A rehash of Tall Oaks in many ways. Laboured reading.
After the sheer, breathtaking brilliance of Chris Whitaker’s debut, Tall Oaks, I had high hopes that this would be another completely ingenious, well plotted novel with a host of oddball characters that wear their hearts on their sleeve. Admittedly, it had all of those components and the same bristling whip-smart humour, but I found All The Wicked Girls a slog to make it through. Why? First and foremost is that this follow-up is essentially a rip off of Tall Oaks. Replace small-town suburban Tall Oaks with the deeply religious but morally dubious town of Grace, Alabama, throw in a missing persons enquiry, a brewing storm and a cast of eccentrics. Sprinkle with southern American drawl, some evangelical eulogising and frequent comparisons of the approaching storm with the devil entering the town, and the result is All The Wicked Girls set in 1995. Grace is a town where every Sunday, reeking of booze the townsfolk roll up to church in order to rid themselves of the sins of the weekend. Whilst this second effort is still tightly pinned down and hard to fault Whitaker’s execution, it is also drawn out, often repetitive and all overseen by a dysfunctional detective who has a heck of a lot of similarities to Tall Oak’s Sergeant Young. It was also uncannily similar to The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel but lacked the necessarily air of menace.
When one of the fifteen-year-old Ryan twins packs a bag and leaves a note saying, “I’m sorry”, it is no surprise that she wants to leave a community in despair and awash with alcohol, drugs and hard drinking men who take exactly what they want. The surprise, however, is that is in not wayward Raine, who is no stranger to trouble, but the church going, god fearing, golden girl, Summer. The twins might be chalk and cheese but they are bonded tight and so when Summer disappears Raine, parents Joe and Ava Ryan and Chief Black are all thinking one and the same thing, namely that “the Bird” has returned. However, only Raine is brave enough to articulate Grace’s fears that the unknown perpetrator, termed “the Bird” and responsible for taking five church going pretty young girls in neighbouring Briar County, has struck once again. The five girls has never been found, alive or dead, but with Raine on the back of a disheartened Chief Black and conducting her own inquiries with an unlikely couple of allies in Noah Wild and Purv Bowdoin things are stirring. It may have been six-months since the last Briar girl vanished, but Raine knows something isn’t right. Meanwhile, Joe Ryan, brother Tommy and their rednecks pals are chomping at the bit to take matters in their own hands meaning that the descending dark clouds over Grace aren’t the only ominous threat.
Much is made of the impending storm that is responsible for the simmering tension, yet with all the references to god, the devil and the church, I felt this was a little overdone and didn’t rouse the dark atmosphere that Whitaker was obviously intending to inspire. The narrative is comprised of Summer’s first person account of the time leading up to her disappearance, alternating with chapters in the third person showing Raine, Noah and Purv’s exploits and the reinvigorated drive of Chief Black. As with life in Tall Oaks, the town of Grace is home to plenty of characters with hidden motivations and a multitude of sordid secrets. In Grace, religion figures large in people's minds and Pastor Bobby Ritter has replaced the intimidating Pastor Lumen in town after his stroke. As a devout church goer and a cello protégée of Pastor Bobby’s wealthy wife, Savannah, Summer was a frequent visitor to their home. But Pastor Bobby has his own problems too, and the death of their young child, Michael, has left he and Savannah effectively living separate lives. With Savannah lining Summer up for a music scholarship to Maidenville, she needs to turn in one final paper, but has her chosen subject, the missing Briar girls, taken her into risky territory and can this explain her disappearance?
Pastor Lumen casts a shadow over the town, scornful of his son, Samson, a recent attendee at the church since his father’s medical woes. As a friend to Summer, the slow-witted Samson is a viable suspect, along with Uncle Tommy, the man who oversaw the lives of Joe’s girls when he went down for an eight stretch. Eager to assist the worldly-wise and scathing Raine, a genuinely kind girl who is hiding behind a smart-mouth and an teflon exterior, are teenage losers and hero cop’s son, Noah Wild, and Purv Bowdoin, son of the unforgiving construction worker, Ray, who thinks nothing of dishing out a beating to his boy. Not quite an invincible duo but a truly comical combination who see life through rose-tinted spectacles, even in a town as hard bitten as Grace. As secrets are driven out, potential suspects come to light and the elusive hunt for “the Bird” builds up a potent head of steam.
The chapters relayed from Summer’s point of view reveal that appearances can be very deceptive, and she is not quite as pure as the driven snow. Behind this ethereal golden girl lies a much more nuanced young woman who knows exactly what powers she has within her the palm of her hand. Deeper and much darker than Tall Oaks, it is impossible to not find yourself enthralled by being a fly on the wall in a fascinating town, but I felt Whitaker overdid the deep and meaningful life lessons on morality which held the story back from really firing my imagination. I stayed with this story, but it wasn’t one that I felt myself continuously pulled back to or felt invested in. The writing is undoubtedly of high quality, but All The Wicked Girls has a very different style to Whitaker’s debut. This story is dark, raw and beyond redemption and on a sheer entertainment scale it is a much harder story to trawl through and requires concentration. As a U.K. citizen I must also admit that the southern drawl and use of the vernacular wasn’t always crystal clear and along with a cast well into double figures, I found this novel a laboured read.
When one of the fifteen-year-old Ryan twins packs a bag and leaves a note saying, “I’m sorry”, it is no surprise that she wants to leave a community in despair and awash with alcohol, drugs and hard drinking men who take exactly what they want. The surprise, however, is that is in not wayward Raine, who is no stranger to trouble, but the church going, god fearing, golden girl, Summer. The twins might be chalk and cheese but they are bonded tight and so when Summer disappears Raine, parents Joe and Ava Ryan and Chief Black are all thinking one and the same thing, namely that “the Bird” has returned. However, only Raine is brave enough to articulate Grace’s fears that the unknown perpetrator, termed “the Bird” and responsible for taking five church going pretty young girls in neighbouring Briar County, has struck once again. The five girls has never been found, alive or dead, but with Raine on the back of a disheartened Chief Black and conducting her own inquiries with an unlikely couple of allies in Noah Wild and Purv Bowdoin things are stirring. It may have been six-months since the last Briar girl vanished, but Raine knows something isn’t right. Meanwhile, Joe Ryan, brother Tommy and their rednecks pals are chomping at the bit to take matters in their own hands meaning that the descending dark clouds over Grace aren’t the only ominous threat.
Much is made of the impending storm that is responsible for the simmering tension, yet with all the references to god, the devil and the church, I felt this was a little overdone and didn’t rouse the dark atmosphere that Whitaker was obviously intending to inspire. The narrative is comprised of Summer’s first person account of the time leading up to her disappearance, alternating with chapters in the third person showing Raine, Noah and Purv’s exploits and the reinvigorated drive of Chief Black. As with life in Tall Oaks, the town of Grace is home to plenty of characters with hidden motivations and a multitude of sordid secrets. In Grace, religion figures large in people's minds and Pastor Bobby Ritter has replaced the intimidating Pastor Lumen in town after his stroke. As a devout church goer and a cello protégée of Pastor Bobby’s wealthy wife, Savannah, Summer was a frequent visitor to their home. But Pastor Bobby has his own problems too, and the death of their young child, Michael, has left he and Savannah effectively living separate lives. With Savannah lining Summer up for a music scholarship to Maidenville, she needs to turn in one final paper, but has her chosen subject, the missing Briar girls, taken her into risky territory and can this explain her disappearance?
Pastor Lumen casts a shadow over the town, scornful of his son, Samson, a recent attendee at the church since his father’s medical woes. As a friend to Summer, the slow-witted Samson is a viable suspect, along with Uncle Tommy, the man who oversaw the lives of Joe’s girls when he went down for an eight stretch. Eager to assist the worldly-wise and scathing Raine, a genuinely kind girl who is hiding behind a smart-mouth and an teflon exterior, are teenage losers and hero cop’s son, Noah Wild, and Purv Bowdoin, son of the unforgiving construction worker, Ray, who thinks nothing of dishing out a beating to his boy. Not quite an invincible duo but a truly comical combination who see life through rose-tinted spectacles, even in a town as hard bitten as Grace. As secrets are driven out, potential suspects come to light and the elusive hunt for “the Bird” builds up a potent head of steam.
The chapters relayed from Summer’s point of view reveal that appearances can be very deceptive, and she is not quite as pure as the driven snow. Behind this ethereal golden girl lies a much more nuanced young woman who knows exactly what powers she has within her the palm of her hand. Deeper and much darker than Tall Oaks, it is impossible to not find yourself enthralled by being a fly on the wall in a fascinating town, but I felt Whitaker overdid the deep and meaningful life lessons on morality which held the story back from really firing my imagination. I stayed with this story, but it wasn’t one that I felt myself continuously pulled back to or felt invested in. The writing is undoubtedly of high quality, but All The Wicked Girls has a very different style to Whitaker’s debut. This story is dark, raw and beyond redemption and on a sheer entertainment scale it is a much harder story to trawl through and requires concentration. As a U.K. citizen I must also admit that the southern drawl and use of the vernacular wasn’t always crystal clear and along with a cast well into double figures, I found this novel a laboured read.