Tangles

2025 American Fiction Awards Winner "Mystery/Suspense: Historical"

"An ambitious debut novel that is at once labyrinthine and simply and deeply human...in stunning and engrossing multiple narratives, Smith-Blum reminds us about the devastating and lasting costs of love, loyalty and freedom and, above all, the enduring solace of nature and family." -James Anderson, award-winning author of The Never-Open Desert Diner

"In a well-crafted debut, Smith-Blum provides the reader a ringside seat to the birth of the nuclear age...a beautifully written, important story...Tangles packs a punch and hits close to home." -Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Tracy Crosswhite Series

"In her knockout debut novel, Kay Smith-Blum sheds new light on Hanford...skillfully blending historical details and nail-biting suspense, she delivers two complex protagonists you can really root for..." -Kevin O'Brien, New York Times bestselling author of The Enemy at Home

"A brilliant, captivating ride [that] reveals many truths about our radioactive legacy." -Joshua Frank, award-winning investigative journalist and author of Atomic Days

"With haunting and hopeful prose, Smith-Blum captures the complexity of the fear-filled decades of the Cold War...a compelling novel [filled] with grace and insight." -Readers Favorite

"...a gritty and compelling environmental thriller..." -Clare Hodgson Meeker, 2020 Washington State Book Award Winner for Young Readers

"Tangles tells a very compelling and well-crafted story. It is an important contribution to the annals of the atomic age and its legacy." -Atomic Heritage Foundation

"In a well-crafted debut, Smith-Blum provides the reader a ringside seat to the birth of the nuclear age...a beautifully written, important story...Tangles packs a punch and hits close to home." -Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Tracy Crosswhite Series