Mesmering debut, endearing cast with whip-smart black humour!
Combining a missing child storyline with a cast of crackpot characters and whip-smart black humour shouldn’t in theory work and has the potential to be considered somewhat distasteful, but my, how it works in Chris Whitaker’s mesmeric debut novel, Tall Oaks. Instead, this fly on the wall take on life is the small and well-heeled American town of Tall Oaks as the search for missing three-year-old Harry Monroe passes the three month juncture is a marvellously atmospheric psychological thriller driven by some kooky comedy characters. The novel balances humour with some surprisingly tense moments and is driven by Whitaker’s subtle insights on the residents that live within the confines of Tall Oaks as suspicions grows with everyone a seemingly viable suspect. The opening chapter conveys the burden shouldered by both Harry’s mother and the small town sheriff who cannot move on as he listens again and again to the recorded interviews with distraught mother, Jess. The Feds and media circus have moved on, but life in Tall Oaks has stalled, with each and every resident preoccupied with keeping their own dark secrets out of the public domain.
Overseeing the fallout in the local sergeant, Jim, a man with a law degree from Harvard, an obsession with finding Harry Monroe and an emotional attachment to Harry’s beleaguered mother, Jess. Returning to Tall Oaks to pursue his career in the police, it is with dismay that he observes how the atmosphere has turned increasingly sinister, bordering on poisonous, since the day Harry disappeared. Sergeant Jim Young’s obsession with revisiting the case and the personal demons that haunt him are every bit as visible in mother Jess, driven to inebriation and promiscuity in an endless search for distraction. Now residing with her mother, Alison, Jess never gives up, still asking questions and painting the town with missing persons posters. Together with her sister, Henrietta, Alison runs the tearoom in Main Street and Henrietta has some rather bizarre domestic circumstances of her own, with English husband, Roger, essentially a stranger since their short-lived and tragic end to parenting. Meanwhile, cheating spouse and father to Harry, the feckless and controlling Michael Monroe is nowhere to be seen, with scant interest in his son’s disappearance but still put on a pedestal by Jess, who cherishes him.
Senior student and Mexican, Manny Romero, is currently in his latest reincarnation since his father, Danny, left home two-years-ago as a 1950s Italian gangster, much to the amusement of the townsfolk who see him get out of his duck-egg blue Ford, in a full three-piece suit and Fedora that chafes. And best mate and future consigliere, Abel Goldenblatt, isn’t helping his image much either by sporting a tan suit! For all his bluster and casual cursing, Manny has a heart of gold and genuinely feels an onus to protect his mother, patisserie assistant, Elena and his three-year-old sister, Thalia, and that means keeping a close eye on his mother’s dating partners, notably fly-by-night car dealer, Jared Martin. Meanwhile Elena’s boss, French John, has his hands full catering to the demands of airhead millionaire’s daughter, Laura McDermott, and her wedding requests. And don’t forget dim-witted gentle giant, Jerry, who is stuck in his job in the PhotoMax, with a bullying boss in Max and a mother with a brain tumour that is squeezing the life out of her. His obsession with photography is well-known and his boss’s fiancée, pharmacy worker, Lisa, encourages him to enter his work into an annual periodical competition. New resident, Furat Al-Basri, the daughter of the Iraqi dentist is wryly entertained by Manny and together they are discovering first love. Seeing how the lives of the residents intersect and their common connections joins the dots and knits the whole small town unit together, but it is the case of missing Harry Monroe that overshadows their lives.
As the cracks start to appear and the sordid secrets veer closer to the surface, life in Tall Oaks refuses to relinquish its grip on readers attention and Chris Whitaker manages an original and gripping take on a familiar plot. Staggered revelations keep reader engaged as Whitaker embellishes his often endearing cast with their own fascinating backstories. Tall Oaks is a story about a missing child, but it is also a story which exposes the decisions which people make to ensure that their lives are bearable. The denouement, which conspires to draw each element of the individual stories together, packs a resounding punch and whilst I didn’t expect to be so moved by a story packed wall to wall with some cracking one-liners, I was remarkably touched. Sensitive observation combined with ingenious characterisation and a cornucopia of hidden secrets make Tall Oaks a fresh and memorable reading experience.
Overseeing the fallout in the local sergeant, Jim, a man with a law degree from Harvard, an obsession with finding Harry Monroe and an emotional attachment to Harry’s beleaguered mother, Jess. Returning to Tall Oaks to pursue his career in the police, it is with dismay that he observes how the atmosphere has turned increasingly sinister, bordering on poisonous, since the day Harry disappeared. Sergeant Jim Young’s obsession with revisiting the case and the personal demons that haunt him are every bit as visible in mother Jess, driven to inebriation and promiscuity in an endless search for distraction. Now residing with her mother, Alison, Jess never gives up, still asking questions and painting the town with missing persons posters. Together with her sister, Henrietta, Alison runs the tearoom in Main Street and Henrietta has some rather bizarre domestic circumstances of her own, with English husband, Roger, essentially a stranger since their short-lived and tragic end to parenting. Meanwhile, cheating spouse and father to Harry, the feckless and controlling Michael Monroe is nowhere to be seen, with scant interest in his son’s disappearance but still put on a pedestal by Jess, who cherishes him.
Senior student and Mexican, Manny Romero, is currently in his latest reincarnation since his father, Danny, left home two-years-ago as a 1950s Italian gangster, much to the amusement of the townsfolk who see him get out of his duck-egg blue Ford, in a full three-piece suit and Fedora that chafes. And best mate and future consigliere, Abel Goldenblatt, isn’t helping his image much either by sporting a tan suit! For all his bluster and casual cursing, Manny has a heart of gold and genuinely feels an onus to protect his mother, patisserie assistant, Elena and his three-year-old sister, Thalia, and that means keeping a close eye on his mother’s dating partners, notably fly-by-night car dealer, Jared Martin. Meanwhile Elena’s boss, French John, has his hands full catering to the demands of airhead millionaire’s daughter, Laura McDermott, and her wedding requests. And don’t forget dim-witted gentle giant, Jerry, who is stuck in his job in the PhotoMax, with a bullying boss in Max and a mother with a brain tumour that is squeezing the life out of her. His obsession with photography is well-known and his boss’s fiancée, pharmacy worker, Lisa, encourages him to enter his work into an annual periodical competition. New resident, Furat Al-Basri, the daughter of the Iraqi dentist is wryly entertained by Manny and together they are discovering first love. Seeing how the lives of the residents intersect and their common connections joins the dots and knits the whole small town unit together, but it is the case of missing Harry Monroe that overshadows their lives.
As the cracks start to appear and the sordid secrets veer closer to the surface, life in Tall Oaks refuses to relinquish its grip on readers attention and Chris Whitaker manages an original and gripping take on a familiar plot. Staggered revelations keep reader engaged as Whitaker embellishes his often endearing cast with their own fascinating backstories. Tall Oaks is a story about a missing child, but it is also a story which exposes the decisions which people make to ensure that their lives are bearable. The denouement, which conspires to draw each element of the individual stories together, packs a resounding punch and whilst I didn’t expect to be so moved by a story packed wall to wall with some cracking one-liners, I was remarkably touched. Sensitive observation combined with ingenious characterisation and a cornucopia of hidden secrets make Tall Oaks a fresh and memorable reading experience.