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Secrets are easy to keep in a small town – especially one that has an awful lot to hide . . .
Wild girl Gracie McBride fled her hometown Starvation Lake eighteen years ago. When she is found dead from an apparent suicide, shortly after her triumphant return, Gus Carpenter, editor of the local paper, is deeply suspicious. What happened in the years she was away from home? Why did she return? And why is no one else asking questions?
In a small town it is impossible to be impartial – everyone knows everyone – and they’re all keeping quiet. To discover anything, Gus needs to retrace Gracie’s steps, forcing him to return to Detroit, the scene of his humiliating past. But as he gets to know the real Gracie, he realises he is completely unprepared for the secrets he stumbles upon . . .
The second novel in Bryan Gruley’s award-winning Starvation Lake series, The Hanging Tree is utterly gripping.
Wild girl Gracie McBride fled her hometown Starvation Lake eighteen years ago. When she is found dead from an apparent suicide, shortly after her triumphant return, Gus Carpenter, editor of the local paper, is deeply suspicious. What happened in the years she was away from home? Why did she return? And why is no one else asking questions?
In a small town it is impossible to be impartial – everyone knows everyone – and they’re all keeping quiet. To discover anything, Gus needs to retrace Gracie’s steps, forcing him to return to Detroit, the scene of his humiliating past. But as he gets to know the real Gracie, he realises he is completely unprepared for the secrets he stumbles upon . . .
The second novel in Bryan Gruley’s award-winning Starvation Lake series, The Hanging Tree is utterly gripping.
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Reviews
Introduces a welcome, human voice to crime fiction readers
A terrific debut by a talented author to watch . . . the clinical dissection of a little town with big secrets. Authentic and thought-provoking
The Hanging Tree is an exceptionally well-written novel by an author who has mastered the conventions of his genre
Absorbing . . . Gruley vividly evokes the frigid Michigan winters and the even chillier atmosphere of an insular community determined to keep its secrets
A great debut from a major talent
A wonderful surprise . . . one of those books that won't shake its grip. Bryan Gruley is off to a phenomenal start!
The Hanging Tree is an engrossing, sure-footed mystery that manages to be both suspenseful and deeply touching
The Hanging Tree has it all - suspense, mystery, romance