Vanishing Falls audiobook

I really enjoyed this mystery and while I had ideas of what happened to one of the characters, I didn't crack the case until right before the author revealed everything. Some readers might not like the slow pace of the story, but that combined with the Tasmanian setting and an intriguing female lead character all worked together nicely to hold my interest.Vanishing Falls is a remote town located in Tasmania, Australia. Jack Lily comes from a prominent family and lives in Calendar House which has been the residence for generations of the Lily family. Jack is married to Celia, who goes missing. The story will follow a few characters including Jack, Jack's friend Cliff, and Joelle who some might call simple-minded. So where is Celia and what happened?Joelle is the character who really drives the story. Without her, I don't think the story works as well. Most of the other characters are miserable, self-involved people and so you don't feel as invested in them as you do with Joelle. By far, she was the most fascinating character to me.I do have some mixed thoughts about the ending. The author did have me guessing until the end which is always good. However, I don't really like how things were wrapped up and without getting into spoilers, I questioned the actions of a particular character in the last few chapters. The ending was conveniently wrapped up by using one of those common mystery tropes that feels like the easy way out for a writer. So in some ways, the ending wasn't completely satisfying but I don't think it belongs in the bad category either.Given the slow pace, this book might not appeal to every mystery reader but I thought it had a unique feel to it at least compared to other books I have read recently in the same genre. I won a free copy of this book in a giveaway by Goodreads and the publisher but I was not obligated to post a review. All views expressed are my honest opinion.

Celia Lily is from a small Tasmanian town in the rain forest; she is also missing. Joelle Smithton is a little slow and sees a lot of things people are not aware of. People are not ready for what is about to be revealed. This book is described very well, and I believe it will be loved by many!

3.5/5Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee is a very atmospheric mystery that has both a slow pace and a whole lot of characters. There are quite a few viewpoints and people to keep track of, but over time as I read on, I was able to get better at keeping everyone straight. The town of Vanishing Falls was very unique, and I absolutely loved the setting. Those small-town stories are good enough, but then get even better if they are in the middle of nowhere and that is what happens for this story. I really liked the mystery surrounding Celia's disappearance alongside the art aspect, and I had fun following along with Joelle as she goes sleuthing. Joelle was by far my favorite character in this book as well as the driving force, and almost every single one of the others is unlikeable and really frustrated me at times. I do wish Gee would have toned it down with some of the viewpoints, as I don't think that many were needed, but I'm glad I had Joelle.I also would have loved some more narrators for the audiobook, and with this many characters, it would have been truly helpful. Be that as it may, our narrator Caroline Lee did a fantastic job and I am glad that she was the person I got to listen to. She is a very talented voice artist, and if I have to have one narrator, I am glad it was her. I did not figure out what had happened until the moment it was revealed but be warned it does take a decent amount of time to get there and find out what happened to our missing woman. There are some parts that are really hard to read, especially in regard to animals and how certain people treat Joelle, but overall, I was interested in what was going on and there were a lot of moving parts. The setting of Tasmania and the character of Joelle are definitely the two things that shine in this novel and ended up being my favorite things about it. Not a bad read, but I was hoping for a bit more. I will still read more from Gee though and am looking forward to it! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As a senior English teacher I see my fair share of thrillers, mystery and crime fiction texts. I bought this novel via Booktopia and it arrived a couple of days later. The meandering style, particularly at the beginning, establishes a laidback and imperturbable ambience which offers a synecdochic re

This is a leisurely paced mystery set in a remote town in Tasmania, not a thriller as it says on the book jacket. As long as you’re not looking for a fast-paced adventure, you may enjoy the lush, exotic setting and the interesting cast of characters as much as I did.

*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com4.5 stars‘If you want to get away with murder, Vanishing Falls is the place to do it.’In an ode to classic whodunnit mystery novels in the tradition of Agatha Christie, with a rich Tasmanian atmospheric backdrop, Vanishing Falls is the second novel from Australian writer Poppy Gee. Following on from her 2013 release Bay of Fires, Vanishing Falls allows this versatile author to explore community dynamics, class differences, relationships and a perplexing murder mystery. This slow burn Australian contemporary fiction offering is packed full of dirty deeds, secrets, puzzles and conjecture.Vanishing Falls is a story of riches, secrets, glamour and underhanded ways. Poppy Gee’s second novel takes the reader deep into the dense forest community of Vanishing Falls where this tight knit town is plagued by past deeds and present-day troubles. At the heart of the problems in the tiny rainforest town is Calendar House, owned by Jack Lily, an art collector and his family. When a wealthy socialite disappears without a trace from this opulent mansion retreat, a mystery ensues. When Joelle Smithton, a local woman with remarkable abilities shows interest in this case, suspicion is aroused. With doubts cast on everyone from the owner of Calendar House, through to Joelle’s own husband, Joelle’s natural ability to read people and situations comes in useful as the police struggle to crack this case. As secrets begin to surface and the town gossip mill surges, the truth about the disappearance of missing socialite Celia brings about eruptive change to the closed community of Vanishing Falls.Employing the use of a shifting style of narration, which is shared between three separate narrators, Vanishing Falls provides the reader with plenty of different guises to contend with. With a generous cast of secondary characters to support the primary players, Poppy Gee’s latest is full of interesting leads. While I found it hard to develop any like or appreciation for the protagonists of Vanishing Falls, I valued their interactions and dialogue interplay. Gee has devised a stage set of murky characters where our assumptions are fully contested. It certainly kept me active and engaged with the story at hand.While on the topic of characters, I must say that the Tasmanian landscape which acts as the stunning backdrop for Vanishing Falls reeled me right in to this tale. I also came to the understanding that the setting was an additional character. The overwhelming presence of Vanishing Falls as a separate entity, shifting and shaping with the protagonist set seemed clear to me. There is no doubt that this unique and raw locale managed to have a weighty role to play in the proceedings of the novel overall. Drawing on her own upbringing in Tasmania, Gee takes the opportunity to fully explore the background of her setting base. This talented writer delves head-first into the history, past actions defining the region and new practices defining this Australian rainforest backdrop. I was unable to tear myself away from the pages of Vanishing Falls, as I was seduced by the magnetism of the central location base.Underneath the baffling murder mystery case that defines the direction of this novel is a critical gaze into a number of other key influences to Vanishing Falls and the disappearance at Calendar House. Gee draws in themes of wealth, class, disadvantage, social inequality, financial woes, income sources, drugs, family tension, reputation, power and long held secrets through her presentation of Vanishing Falls. I also really connected to the art world influence that formed a significant component of Gee’s novel. It is a full and involving tale, with a slow burn style approach, that definitely kept my mind ticking over until the end.Well written, deeply mysterious and gripping, Poppy Gee’s Vanishing Falls is a good tale for readers who like to engage in plenty of guesswork when presented with a classic whodunnit story. I throw my full support behind Poppy Gee’s solid second novel and look forward to future works by this talented author.*Thanks extended to the author and publisher for providing a free copy of this book for review purposes.Vanishing Falls is book #137 of the 2020 Australian Women Writers Challenge

Vanishing Falls is quite a twisty little thriller. As the tale continues several reasons that could be a motive amongst several different people emerge. I only suspected towards the end of the novel but not quite to the lengths that person went and what they were after encompassed - I was shocked. The moody atmosphere in which Poppy Gee describes the town of Vanishing Falls and the surrounding area is spectacular. I would absolutely visit this area of the world just based on her descriptions of it - as well as visiting Calendar House. I had never heard about calendar houses before reading this book and it is an interesting but strange concept upon which to build a house. According to our dear old Wikipedia, they're rare - I would be curious if just not many of them survived or if not many were built in the first place.At least one town mentioned in the book does exist - Launceston which I found interesting and I would love to know if there was a specific area that inspired the town of Vanishing Falls. Vanishing Falls, which was once prosperous is now struggling to find its footing and so are its residents. Many have fallen upon hard times and that has left the town ripe for many issues to take root. I have witnessed some of the same problems emerge in several small towns near me but it was mostly the result of a large influx of people moving to the area and others being forced out to surrounding areas because they could no longer afford where they had been living.The pacing leans more towards a slow burn - but it definitely wasn't uninteresting and there is quite a bit going on. It took me a little while to settle in with the characters of the story but you can't help but like Joelle. Out of the five main characters we spend time with there is only one person who doesn't have something about themselves that they'd rather not let see the light of day. In a small town - that's almost impossible. The only supporting character that saw a lot of page time that seemed a little flat was Brian - Joelle's husband. It didn't really feel like I got to know him as a person; rather just details about him, things he was doing or had done.I would highly recommend Vanishing Falls to readers who enjoy thrillers, suspense, and murder mysteries. I really enjoyed being transported to a part of the world I rarely get the chance to read about through a thriller. A big thank you to William Morrow (via the Scene of the Crime Group) for the opportunity to read and review this excellent thriller - all opinions are my own.

I was able to have this free early ebook edition as part of William Morrow Scene of the Crime Early Read program!4⭐️The story is a bit slow in the beginning, and it took a while to pick up, maybe like almost halfway through the book. However, I was able to visualize the rainforest and the town of Vanishing Falls based on the author’s very detailed description. The town and its people seem to be hiding too many secrets that push each of them to edge. I mean, the town used to be thriving, people are used to be happy, but for some reason, it stopped, and now there’s a murderer that could be anyone, and everyone is doing their very best not to unravel the past they have left behind. I do feel that it leans more on the suspense side rather than a thriller, but it is a good read.

Thank you for taking a chance on my book - I hope you enjoy it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...https://www.booktopia.com.au/vanishin...

I just finished reading Vanishing Falls by author Poppy Gee. It’s a thriller that takes place in the beautiful setting of Vanishing Falls which is a small town located in a Tasmanian rainforest. The story centers around the disappearance of Celia Lily. She is married to Jack Lily and they live in a mansion called The Calendar House. You learn of all the other characters in the town who are not as well off as the Lily’s but play an important role in the story. This is a town filled with a lot of dark secrets. Greed, addiction to crystal meth and husbands that prostitute their wives out are just some of the topics the author writes about in this book. This was my first time reading about this area of the world and the descriptions I thought were beautiful. It was a really good story, one I enjoyed and would recommend. All through the book I thought I had it figured out as to who was to blame for Celia’s disappearance but at the end I learned that I was wrong as usual. I’d like to thank the Scene of the Crime Early Read program, Sam Glatt, marketing assistant at HarperCollins Publishers/William Morrow and NetGalley for the arc to read and review. I’m giving this a 4 star rating.

This book is set in the lush Tasmanian rainforest of Australia. Very deep inside the forest is a small town called Vanishing Falls. Vanishing Falls has a storied past, with dubious characters. Some characters I disliked, others I hated, or felt sorry for, and they eventually redeemed themselves. The main character is Joelle, many people think she is simple minded, and she IS different. She just sees the world differently, often literally. She’s always paying attention so she picks up on clues others miss. The main premise of the novel is a missing person. Celia Lily goes missing late one night after an event. She is the beautiful, rich, and popular wife of Jack Lily and the mother of 4 daughters. Jack and Lily live in the town’s most famous mansion, The Calendar House. It’s eccentric, with 52 rooms, and an art collection. When Jack come home and finds the front door open and Cecilia missing, he panics. The police immediately suspect him because he’s hiding things. Joelle, drives this story. She decides she needs to find Cecilia so that the people of the town will love her, after all she’ll be the hero and the town will forgive her for her past involvement in a heinous crime. The story also follows Jack’s best friend Cliff and his wife Kim. I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere. The characters were not like-able, they were all shady and deceitful in some way. I did find myself alternating between yelling at Joelle and cheering her on. I did figure out the twist but only right before the reveal. I found the pace a little slower than I like but I can see people that like slower suspense/mysteries loving this one. Overall, I give this 3 1/2 of 5 stars. Thank you @Netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for my advanced digital copy to review.

Poppy Gee’s Vanishing Falls is a spell-binding murder mystery set in a once-thriving, now economically-challenged, rural community on the edge of the Tasmanian rain forest. Vanishing Falls has everything a good mystery requires—flawed characters, any one of whom could be a murderer; an historic old estate whose centerpiece mansion holds clues to uncovering the past; and intense suspense presented in the vein of a true psychological thriller. Flora and fauna are main characters in Vanishing Falls and add to the allure of the story. Detailed descriptions transport the reader not only to the farms, forests, and towns of Tasmania, but to experience the very sights, sounds, and smells of the location. “On the edge,” summarizes Vanishing Falls nicely. Not only is Vanishing Falls on the edge of reclamation by its adjacent forest, it is on the edge of economic ruin. Each of the main characters is on the edge of a moral or mental collapse, and as the story unfolds, the reader is on the edge of his or her seat until the murderer is revealed.I give the book four shining stars, balking at a fifth only because of one short but raunchy scene. Maybe the scene was integral to plot and character development, but it surely interrupted the intrigue of Vanishing Falls, if only momentarily. Many thanks to Harper Collins, Net Galley, and Poppy Gee for an advance readers‘ copy of Vanishing Falls in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading more books by Poppy Gee, and hope to see a movie portraying her murder mystery on the big screen with cinematography featuring wallabies, waterfalls, and the Tasmanian rain forest.

Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee is a mystery about socialite, Celia Lily, who goes missing from a small Tasmanian town surrounded by lush rainforest.The diverse point of view characters include: Celia’s husband, Jack, landowner and art collector; Joelle Smithton, the local butcher’s wife; and Jack’s friend Cliff, a chicken farmer who’s also a drug addict. Each offers a unique perspective on the situation.The twists and turns highlight bad behaviour, gossip within the insular community and the dangers of the vividly painted countryside.For me, Joelle was the star of the show, alongside the atmospheric setting.

I won this here on goodreads. Set in Australia, this is the story of what goes on behind the scenes in what appears to be an idyllic life. Socialites, those striving to be socialites, mystery, intrigue, and a bit of a twist with a young wife and mother with intellectual challenges - who is given much less credit than she is due. Great story. Loved the twists. I did not expect the whodunit.