Vanishing Falls: A Novel

By Poppy Gee

One of CrimeReads Most Anticipated Books of the Year!

"This literary thriller paints as vivid a landscape as any book coming out this summer...Gee creates a lush, tantalizing world that readers will want to travel into deeper and deeper."—CrimeReads

Celia Lily is rich, beautiful, and admired. She’s also missing. And the search for the glamorous socialite is about to expose all the dark, dirty secrets of Vanishing Falls…

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…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062978509

Poppy Gee

Poppy Gee lives with her husband and children in Brisbane, Australia.

Reviews for Vanishing Falls

[geauxgetlit · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I’m someone who wants to avoid conflict at all costs and that includes reviewing books that I feel are subpar.
However, seeing books on my NetGalley shelf, waiting for feedback after a year or more of me reading it…has given me more anxiety than it’s worth so I need to just get it over with.

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this moody mystery the wife of a wealthy art collector has disappeared. Set in Tasmania, the rainy lushness only adds to the slow tension of the book as meanders all over Tasmania as the hunt for the killer goes on. And as many people do they ignore people who think more slowly, so Joelle, the butcher’s wife is ignored and that’s too bad. She is very observant. The centerpiece home where Celia who disappears lives is a calendar house, a house with 52 rooms—details of a home that revolve around a calendar. Somehow, I suspect this calendar house had some symbolism, but I couldn’t see it. But I’m glad Wikipedia made it easy to find out more about calendar houses, and there is one in Tasmania.

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

mystery, Tazmania, suspense****Tazmania. Even the name is exotic, like the rainforest itself. There the author has created a mansion of the British tradition, a natural but strange waterfall, and some very interesting characters. And a mystery full of twists. The publisher's blurb is a good hook, and spoilers are just wrong, but I liked it very much.I requested and received a free ebook copy from HarperCollins Publishers/William Morrow Paperbacks via NetGalley.

[kresslya · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

WOW! Vanishing Falls is a fantastic mystery. I loved every second of this book. Vanishing Falls is set in a small village in Tasmania, the author gives the reader an intimate look into the lives of the townspeople. I was fascinated with the complex day to day lives of the characters. The author created a wonderful story of the past meeting the present and human failings. I was kept guessing until the end about the identity of the murderer. The plot is constantly changing and with it the possible identity of the killer. It has been a long while since I have read a mystery this good.

[katehonig · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A cozy & nuanced mystery set in Tasmania surrounding the disappearance of glamours Celia, a mysterious painting & how the drug trade can destroy a town. Joelle is a woman who appears to be on the autism spectrum, and when younger survived a horrible childhood to grow up to be a happy wife and mother. She is pulled into the mystery of the woman's disappearance, due to bad luck & a desire to please the people around her.

[grumpydan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Celia and Jack Lily live in the small town of Vanishing Falls (somewhere deep in the Tasmanian Forest). He is an art collector and land owner and when Celia goes missing, the story delves into the people of the town and their secrets. The story alternates from character to character as it unfolds and although. We learn what makes them click, it didn’t resonate with me. I couldn’t find a character I liked or wondered what happened to poor Celia. I wanted to like this book and the premise intrigued me, but It didn’t fit well with me.