book in the making, one that you are going to want to pass around your family and friends, you know?” (Is This Real Life)

From the Author

Chris Whitaker's debut novel, Tall Oaks, was published in 2016. It was a Guardian crime book of the month as well as featuring in Crime Time's top 100 books of 2016 and BuzzFeed's incredible summer reads. It won the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award, and was shortlisted for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award.

All the Wicked Girls, Chris's second novel, was described by Maxim Jakubowski as, 'a major achievement' and by Look magazine as 'the next Gone Girl'.

Chris lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two young sons.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zaffre
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1785770306
• ISBN 13: 9781785770302
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368