The Fall is a sucker punch of a novel.
Hard hitting and full of the most wonderful twists.
It's Kate Grangers fortieth birthday and her friends spring her a surprise party, Kate has the most amazing day and things couldn't be better.
Until that knock on the door to tell her that her fifteen year old daughter Carly has had an accident and is been injured .
The police believe that this was no accident and whilst Carly is in a coma they can't find the answers they are looking for but Kate is determined to find out the truth and won't let anyone get in her way.
Who has secret's to hide and how far will they go to keep them?

Overall 4.5*

The story takes the reader on a roller coaster ride with the author cleverly sending you up so many blind alleys that you really are unsure of who is guilty of pushing Caily from the bridge. There are also a few sub plots to keep you guessing as to what is going on. A very good read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

N.B. For those of us who received an ARC - the formatting was the worst I have ever come across so far and I am lucky to be able to blank a lot of the errors out, however it should not detract from the story and be marked down due to this. If as a reader, you cannot cope with that then do not choose to read unformatted books!!

Loved this! Such a tense read, such much mystery around some of the characters, I didnt know who to believe was responsible for Caliy’s.

I really loved the family dynamics in both the good sense and for the lies and deceit they put on each other. Great examples of how not to be open and honest.

My favourite aspect, was Caily and Tegan’s bond.

A must read for thriller fans

This ARC didnt download properly so sadly I was unable to read it.
Many thanks to Netgalley even though I couldnt read it

Definitely a page turner with lots of twists and turns.
Nicola and Tom won 10 million on the lottery and moved to a start of the art house where Tom was not happy with the move and then turns up dead in the swimming pool., their nearest neighbours take charge and start to control Nicola.
The story was a bit slow in the middle but kept you reading with all the twists.

Thank to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

Another tremendous page-turner from the excellent Louise Jensen which grips from the start and never lets up. Kate is celebrating her fortieth birthday but happiness quickly turns to tragedy when her daughter falls from a bridge and is left unconscious. Not everybody wants the truth to come out, and the revelations are shocking. A great read.

I had difficulty reading this arc due to the formatting and having the publisher printed in large print throughout, Just put me off unfortunately.

The Fall by Louise Jensen is an absolutely cracking contemporary psychological thriller that seriously messed with my sleep as I just did not want to put it down!
We see the action from various points of view in the third person and in different time periods. The voice of the guilty party can be heard but try as I might, I could not work out who it was. I put two and two together and came up with five!
A terrible tragedy is splitting a family apart as we know there is nothing that a parent won’t do for their child. Once united, a chasm is beginning to appear – but just how wide is it?
When tragedy strikes, it seems only natural to want to believe in something outside of one’s self. “She wished she had faith in something… longed for the utmost certainty that her prayers would be if not answered then at least listened to.” We need to know that we are not alone.
Peer pressure is awful. With social media, it is impossible to escape the bullies. We witness a character’s self-esteem eroding and crumbling.
There will always be those who prey on the misfortunes of others. We see the role that greed plays in trying to destroy.
In contrast we see the fierce love that protects. “As a parent… sometimes hiding the truth is the easiest thing. The kindest.” Burying the truth is never a good idea. Lies are a terrible master. Speak out the truth and face the future together.
We see the sad topic of early onset dementia that is robbing lives. “There are lots of things [she] can’t remember. But love, love for her family is ever present and all consuming.” Love wins.
I absolutely loved The Fall. It was an all-consuming, all body read. My heart raced and my palms were clammy as I faced the dilemma – devour the book to see what happens or savor it. I am afraid I greedily devoured it! I love all Louise Jensen’s books whether she writes as Louise Jensen or as Amelia Henley, they are all always superb.
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

EXCERPT: 'I promise we are going to find out who hurt you,' she whispers to her daughter. 'And why.'
In this moment to know the truth is all Kate wants.
Because she does not yet know that it will tear her family apart.
Be careful what you wish for.

ABOUT 'THE FALL': She promised she wouldn’t tell. They made sure she couldn’t…

At her surprise 40th birthday party, Kate Granger feels like the luckiest woman in the world but just hours later her fifteen-year-old daughter, Caily, is found unconscious underneath a bridge when she should have been at school.

Now, Caily lies comatose in her hospital bed, and the police don’t believe it was an accident. As the investigation progresses, it soon becomes clear that not everyone in the family was where they claimed to be at the time of her fall.

Caily should be safe in hospital but not everyone wants her to wake up. Someone is desperate to protect the truth and it isn’t just Caily’s life that is in danger.

Because some secrets are worth killing for…

MY THOUGHTS: The Fall may start out as a slow burn but, believe me, it morphs into a fast-paced thrilling and suspenseful page-turner.

I have always wanted to belong to a family like that of Kate and Beth. Close, warm and caring relationships. Open homes. Everyone welcome. No secrets . . . Wait! What was that? No secrets?

There are multiple secrets in this family, some of them decades old. Like a raft of ducks this family appears to be sailing serenely through life, but underneath the water there's a lot of frantic action.

Once we start to see the cracks beneath the carefully constructed facade, the story really takes off, and in some unexpected directions! Not one of my surmises was correct. NOT ONE! The twists are clever and carefully constructed, and there are dents in the floor where my jaw repeatedly dropped.

A definite recommendation.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheFall #NetGalley

I: @fabricating_fiction @hqstories

T: @fab_fiction @HQstories

#contemporaryfiction #familydrama #mystery #suspense

THE AUTHOR: When I was little I was obsessed by Enid Blyton. Her characters were so real to me they became my friends. I often huddled under my covers, stifling my yawns and straining my eyes, as I read 'just one more page' by torchlight.

Mr Townsend, my primary school English teacher always encouraged my love of literature, and it wasn’t long before I’d read everything my school had to offer. The first book I created was six pages long, had stick-man illustrations and was sellotaped together. I was immensely proud of it. Writing was a huge part of my life, until one day it wasn’t.

I can’t remember ever making a conscious decision to stop writing but it became easier to act on the advice I was given - ‘grow up and get a proper job’ - and my dreams were tightly packed away, gathering dust for the next twenty years.

My thirties were a car crash. Literally. I sustained injuries which when coupled with a pre-existing condition forced me to radically change my lifestyle. I felt utterly lost and utterly alone. Always an avid reader I began to devour books at an alarming rate. ‘You’ll have read every book in here soon,’ my local librarian said. ‘You’ll have to write your own.’

And there was a flicker, a shift, a rising of hope. I grasped that nugget of possibility and I wrote. I wrote when I was happy. I wrote when I was sad. I wrote when I was scared and in-between writing, I read, read and read some more. Words have the power to lift, to heal. They have illuminated my world, which for a time became very dark.

As Anne Frank said ‘I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.’
(LouiseJensen.co.uk)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to HQ via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Fall by Louise Jensen for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

While I enjoyed this book I did at times find it hard work and slow going.
Unfortunately the arc I read had lots of disjointed sentences and the words ‘material publishers copyrighted Harper Collins’ written across every page in larger font,which was extremely distracting

That said the storyline was interesting. We meet twins Beth and Kate and their daughters Tailly and Tegan. Sisters, cousins and best friends, who share everything. That is until Tailly is cast as the lead for the upcoming school drama with the possibility of being offered a scholarship. Can the cousins remain close.
What secrets is Beth hiding from Kate?
Is Kate’s husband also keeping secrets? Are they the only ones?

This was another good read from Louise and I highly recommend

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Louise Jensen has written a real page turner with this fast paced psychological thriller which I really enjoyed. There were plenty of twists and turns which kept me guessing and secrets and lies aplenty.
If you are looking for an atmospheric thriller then look no further.
Highly recommended!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gripping novel

where to start with this one... what a rollercoaster of a ride this one was....

caily is the daughter of kate
tegan is the daughter of beth

kate and beth are twin sisters....

and on the day that caily should be at rehearsals she is found unconscious under a bridge, where she had fallen

and so the investigation begins, but as i have found with this author she likes to pull you through the ringer and you are left unable to put the book down until you know what is going on and when you think you know you actually dont.... there are many surprises to be had within in this book so dont expect to get much sleep as you wont be able to put it down until its finished

I always enjoy Louise Jensen books so I was thrilled to be approved for an ARC of her latest novel, The Fall, which is released on 27th April 2023.

Jensen's writing always hooks me in really quickly. In this book she does this clever thing where the first line of each chapter echoes the last line of the preceeding chapter. I thought this added to the flow of the story and seemlessly moved the story around the different POVs of the family members.

As with previous Louise Jensen books I knew I wouldn't work it all out until the very last page. However in this novel I feel there are just a few too many twists. I know that shouldn't be a problem with a thriller but I felt that all the threads and secrets being kept made this story lose a little believability from around the halfway point.

Overall I enjoyed this book and the characters and would definitely recommend this to fans of thrillers.

She promised not to tell...they made sure she didn't...

It has been such a while since I've read a Louise Jensen thriller that I'd forgotten how well she can spin a tale. And that is why, despite only a few hours sleep, I have devoured THE FALL in under twenty-four hours. So many twists; so many secrets. I flipped through all 450 pages faster than I could read them. Short chapters kept the pace moving and multiple perspectives kept it interesting. who pushed Caily from the bridge? And why? And what secrets are they trying to keep from coming out? A family under pressure from all angles, nothing will prepare them for what is about to unfold.

Twins Kate and Beth have just turned forty and celebrated with a surprise party in a barn on the family farm. Throughout their entire lives they have been each other's half, always there when they need one another. But a day after their party, Kate's world comes crashing down when her 15 year old daughter Caily is found unconscious below a rickety bridge, having been pulled from the water. Her rescuer dialed 999 but was nowhere to be found once emergency services arrived. Rushed straight to hospital, Caily is in a coma having suffered a head injury and nearly drowning. But only time will tell when and if she comes out of the coma and how much she has been affected by the fall.

Kate gets the call and rushes to her daughter's bedside. What was Caily doing on the bridge? She should have been at school doing the final rehearsal for the opening night of "La La Land" in which Caily had the female lead. So why was she on the bridge and not rehearsing? And Caily's cousin Tegan came bursting into the house she shared with her mum Beth, Kate's twin sister, tears streaming down her face the moment Kate received the call about Caily. Did she have something to do with Caily's accident? Does Tegan know more than she's letting on?

Both fifteen, Caily and Tegan are more like siblings than cousins and they do everything together. Actually, interestingly enough I recently read that genetically, children of identical twins are more half-siblings than first cousins. Anyway, the girls are as inseparable as their mothers have always been with their own language - "I see you" countered with "I saw you first" - and their indivisible closeness. When Caily wins the female lead with Tegan as her understudy the girls are thrilled and can't wait to share the news with their family. But jealousy is rife and one Dani King can't help but make pig references to Caily with utterances of "oink oink" which only serves to chip away at Caily's already dwindling confidence. And that is only the beginning.

Add to this a nefarious character or two, some secret plotting while other secrets are exposed...with Caily uncovering one of them, did someone then serve to silence her for good before she could reveal what she discovered? Or was it the cyberbullying that lead to her fall? Caily's despair is felt throughout in the lead-up to her fall as is the despair of those around her. Everyone, it seems, has secrets to hide but who would want to silence a teenage girl to keep them hidden?

Louise Jensen is a masterful storyteller. Her settings are always atmospheric and Marsh Farm was the perfect backdrop for the unravelling of all their lives. There is a sense of claustrophobia, a tension that's palpable and a growing despair amongst the characters that just may be their downfall. There's a growing threat of danger as revelations emerge whilst a suspicion towards foul play over what happened to Caily is ever present. But who would push her and why? Everyone but everyone is under scrutiny that no one escapes suspicion.

THE FALL is a totally immersive and atmospheric psychological thriller in which twist after twist and secret after secret is unravelled. Prepare to be shocked because I was. I never suspected for a moment. But once it became clear, I just felt so so sad. In the end, it was a tragic tale. But without question, an addictive and compelling read from beginning to end.

I would like to thank #LouiseJensen, #Netgalley and #HQStories for an ARC of #TheFall in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

This psychological thriller is packed with suspense and shocks!
In what should have been a happy time following on from twins Kate and Beth's surprise 40th birthday party the family were in turmoil and family ties fragmented when the news broke that Kate's 15 year old daughter, Caily, was in hospital in a coma and not taking the lead in a stage performance as she should have been. She'd been found unconscious and broken in a river near the family farm. Initial investigations by the police indicated that this was no accident. The farm was owned by Kate and Beth's ageing parents and run by Matt, Kate's husband. They were a tight knit family until the accident or otherwise that put Caily in hospital. Few of the members could explain where they were the time of the incident and were all hiding various secrets, some of which put other family members at risk of being killed.
The suspense in this book is palpable. Like climbing a mountain and you think you've reached the top only to see that on getting there that there was far more to climb, this book has so many levels that when you think you've reached a conclusion you realise there's so much more to come. The author cleverly leads you down many blind alleys and still keeps the suspense flowing right to the very end. The very short chapters towards the end added to the tension.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. A 5* review without a doubt.

What a read, I absolutely loved it.
A gripping fast paced domestic psychological thriller that keeps you guessing right till the end.
It’s full of mystery, family secrets and suspense. It has lots of twists and turns. I was completely hooked, I couldn’t put it down.
A well written story that’s character focused through short chapters that I loved. You really get to know the colourful characters.
A definite page turner. Highly recommend.
Thanks to #NetGallery #HQStories #LouiseJensen for an arc of #TheFall in exchange for an honest review. Book publishes 27th April 2023.

Beth and Kate are twin sisters who are just turning forty and have a surprise party! Both have fifteen year old girls Caily and Teagan who love performing . Caily is due to be lead in a performance of La La Land but an accident occurs and she ends up in a coma! Did she slip from the bridge or was she pushed? Whilst Caily is in the coma it becomes clear that the family all have their own secrets that they want to keep hidden as well as struggling financially with the pressures of having Marsh Farm.

A real page turning thriller! So many plot twists that you don't see coming. Can't wait to read Louises next novel. Highly recommended.

I’d like to thank HQ and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Fall’ by Louise Jensen in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Caily and Tegan are the fifteen-year-old daughters of twin sisters Kate and Beth whose fortieth birthday is celebrated with a party arranged by Kate’s husband Matt. The following day Caily is rushed to hospital with head injuries after falling from a bridge and family friend Inspector Owen Bartlett says there’s proof that Caily was pushed by Tegan whose DNA has been found under her fingernails. There’s someone watching Caily while she’s in a coma and hoping she doesn’t remember what happened on the bridge.

‘The Fall’ tells of a close and loving family who are struggling to keep Marsh Farm from collapse due to financial problems. The characters are beautifully portrayed with all their strengths and weaknesses but everyone seems to have secrets they’re desperate to keep hidden. Slowly but surely these secrets are being revealed until it isn’t only Caily whose life is at risk. This has been a tense and thoroughly exciting novel that’s been told from the perspectives of each of the characters. With an abundance of twists and turns and unexpected surprises it’s been impossible to stop reading and when I had to stop I couldn’t wait to get back to my Kindle to find out what was going to happen next. This is a
compelling novel that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I do enjoy a family drama where all the characters have secrets and I have enjoyed all this author's books. This one however, I felt there was just too much going on. The near drowning, the fire, the kidnapping, was all too dramatic and quickly moved on from. However I did enjoy the premise of the story and loved finding out who had what secret. One discrepancy I noticed was the difference in age between two of the characters Patrick and Mary, at times it was 6 years, at other times 10. It wouldn't normally have stood out but the age difference was a big part of the story.

Louise Jensen is one of my favourite go to authors to thrillers.

Kate and Beth are twin sisters. Both have daughters : Caily (Kate's) & Tegan (Beth's).

The girls throw a surprise 40th birthday party for their mums but soon after, tragedy strikes. Caily has a fall under a bridge near the family farm and is taken to hospital. Was it a fall, or was she pushed?

While Caily lies in a coma it soon becomes clear that there are secrets and lies galore.  Not every one is telling the truth of their whereabouts at the time of the accident and the secrets could break the whole family apart.

Chapters set mainly in current time with a few also in the past, which just give the reader snippets along the way until it reaches a shocking conclusion.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and author for an ARC.