***FROM THE AUTHOR OF WE BEGIN AT THE END, 2020's MOST CAPTIVATING AND UNFORGETTABLE READ, DESCRIBED BY RUTH JONES AS 'SURELY DESTINED TO CONQUER THE WORLD'***'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 FLINTISN'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; 368 pages; Published: 08/09/2016