Title: The Fall
Author: Gilly Macmillan
Publisher: Century
Synopsis:
The Manor House was the perfect place to live. Until the body was found…
Celia Verney and her husband spent many happy years in The Manor House before he died unexpectedly five years ago. Her friends Sasha and Olly are only too happy to fill in as lodgers.
Tom and Nicole just bought the state-of-the-art Glass Barn nearby, following a life-changing lottery win. They have everything they’ve ever dreamed of, but two years on they still feel like outsiders.
Housekeeper Kitty is the second generation in her family to work in The Manor – the place is in her blood and she knows every nook and cranny of the estate.
When Tom is found dead in the grounds, it shatters the small community.
Everyone is keeping up appearances. But each home hides its own secrets.
Who among them is capable of murderer?
My review:
The Fall is full of twists and surprises threaded in amongst the tension.
From the very beginning, the novel plunges us into the shocking revelation of Nicole’s husband, Tom, found dead in their swimming pool, and it looks like it was murder. Their enigmatic neighbours, Sasha and Olly, who live in a grand house nearby called ‘The Manor’, seem to lend their support, but their actions and their housekeeper Kitty appear to hold hidden secrets. Could Nicole and Tom’s newfound wealth as lottery winners and their extravagant custom-built house, known as ‘The Glass Barn,’ be somehow connected to the sinister events?
We flick between the perspectives of all these characters, and as we do, we learn more about each character’s relationships to the deceased and also to each other. The characters are convincing, though not all of them are likeable, and I enjoyed moving between the characters’ thoughts. We also have a secondary narrative which slowly unravels how Sasha and Olly came to live at The Manor, which I found intriguing and added some extra surprises into the mix! No one is quite as they seem…
The Fall is told in short chapters which kept my attention well. It didn’t go where I expected it to and I enjoyed seeing the net closing in on certain people… A real sense of atmosphere is created throughout the book, and the two houses – ‘The Glass Barn’ and ‘The Manor’ – seem to have their own distinct personality which adds to the atmosphere!
Gilly Macmillan’s skilful writing ensures that The Fall is a gripping, entertaining psychological thriller.
My rating: 4/5
Many thanks to the publisher, Century, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.