In a Quiet Town by Amber Garza
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
In a Quiet Town is the latest release from one of my auto-buy authors, Amber Garza. I have read all of Garza’s published works and have enjoyed them all.
There’s just something so addicting and entertaining about her style of tense Domestic Dramas. There’s always a bit of mystery and intrigue, as well as interesting explorations of different familial relationships.
In this story we meet Tatum, a mother of two grown children and wife to a pastor in a small California town.
At the beginning of the story, we learn that Tatum has recently reconnected with her estranged daughter, Adrienne. Years ago, Tatum’s husband basically disowned Adrienne because she wasn’t living up to his lofty expectations.
Adrienne was happy to get out from under the thumb of her overbearing father and has been living her own life ever since, recently working as a bartender.
Tatum has missed having her daughter in her life and has started secretly visiting her at the bar. She was delighted when Adrienne seemed open to them reconnecting.
Tatum has become a regular at the bar, going in once a week on a night she knows Adrienne will be working. One night though, Adrienne isn’t there and none of her coworkers have seen or heard from her.
Tatum knows something is wrong. Adrienne is not the type of girl to just not show up at work. Plus, she knows it is the night her mother visits. She would have called in. Something must have happened to her.
As Tatum starts searching for Adrienne, she doesn’t find a lot of help. The police seem to think she has just run off for space, or whatnot, but Tatum knows that’s not true.
Eventually, she meets a man claiming to be Adrienne’s fiance. This comes as a complete shock to Tatum. Why didn’t Adrienne mention she was engaged?
Then again, they have just rekindled their relationship, perhaps her daughter felt it was too personal to share.
Regardless, Tatum is just happy that someone else is as distraught about Adrienne’s disappearance as she is. At the end of the day though, can she really trust this guy?
They begin working together trying to figure out where Adrienne is. As the intensity builds, it becomes clear that she didn’t leave of her own volition and could still be in terrible danger. Can Tatum find her before it’s too late?!
As always, I was immediately drawn in by Garza’s characters. From the start, I wanted to know more about Tatum and enjoyed learning about her life and family.
Garza excels at creating believable mother-child relationships. Sometimes I will be reading along and a quick line, or thought pattern, will give me chills or bring me close to tears. I always love the relationships she builds within her stories, because they aren’t always easy.
This one actually made me uncomfortable at times because it felt so real. There is a strong religious aspect due to Tatum’s husband being a pastor, which played a large role in Adrienne’s estrangement.
While I don’t have a lot of that in my background, and can’t really comment on how it would impact a family dynamic, the circumstances put forth in this novel seemed very believable to me.
I liked how Tatum, even though she was a mother of grown children, felt like she was still learning about herself, growing and coming into her own.
Part of her growth was due to the love of her children and her unwillingness to give up on Adrienne. I found that character growth really powerful. It was nice to see that just because she was a well-established adult, her life didn’t have to remain static. She could make changes.
It did get pretty intense. By about the halfway point, I was yelling at the book while reading. Particularly any scene involving a man. I wanted to smack them all.
Please note, that’s not my general demeanor, but these guys deserved it.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a tense domestic drama blended with a nice mystery. Bonus points, if you enjoy reading about mother-child relationships. Also, if you have enjoyed any of Amber Garza’s work in the past, you should definitely pick this one up.
Thank you so much to the publisher, MIRA, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I will continue to pick up anything from this author and am already anticipating the next release!!