It’s moving week for me, which means this is my only post of the week. Let’s be honest, the only reason it’s done is that I wrote it two weeks ago. You can head over to Jennifer’s blog if you’re looking for our Wardrobe Wednesday link up, but don’t forget that starting next week we’ll be hosting the first Wednesday of every month. I’ll be back next week with my regular posting schedule (I think!) and catch you up on life over the last several weeks. See you soon!
Today, Amber and Rachel are hosting another round of Collaboreads and I am so excited! Given the season, this month’s prompt was to read a book with the word fall in the title. I didn’t have to look too hard, since I had already downloaded the perfect candidate several weeks ago. After I turned this one down for my Book of the Month selection back in August, I quickly added it to my to listen list when I wound up with a few extra Audible credits this month. I love a good thriller and this one seemed to fit the bill.
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According to Amazon, Before the Fall is the thriller of the year. “On a foggy summer night, eleven people – ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter – depart Martha’s Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs – the painter – and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul’s family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members – including a Wall Street titan and his wife, a Texan-born party boy just in from London, a young woman questioning her path in life, and a career pilot – the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens. As the passengers’ intrigues unravel, odd coincidences point to a conspiracy. Was it merely by dumb chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something far more sinister at work? Events soon threaten to spiral out of control in an escalating storm of media outrage and accusations. And while Scott struggles to cope with fame that borders on notoriety, the authorities scramble to salvage the truth from the wreckage. Amid pulse-quickening suspense, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, human nature, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.”
RIVETING.
What part of the book could you NOT get enough of? If you’ve been reading here for any amount of time, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of a book that is narrated by multiple characters. The change in perspective makes for a much more interesting storyline and I feel like you get a better picture of what actually happened when it isn’t skewed by a single point of view.
ELEMENTS.
How did you relate to/care for the characters? The cast of characters in this novel is large and I found them hard to follow for the first part of the book. I think that’s pretty typical of a book with this many narrators, but I had to pay close attention to who was speaking and when! Once the momentum picked up, I found it easier to follow. Eleanor was probably my favorite character in the book, even though she wasn’t directly related to the crash itself. I loved her emerging relationship with Scott and how she cared for the boy, all while dealing with the loss of her sister and the callousness of her husband. Scott’s character evolves quite a bit throughout the book and I found him so endearing by the end. There were several characters that I didn’t care for at all (the news anchor, whose name escapes me at the moment), but that’s to be expected given the number of people involved.
What’s your thought on the plot line and twists and turns? Again, I love it when a book is unpredictable. Given the number of characters and the odd coincidences throughout, the plotline kept me guessing. I was never quite sure “who done it” and changed my mind at least a hundred times.
ASSOCIATE.
What other books are like this one? If none, did it remind you of a particular TV or movie with it’s themes and characters? Does it serendipitous-ly line-up with things going on in your life or the news right now? Of the books I’ve read recently, I would most compare this one to Missing, Presumed. I read it back in August and gave it a sad two star review. I did like Before the Fall much more than Missing, Presumed, but they both fell so flat for me. What could have been an amazing ending for them both, seemed stunted and rushed. There was so much character development and neither of them ever felt predictable, so I was unpleasantly surprised when there wasn’t a huge revelation at the end!
DESIGN.
You know you judged this book by the cover. What did you think of it? How did it relate to the contents of the novel? And the font and layout of the pages? I think the cover design is fine, but nothing revolutionary. I do like the fonts used and the simple imagery of the ocean, but whether by coincidence or by design, it bugs me that the words form a letter T on the front. I don’t know why that should matter, but it does. This was an audio selection, so I can’t comment on the contents of the book itself, but I did really like the narrator. The book was easy to listen to and he didn’t make too many weird voices as he moved between characters. That is always especially annoying to me!
STARS.
How many out of five do you give this book? I’m giving this a solid three stars. I did like the book, but it wasn’t my favorite. This happens to me with thrillers quite often, but I loved three quarters of the book when I had no idea what was happening and my own imagination was bigger than the author’s. While the ending was fine, I didn’t feel like it was dramatic enough for the way the rest of the novel was built up. On the one hand, it was interesting to see how many small decisions can have major repercussions, but it didn’t end at all how I expected, and I was honestly let down a little. I probably would recommend this one to other readers, but I might would offer a caveat or two.
Thanks again to Rachel & Amber for hosting us this month. I can’t wait to see what next month’s prompt holds for us and get started searching for my next favorite book!
