Review: Tall Oaks

Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tall Oaks is a fascinating novel from debut author Chris Whitaker. The blurb on the back totally sucks you in and the book itself doesn't disappoint.

There's action right from the start as you're dropped right into the middle of it. Harry Monroe has been taken and this small community is reeling from it and trying to carry on as usual. There are moments of comedy (mostly surrounding the hysterical Manny and his friends) amidst the utter grief that seeps through the rest of the characters. You become attached to characters at one moment and then with a turn of the page no longer know if you can trust them. I've never read anything that made me doubt my instincts quite as much as this title.

I don't want to risk giving too much away, but the characters are engaging and you can identify with them for a multitude of different reasons and I couldn't say that I had a particular favorite. It is the whole cast of them that make this title, not one of them could have carried the story alone. Jim, the cop, who would have usually been the one to carry such a story on his shoulders has too many cracks to be able to survive the attention on him for the whole novel and the author handles this beautifully.

The ending of this book with stay with you a long time. I couldn't stop thinking about it last night because of the haunting way the series of events is explained.

I really feel that this was an excellent first novel and makes me hungry to see what comes next!

Buy Tall Oaks: Tall Oaks


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