The story is told over dual timelines by multiple narrators. This book is well written. The characters are well developed. The atmosphere that is depicted is very good.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed this authors debut novel. And while I didn't love this as much, it is still a solid read. I found it a bit slow in parts, but felt it greatly improved in the last quarter of the book which I enjoyed the most.

It tells the story of 3 very different women over a dual timeline. We have Cornelia Stover in 1933, her granddaughter Lauren who has embraced the hippy movement of the 70's and prefers to go by the name Glitter, and Joanna who is trying to escape an abusive husband.

In the small town of Boldville, Glitter's cousin is found dead from an apparent drug overdose. But Glitter doesn't believe this. And so we go on a journey of all the secrets Boldville holds, which have gone back decades. There's murder, intrigue and lost gold mines and the women discover many things about themselves and each other.

Second book I've read by this author, loved the cover however perhaps didn't enjoy it as much as the first. A murder mystery based around the protagonist Joanne Riley, an ex- cop hiding out from her abusive husband. She's drawn into intrigue in the isolated old goldmining town of Boldville New Mexico. A new age hippie commune, a murder, a disappearance, revolving around a set of strong women characters

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review

This is another great book by Inga Vesper, weaving together several stories at once to create a really compelling read. It's set in the 1970 and gets across brilliantly the sense of being trapped in a small town, surrounded by people with backward attitudes who hold all the power.
Glitter is a teenage hippy, trying to create something better by setting up a "commune" with a few others in the US town of Boldville. But her mother, along with the rest of the town, disapprove. And if Glitter is honest, life in the supposedly free and liberated commune isn't always great if you're a woman.
Ex-cop Joanna is recovering from yet another beating from her husband, Dwayne, and decides to go on the run to try and escape him, ending up in Boldville.
The death of Glitter's cousin sets off a chain of events that take Glitter and Joanna into the past to try and resolve the mystery of what happened to Glitter's grandmother, Cornelia, who vanished in the 1930s, and why this scandal is still affecting the town today.
There's a lot of humour and punchy dialogue in the book, but also some very stark, striking descriptions of violence against women. At the heart of it is a mystery about what happened to Cornelia, which is another tale of misogyny and oppression, but if I'm honest I wasn't too interested in that - I just wanted to know what was going to happen to Glitter and Joanna. Inga Vesper is great at creating characters that readers care about and this is what makes her books so engaging. I would definitely recommend it.

I wasn't sure that I would like this when I first started to read it. It was a bit of a slow burner but it soon started to pick up. An interesting setting and both timelines were ones I knew nothing about. I learnt a lot as well as enjoyed the story. I can see where the term 'gold fever' came from. This book is really well written. The tension builds and things are revealed as you read on. Recommended. Many thanks for the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Trying to escape from her abusive husband, Joanna ends up in Boldville. Originally only planning on staying the night, she soon finds herself drawn into a mysterious death and at odds with the town sheriff. She starts to investigate and with the help of local residents, she uncovers an ancient secret. But will she be alive to tell her tale?

I enjoyed reading This Wild Wild Country, as it flits between the ‘present’ (1970s) and Cornelia’s story of the 1930s. With a backdrop of murder, greed and conspiracies, there’s plenty to keep the reader involved. It keeps up a good pace, enough to keep the interest without being so fast and furious that you lose track of who is who.

An entertaining read. Much enjoyed,

Really enjoyable read with a dual narrative that works well.

The book has a feel of the Wild West without actually being set there-the attitudes and experiences are relatable and the characters are well written so I was invested from the start.

I liked the idea behind the novel and the execution of that idea was impressive. The writing style was simple and effective and the overall flow of the story felt very smooth. I read this book in one sitting. as I really wanted to get to the end to see how it was going to end!

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

Another amazing read from Inga Vesper. I would highly recommend this book if you are looking for something a little bit different that you just cannot put down. The many themes running throughout the story means it lends itself well to book groups, providing so many points for discussion. This page turner of a story kept me guessing until the very end. A mysterious tale spanning generations which was a pure delight to read due to the originality of the plot. Great insight is provided into the role of women across two different time periods.

Inga Vesper is an author you need in your life if you haven’t already read her! You’re in for a treat as she has two brilliant books for you to get stuck into. I fell in love with Inga’s writing after The Long, Long Afternoon and I remain as such following This Wild, Wild Country!

I wouldn’t normally be drawn to a story set in such a Wild West style setting but oh I am so happy that I gave it a go. This is a character driven novel with a mystery. The setting is vividly described and I had a great sense of where the action was happening and how it might appear. It was an immersive read which caught my attention from the first chapter.

The main characters are all complex and have a great backstory. Joanna is fleeing an abusive relationship and I felt so anxious each time she appeared. I loved her tenacity and her interest in following up on her hunches. It would have been really easy for her to just hide away, recover and slink off into obscurity. Glitter, a would be hippy, is caught in a bad situation. She’s rebelling but seems to have flickers of doubt and unease. Cornelia is way ahead of her time, running a business as a woman way back in the 1930s, she encounters endless difficulty but ploughs on regardless.

The threads of each story wind around each other in a beautifully plotted fashion. I found it fascinating and hard to put down. The conclusion is satisfying, although sad when a great book has come to the final page! Check it out!

This was a book about so many issues. It was written in two different time frames and the first in the 1930s had a bearing on events in the second the 1970s. The character I cared about most was Joanna, she was an outsider and could see things were wrong, yet in her own life she looked as though she could not sort out right from wrong. As a police officer she was good.

The genre of the book is difficult to define. It is a murder mystery, but the drugs, hippies, poverty and feminism all raise the book to another level. Due to the location and time periods I do not know much about the reality of the times but I suspect this is very accurate. It is a good read but do not expect to like many characters.

Set mainly in the 1970s, this is a mystery set out in the American West - think rugged gold-rush scenery.

Joanna is running away from her abusive husband, but her training as a police officer launches her on the trail of a mystery in the mountains. Following the lead from the corpse of a young man, she soon finds herself drawn back into the past and into danger.

This is a story of powerful women - Joanna herself, brave and fighting for independence; Cornelia from the 1930s, feisty and breaking out against the traditional female role; and Glitter and her hippy community who grow to love and protect Joanna.

Another enjoyable read from Inga Vesper.

This Wild, Wild Country is an interesting take on a murder mystery, based in a rural town in the USA covering two timelines, the 1930's and 1970. It is also a story of women trying to make it on their own and take a stand against male dominance in their lives.

The two timelines run well alongside each other, but I did get a little lost in the middle but Inga Vesper pulls you back in as the story picks up pace towards the end.

A good follow up to The Long, Long Afternoon.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read This Wild, Wild Country.

This Wild, Wild Country is a beautifully written slow burner of a book set over two time lines. I'm afraid i found it quite confusing at times, especially as some of the characters had more than one name, It was definitely worth persevering with and I think would make a good television series or film.

I devoured Vesper’s debut ‘The Long Long Afternoon’ was delighted to be granted a free ARC to review this, her second work. Instead of California in 1959, the plot in this novel moves between New Mexico in 1933 and 1970. In the later timeline, we encounter disaffected former policewoman Joanna Riley who flees a career in tatters and an abusive relationship. Coincidentally, her car runs out of fuel in Boldville, a dusty, forgotten New Mexico town where she and local resident Glitter feel compelled to investigate the sudden death of a young man. But Boldville is also the town where Glitter’s grandmother disappeared in 1933 and the past continues to cast shadows over the contemporary citizens …

As fabulously executed as her first novel, with this follow-up Vesper really establishes herself as one of the most promising new writers of the moment. I hope this well-written thriller will garner her many new readers and I would like to thank the publishers as well as NetGalley for the complimentary ARC I received that allowed me to produce this book review.

If you have read Inga Vesper’s last book, The Long, Long Afternoon, you will already know what a skillful storyteller she is – I loved it and was therefore very much looking forward to this one. And it proved to be another immersive, well-plotted read, atmospheric and full of mystery, and confirmed that Vesper is an extremely talented writer.

In 1970, Joanna Riley, a former cop, escapes an abusive marriage. She finds herself in Boldville, a remote somewhat rundown town in New Mexico whose heyday was during the Gold Rush. Joanna checks in to the Stover Hotel, now run by Geraldine whose daughter Glitter has recently returned home with her friends to set up a commune. When Glitter’s cousin Mike is found dead, the authorities presume his death is accidental, but Joanna’s instincts lead her to look into his death more closely. As Joanna and Glitter begin to delve a little deeper, they start to uncover the town’s many long held secrets as well as links back to the mysterious disappearance of Glitter’s grandmother, Cordelia in the 1930s.

It is at times quite a complex read, with a large cast of characters, and for that reason it did take me a little while to get into. But for me the effort was well rewarded - Vesper’s writing style and ability to paint a picture that really brings both the setting and the characters alive ultimately makes for an intriguing and compelling read. The dual timeline is skilfully handled as the story unfolds from the perspective of the three main protagonist. The 1970s setting makes for an interesting backdrop in a time of much societal change generally, though perhaps not so much in a town like Boldville which is mired in the past. There are some difficult themes dealt with in the book - abuse, domestic violence, racism - but, sensitively handled, Vesper avoids it becoming overly heavy, and what shone through for me were the strong women at the centre of the story.

I was sent a copy of This Wild, Wild Country by Inga Vesper to read and review by NetGalley. This is the second novel by Inga Vesper and I was eager to read it as I thoroughly enjoyed her debut novel The Long Long Afternoon. I enjoyed the intertwining stories of Cornelia and her granddaughter Glitter, set generations apart between the goldrush and the hippie peace movement in the town of Boldville, New Mexico. The main protagonist however is Joanna, a former cop on the run from her abusive police officer husband, who by chance ends up in Boldville and remains to investigate what she believes to be a cover up of a young man’s death. Well written, with many twists and turns which keep the pages turning, and interesting insights into both the fervour of the desire for gold and the challenges of advocating peace and free love.

I almost baled before ~I was 1/3rd through because it felt so bitty and jumped around in time. I am glad I persevered. I needed to concentrate hard on whose plot line was unfolding. Overall it was an interesting and more importantly an original story with lots of twists and turns.
As a previous reviewer said it would make a good screenplay.

This Wild, Wild Country is a story told from three points of view. Three women each with their own story to tell all entwined together by various threads of their journeys. We as the reader are taken on this journey with them. Travelling from 1933 to1970 and back again as secrets are revealed and lies are turned into truths.

Cornelia Stover is struggling to keep her hotel afloat in 1933 running the business on her own in Boldville, New Mexico. When Cornelia stumbles upon a hidden secret high in the hills she takes off but leaves behind her daughter Geraldine and disappears…
Glitter is a young hippy woman in 1970 trying to settle her commune back in her old home town of Boldville. However, after an eventful party her cousin Mike is found dead, which leads Glitter on a decades old mystery.
Joanna Riley has left her abusive husband in 1970 and as she parks up in Boldville she realises that something isn’t quite right with the town. When Joanna comes across Glitter and the death of her cousin Mike, Joanna, an ex cop, can’t help but look into the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. Joanna and Glitter get caught up in a dark and twisted mystery leading back to Glitter’s grandmother, Cornelia Stover, who is at the heart of it and the towns shady secrets.
There are some tough themes explored within this story, and the way the characters behave within their situations and surroundings really make you think. This was a very well plotted book with enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. The plot structure also worked well with Cornelia telling her story in flashback and Joanna and Glitter in the present day. Each element is crafted at the opportunistic moment for greater impact, but it did keep a little bit of the mystery aside until the last moment. The writing is effortless and everything has been thoughtfully planned which really showcases the talent of Inga Vesper.