by Rachael Blok
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 stranger, Willow, who witnessed the jump, 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.
REVIEW
Willow is excited to be organising her first solo exhibition but also apprehensive to be attending the wedding of her twin sister later that same week. When she arrives to begin setting up at the cathedral late at night, things take a devastating turn when she witnesses a man falling to his death.
As the police start to investigate, secrets from the past start to come to light and it looks like Willow is at the centre of it all - but why? What do her family have to do with this apparent suicide, and is everyone exactly who they say they are?
After reading Into The Fire last year, I was so excited to pick up the next book in the series. What surprised me the most as I was reading was how different the atmosphere was in the two books. Into The Fire felt like an ultra-modern thriller with an unusual mix of British and Scandi crime, whereas The Fall was much more intense, delving into a secretive past - in a way, more of a historical family saga with a murder and a missing persons case to solve at the same time.
The other difference here was DCI Maarten Jansen. In the previous book, the story centred around him running the investigation, but we were also given a glimpse into his family life too. He features again in The Fall, but this time he seemed to be one of a group of main characters, with the focus more on some other members of his team and the people involved in the case. I really enjoyed this, and the different pace from the previous story. It felt more realistic to me and reflected the nature of police work in that each investigation is different as it develops and would therefore have a different atmosphere.
I loved the intricate nature of the mystery and how all of the pieces began to slot together. It was definitely well planned out and I enjoyed the story more and more as the secrets and twists were revealed. Another hit in the DCI Maarten Jansen series.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachael Blok is a best-selling author of the UK crime series set in the cathedral city of St Albans featuring DCI Maarten Jansen. Under the Ice, The Scorched Earth and Into The Fire are out now. The Fall is the fourth book in the series and is published tomorrow.
About writing, she has said: 'I'm constantly surprised how differently stories turn out on paper than in their original planning. Fiction has a life of its own'.
Follow her: Twitter @MsRachaelBlok; www.rachaelblok.com; Insta @r_blok
Thanks to @AriesFiction and @MsRachaelBlok for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Thriller
Product format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1838931742
Pages: 400 pp
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