You can never return home; but home never lets you go...From the author of Sunday Times bestseller, TALL BONES, comes a story of journalist returning to her home in the swamplands of Louisiana when one of her former best friends, an alligator farmer, has gone missing. Brilliantly atmospheric, utterly compelling, for fans of Gillian Flynn, Jane Harper and Delia Owens

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of TALL BONES-

A Guardian Book of the Month Grazia's Book Club's Book of the Month Thriller of the Month, Observer 'Irresistible' PAULA HAWKINS, author of The Girl on the Train 'Wonderfully haunting' JANE HARPER, author of The Dry 'Conjuring up... Twin Peaks and Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects' Stylist 'One of the most exciting debuts of the year' Sunday Express

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'There is nothing like it. The way the world gets real quiet when a gator's nearby...And then the water, suddenly boiling as that black head surfaces and the ancient reptile erupts into the air hissing like a devil...The way the crack of the rifle seems to come from deep inside Cutter. The way she feels it in her throat; she knows she's a good killer - and yet. She is stalling...'

The Labasques aren't like other families. Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators and other animals just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn't want living on your doorstep. So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter's childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother. Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed Cutter. Now there may be no way to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution...

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Praise for TALL BONES-

' The portrait of small-town intrigue is scarily credible. Bailey understands that the dynamics that drive small-town relationships are the same the world over' VAL McDERMID

'A clever, twisting debut, about the dark side of small town America. It is packed with secrets like firecrackers ready to ignite' FRANCINE TOON, author of Pine

'Anna Bailey writes like a dream about teenage love and lust, the terror of knowledge and the claustrophobia of families and of small towns. Tall Bones is as brutal, as bittersweet, as tender and as tense as first love itself' EMMA FLINT, author of Little Deaths

'An intricate and compelling thriller, beautifully nuanced and wonderfully claustrophobic. Brilliant.' SJ WATSON, author of Before I Go to Sleep

'Tall Bones is as atmospheric as it gets. Anna writes beautifully and it was so refreshing to experience a different voice - a stunning debut that delivers on every level.' RENEE KNIGHT, author of Disclaimer

Anna Bailey, Sunday Times bestseller, April 2021