This books takes place in a small town in Kentucky and it was all kinds of creepy and atmospheric starting with the very first chapter. In fact the very first line of the books reads, “The land had always been parched, but it’s thirst for blood was learned.” The wind speaks to settlers passing through begging them to stay, but they never do, until one day a man and his family stop, and he hears the wind and he offers the land the blood that it begs for by sacrificing his wife. We’re told that sunflowers dance atop the unmarked graves of those who have died – or been killed on the land.

We flash forward a few hundred years and where it was once barren land, a small town named Bishop now thrives – well, mostly thrives, unless you’re a woman. Several women have gone missing over the years or have dropped dead under very mysterious circumstances, yet no one in town seems to pay them any mind. No one except for four young women whose mothers all went missing on the same night. Are they dead? Did they just up and leave – knowingly and willingly leaving their daughters to fend for themselves?

The book focuses on the four young women whose mothers have gone missing – Delilah is the oldest and acts as a type of mother figure to Ruth and Whitney who are twins, and Jude. All of the characters have very distinct personalities and the author does a great job of distinguishing between them. They all live together in a big house at the edge of town. All of their fathers had left at some point in time, and so their mothers had all moved into this house together before they disappeared, and now the girls live there while they finish school, and honestly, we have a feeling they may never get out of the town.

I don’t want to give a whole lot of the plot away because there are several revelations along the way that are more fun if you learn about them while you’re reading. I will say that I’d figured out what was going on pretty early on in the book, but the fact that I remained engrossed says a lot. A lot of times when I figure out what is happening so early, I grow bored with the book, but this one kept me hooked. A lot of it had to do with the amazing atmosphere that Hannah creates. The town of Bishop is definitely the main character and it is literally alive. There’s a constant wind that whips up into something dangerous in a matter of seconds, and the sunflowers that seem to whisper and come alive leave you wondering if they’re on the good or the bad side of things. I could feel the wind. I could feel the power of the storms and I could hear the whispers of the sunflowers.

The book is a study on how women are often at the mercy of men, and how men feel as though they should be able to dictate the trajectory of their lives.

The book does come with a. trigger warning as it does mention a sexual assault, though not in detail.

There’s not a whole lot of blood and gore (which I liked) and I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes a good, creepy read.