During their Sunday barbecue, a beaten and tortured man stumbles into the Turner family’s backyard. While trying to brush the tragic and terrifying event away, each member has their own suspicions that it may not have just been a random act of violence.
Why this book?: I’ve been trying to find a good thriller for ages, and saw this one on NetGalley. Had to give it a try!
I would like to thank the people at Bookouture for allowing me to have an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
It’s hard for me to put my feelings down in text for this book, and for that, I don’t know why. My feelings weren’t over the top or disappointed-in fact, I was quite happy with how this book turned out. But, for some reason, I can’t figure out just how to say what I need to say.
Plot twists and surprises GALORE
After about 50% in, that it. The beginning started fast, going from one thing to another and it was just so refreshing. In all my time trying to find good thriller/mystery novels, I usually end up finding them with such slow beginnings and even slower endings, with everything in the middle one huge lump of confusion.
In All Fall Down, it’s different.
While it does slow down considerably in the middle (opposite of what I usually find), when it hits the 50% mark, you will not want to put this book down. One thing after another after another were revealed, each and every one of them seemingly coming from nowhere. And the best part? There were hints and foreshadowing all through out the beginning and middle-ish part, pointing towards what was happening. But everything I guessed ended up being wrong.
A real family with the full, not perfect, package
Meaning-the children bicker, the parents don’t get along 100%, and there are arguments, fights, and disagreements. But in the end, they still loved each other, and that was what really made this book amazing.
No one was perfect-Rob had anger issues, Georgia was in the moody teenager faze, and Josh and Evan weren’t all buddy-buddy just because they were twins.
This book felt so life-like, while at the same time making me feel “That can’t happen. Oh, no, that cannot happen.” The funny thing is that exact reasoning was debated within the book-the Turner’s used that reasoning to comfort themselves.
Final Rating: ★★★★½☆
Overall?
Overall, this is probably the best thriller novel I have ever read. Except for the really slow part between 25%-50%, I loved it. I found very few problems with it, except for one or two things that irked me. Normally, the addition of those things would have dropped it down to a full 4 star rating, but the ending was just phenomenal.
Would I Recommend?
I will most definitely be checking out more of Tom Bale’s books after reading this one, and will be recommending it friends and family. If you are looking for a heart-stopping thriller, look no further.
Additional Information:
Published: September 1st, 2016
Publisher: Bookouture
Page Count: 398
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Synopsis: via Goodreads
You tried to save a life. Now you’re fighting to save your own.
It should have been an idyllic day for the Turner family – until a dying man, beaten beyond all recognition, arrives at their home, uttering the words, HELP ME.
Rob and Wendy Turner and their children try to explain away the horrific scene as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in the days that follow their lives are threatened in ways they could never imagine.
The family is unaware that they are being watched by someone with their own terrifying agenda, who will stop at nothing to fulfil their own twisted desires.
But when hidden secrets come rushing to the surface, it’s clear not everything is as it seems in this happy family. Are the Turners a victim of circumstance – or does the key to their fate lie closer to home?
Forced to fight for everything they hold dear, can they save themselves before time runs out – or will their act of compassion see them paying the ultimate price…?