Published: April 14th 2022
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Police Procedural, Medical Thriller
It’s a little late due to health problems but welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Fall. Thank you to Sophie at Ransom PR for the invitation to take part and Head of Zeus for the eBook ARC.
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SYNOPSIS:
The sins of the past echo in the present in the new literary thriller from crime-critic favourite, Rachael Blok.
The bigger the sin, the further the fall…
With Easter approaching, the verger of St Albans Cathedral was supposed to be readying the church. Instead he discovers a man lying dead, fallen from the famous 150-foot-high tower. Did he jump, or was he pushed?
For DCI Maarten Jansen, it’s a simple case of suspected suicide. Until a witness, Willow, prompts a deeper investigation into a long-buried past, involving a psychiatric hospital, a pregnant woman, and fifty years of silence. As Willow’s own family history entwines with the case, Jansen starts to wonder how everything is connected.
The Fall is a haunting literary thriller about loss, trauma, silence, and how our past shapes who we are.
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MY REVIEW:
“Secrets don’t stay buried forever. Even those cast in stone.”
After a long day of travel Willow Eliot finally arrives at St Albans ready to prepare for her exhibition. But in the darkness she hears a scream and witnesses a body falling from the cathedral in the shadows. Did he jump or was he pushed? And are the fall of a young man who works at the cathedral a few days later and the disappearance of Willow’s twin sister connected or simply tragic coincidences?
A story of sins, secrets and suspicion, this literary thriller hit all the right notes for me. Taut, tense and intricately woven, it takes us on a twisty journey as past and present merge together and dark truths are slowly revealed. This book was my introduction to Rachael Blok and I didn’t realise that it is the fourth instalment in a series until I had almost finished reading. But that means I can tell you it makes a great standalone as I never felt like I was missing out on anything or confused about what was going on.
Told in three parts from multiple points of view, I loved the very different voices the author chose in which to tell the story. I found young Alice’s chapters were especially compelling and powerful, drawing into her tragic story. Many of the characters are keeping secrets, some of them with the power to shatter entire lives, leaving us with a complex puzzle to solve that looks nothing like I thought it would.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was that it is rich in history. But it is an awful history that dates back to the psychiatric hospital, Hill Barnes, a bleak, grim place where people were sent when they didn’t know how to deal with them, often committed for what now seem like trivial reasons. Behavioural issues, epilepsy, a wife disagreeing with her husband and being a young mother could all see you committed and subjected to barbaric treatments that did more harm than healing. It is a potent reminder of how we used to treat mental health and those we didn’t understand.
Dark, twisty and captivating, The Fall is a great read for anyone who enjoys a steadily paced thriller.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Rachael Blok is a best-selling author of the UK crime series set in the cathedral city of St Albans. Here, DCI Maarten Jansen struggles against his plain-speaking Dutch upbringing when faced with the seemingly polite world of the picturesque city. Under the Ice, The Scorched Earth and Into The Fire are out now. The Fall is coming April 2022.
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BUY THE BOOK:
Waterstones*| Amazon*| Bookshop.org*
*These are affiliate links
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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles 😊 Emma xxxx
Please check out the reviews from the other bloggers taking part in the tour.
Emma's Biblio Treasures 