With Vanishing Falls, Poppy Gee has given readers an incredibly well-crafted mystery in the unique setting of a small town in the Tasmanian rainforest, full of truly unique characters. Gee does not miss a single step in creating a fascinating story that will leave most readers wishing for a little more time with these characters in the town of Vanishing Falls.
Joelle Smithton is a heroine that you would have to try not to love. With her troubled past, her ability to notice things that most everyone else ignores, and the way the townspeople speak and act around her in their mistaken belief that she isn’t very smart, all combine to create a fantastically unique character. Joelle comes across as perhaps being on the autism spectrum, but this is never stated in the book. Most residents of Vanishing Falls believe that a horrific childhood has left her not very bright, but this could not be further from the truth. Joelle’s brain works differently, so she is able to look at what is going on around her in a different way than others. While this is key to the story, Gee masterfully lets this work out organically. She never hits the reader over the head with it.
Another very prevalent character, in its own way, is Gee’s use of water and water imagery. The frequent mention of rain, beginning with the very first pages, characters metaphorically commenting about feeling as if they are drowning, and the presence of the water falls themselves, which the town of Vanishing Falls is named for, shows the reader the importance of water in the story. It also contributes much to the feelings of certain characters. We all know what it is like to “feel like” your drowning (in debt, in responsibilities, etc.) so we know very clearly how some of the characters really feel about what is going on in their lives. Gee’s use of this adds so many layers to the story, both while you read it, and long after you are done.
Gee allows various other themes to shine throughout the story, making this book something anyone can (and should) pick up, and they can thoroughly enjoy. She looks at socioeconomic classes and how they interact with each other (both in daily life and in more extreme circumstances), she examines drug use and the impact it can have on both individuals and families, and most of all she writes about secrets and the damages they can do in a multitude of ways.
At its heart, Vanishing Falls is a mystery. Wealthy, well-bred Celia Lily is suddenly missing. After attending a town event, where nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she is just suddenly gone. But none of her clothes or belongings are missing, and everyone knows she would not have left her children.
Everyone in town has secrets they are desperate to keep, but Celia was popular and well liked, so how could that be connected? Gee gives us an entire village of people: the butcher and his wife along with other local merchants, the chicken farmers, the wealthy Lily family, and many other characters, so that we see a vibrant, living community with fully developed, very real-seeming, people who interact with each other throughout their daily lives. This keeps the story from ever feeling like a one-dimensional morality tale.
Vanishing Falls is definitely for readers who enjoy mysteries involving small, interwoven groups of people, such as Liane Moriarity’s Big Little Lies, Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door, or Jessica Strawser’s Not That I Could Tell. I love finding a new-to-me author, and now I can’t tell you how excited I am to see what Poppy Gee does next!
Vanishing Falls is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Deep within the lush Tasmanian rainforest is the remote town of Vanishing Falls, a place with a storied past. The town’s showpiece, built in the 1800s, is its Calendar House—currently occupied by Jack Lily, a prominent art collector and landowner; his wife, Celia; and their four daughters. The elaborate, eccentrically designed mansion houses one masterpiece and 52 rooms—and Celia Lily isn’t in any of them. She has vanished without a trace.…
Joelle Smithton knows that a few folks in Vanishing Falls believe that she’s simple-minded. It’s true that Joelle’s brain works a little differently—a legacy of shocking childhood trauma. But Joelle sees far more than most people realize, and remembers details that others cast away. For instance, she knows that Celia’s husband, Jack, has connections to unsavory local characters whom he’s desperate to keep hidden. He’s not the only one in town with something to conceal. Even Joelle’s own husband, Brian, a butcher, is acting suspiciously. While the police flounder, unable to find Celia, Joelle is gradually parsing the truth from the gossip she hears and from the simple gestures and statements that can unwittingly reveal so much.
Just as the water from the falls disappears into the ground, gushing away through subterranean creeks, the secrets in Vanishing Falls are pulsing through the town, about to converge. And when they do, Joelle must summon the courage to reveal what really happened to Celia, even if it means exposing her own past…
