Book Tour and Review: What you Leave Behind by Wanda Morris

 Title: What You Leave Behind

Author:  Wanda Morris

Genre:  Suspence/Mystery

Publication Date:  June 6, 2024

Publisher:  Harper Collins /William Morrow

Rating : 💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book:

Award-winning author Wanda Morris returns with a powerful, haunting thriller following a lawyer who after the mysterious disappearance of a local landowner and the death of his sister just months before, uncovers a conspiracy that dates back to Reconstruction and persists in half the United States today.

Deena Wood’s life has fallen apart in the aftermath of losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm. She needs what the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call a “dayclean,” a fresh start.

She returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is anything but the respite she thought it might be. To make peace with all her loss, she often drives through the city. One day, she unwittingly finds herself on the oceanfront property of a loner widower who is fighting to keep land that has been in his family since the end of the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to never return. But shortly after, he disappears, and his very expensive property is quickly put up for sale. Curious about what has happened to the man, Deena digs into his disappearance and finds a family legacy at risk. What starts out as a bit of curious snooping, turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment in poor and rural communities with dark and powerful forces at work.

Without realizing it, Deena finds herself caught up in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and her family. She’ll need help and finds it in a close but unlikely source because she knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sinister forces at play before she becomes their next target.

My Thoughts:

I have some of the worst sleep habits ever.  And there are just some authors that make it worse, but in a good way ( as a matter of fact, I'll probably be taking a nap by the time you read this).  I went to sleep around 3:30 this morning, and could only get a few hours in before i couldn’t sleep anymore, because of these characters.  I could not rest until I knew what happened to the characters.  (Now mind you, I was at 80% when I tried to our the book down).  This book was absolutely such a ride.  It also covers a topic that happens a lot in minority community, and especially black ones.  Although she didn't originally know it, Deena was destined for this assignment and was not alone.  Not only did she have her family’s help, but she was unknowingly guided by the ancestors.   And it makes me want to know more about the Gullah region.   I've read many good books this year, and so far this one tops all of them.  I have yet to read a book by this author that I not only enjoyed, but gleaned some unknown information to me.  It was brilliantly executed and I loved and enjoyed every minute of this ride.

About the Author

Bestselling author, Karin Slaughter, has described Wanda M. Morris as a "vibrant and welcome new voice to the thriller space."

Wanda M. Morris is the acclaimed author of All Her Little Secrets, named as one of the “Best Books of 2021” by Hudson Booksellers and selected as the #1 Top Pick for “Library Reads” by librarians across the country. Her novel, Anywhere You Run, was named One of the Top Ten Crime Fiction Books of 2022 by The New York Times. It has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist and won an Anthony Award and the Lefty Award for Best Historical Novel of 2023, along with the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year for Mystery. Anywhere You Run was also longlisted for the prestigious Mark Twain Voice in American Literature Prize.