Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher. Not sure there is a lot I can write about this book as made no impact on me at all and found I skipped large sections

Great debut novel. It grabbed me immediately wanting to read more and more - I couldn't put it down. The story of a mother's unconditional love for her child, exploring the complexities of relationships, it was a great fast paced story with the two strong women as the main characters. It certainly kept me guessing.

Thanks to NetGalley for my free copy and I thoroughly recommend it!

This is a riveting debut thriller about survival and family from Jessica Barry. In the Colorado Rockies, a private plane crashes, and remarkably, a battered and injured Alison lives, although her dead fiance, Ben Gardner, a Pharmaceuticals CEO is not so lucky. In Maine, Alison's mother, the widow Maggie Carpenter receives the news that her estranged daughter, whom she has not been in contact with for two years, is missing, presumed dead. A shocked Maggie's life is rocked, but she begins to harbour hopes and a conviction that Alison is alive, as she begins to delve into Alison's life in those two years and how she ended up flying on a private plane. The narrative is written from the point of view of Alison and Maggie, going back and forth in time as we come to understand exactly how Alison ended up in such a precarious and dangerous position.

Alison is desperate as she embarks on a battle to survive, with barely any supplies, full of fear, facing the forests, hunger and inclement weather, whilst danger stalks her every footstep. Will she manage to reach safety and home? Maggie becomes aware of just how difficult and rough Alison's life became in the two years, right up until her engagement to Ben. Maggie's storyline eventually connects with Alison as the truth eventually emerges. This is a story of complicated mother and daughter relationships, secrets, deception, betrayal, and intrigue, where little is as it seems. The two protagonists, Maggie and Alison are strong and resilient women, and their characters are compelling. I found this a fast paced, intense and gripping read with twists. It is far from perfect, but it nevertheless held me enthralled, wanting to know how it would all end. An entertaining read for sure. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.

Freefall is a fast paced debut novel. I loved the fact that Maggie wouldn't give up on her daughter. Though people were saying Ally is dead, she had this sixth sense that mothers possess that their child is still alive! And Ally herself found immeasurable strength and courage to get home to her mum. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.

A tense thriller that charts a difficult relationship between mother and daughter as Alison survives a plane crash against all odds and her mother never gives up hope that she is alive.

Freefall from Jessica Barry is a fantastic fast paced thriller. It starts with a private plane crashes in the Colorado Rockies. Allison Carpenter survived but, her Fiancé Ben perished. So Allison goes on the run. Instead of being rescued, Allison wants to disappear and not be found. She knows a terrible secret and if she is found, she will be killed, for what she knows.
The story is also about Maggie Carpenter, Allison’s mother. She hasn’t seen her daughter in two years. She finds out about her daughter is dead. At first she doesn’t take the news well and starts reliving her past when Allison lived at home and when her husband was alive. But, then she wants to find out about the lost years of her daughter’s life before the crash, even meeting Ben’s parents in the process.
I really enjoyed this. Especially Allison’s POV. How she manages not only to survive a plane crash but, also across mountains and states to get to her mother. It reminded me a bit of a film I saw some years ago. The author only feeds you little bits of information as the story goes on, to entice you to keep reading. You don’t know the full story until you get right to the end of the book. It was very engaging. If you like your thrills and spills this is the book for you. I highly recommend.

I enjoyed everything about this book, the characters, the suspense and the storyline with Alison running and hiding after a plane crash. However, the ending was a little too weak for me; being predictable especially when counting down the miles to her home.

Still, overall very enjoyable and a debut novel to be proud of; none of the review would stop me from reading her next book.

Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read and review.

An easy - yet interesting - page turner (I read this in less than a day). As a seasoned reader of this genre, I have to admit that I did guess - or rather, anticipate - some of the plot twists. That said, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of this novel - who doesn't enjoy being right?

The book has some good characters, and is written in two alternating voices - Allison and her Mum, Maggie - which always adds an interesting layer to this type of story.

I'd recommend this as an easy read for a holiday or train journey (or if - like me - you wake in the night and need to read a page turner to get back to sleep!)

My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in return for my honest review.

Absolutely loved this book. I could not stop reading it (although I had to). I felt that the plot was very unusual and very well drawn. The author has really captured the feeling of drama created by Alison's escape.
I do not want to give away any of the plot, so I will just advise anyone reading this to get hold of a copy and sit down and enjoy.
Wonderful stuff.

Well, this was a bit of a high octane thriller all the way through. We start with a plane crash, with Allison Carpenter the only survivor; the pilot not so lucky. But it soon becomes evident that not everything is as black and white as it should be, as Allison then fights for her life as she treks towards civilisation.
Meanwhile, we follow her estranged mother, Maggie, as she tries to come to terms with the death of her daughter who she hasn't seen nor spoken to in two years. As she hears about the fiance whose plane it was crashed, he who was killed. But, as Allison's body was not recovered from the crash site, she holds on hope that her daughter is still alive and that maybe, just maybe, there's still as chance of reconciliation. But, as she starts to uncover the truth, peel back the layers of her daughter's last few years, a really rather scary picture starts to emerge. One that explains the danger Allison finds herself in and starts to endanger Maggie's life too.
I'm saying no more about the plot as it is all rather interconnected and convoluted and to do so might spoil it for others. Suffice to say, it is very tightly plotted and well executed and had me going round in circles figuring it all out. Yes, I do have to admit to guessing something quite key too early for the reveal, but that didn't appear to spoil my overall enjoyment of the story all told as there was much much more to discover than just that. It really was layer upon layer of secrets and lies and contained more than its fair share of dubious behaviour from certain characters throughout.
Characterisation was good throughout with a nice mix of strong characters and a few that were more than intriguing. Yes I did have to swallow some of what Allison achieved, given her circumstances, with a pinch of salt but, with the rest of the book so gripping, I was happy to take one for that particular team. Maggie also managed to call on some hefty reserve and resolve as she also battled to get to the truth but, given her past, there is more to her than meets the eye and she handled her side of things with aplomb.
All in all, a gripping tale that hit the ground running and didn't let up until the very end, holding me captive for the duration. On further investigation, I see this is a debut novel - making me even more impressed and indeed intrigued to see what she delivers up for next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

After reading the blurb, I was hopeful this would be a good book and I was right. With lots of mystery, twists and turns, we read the story of Allison and her Mum from their own perspectives. Allison and her Mum haven't spoken for two years when Allison is in a flying accident and is missing presumed dead.
Allison can't quite come to terms with the fact her daughter is gone and starts to look into her life over the past two years. Meanwhile we learn about Allison as she has survived the accident and is running from someone trying to get herself back home. Will she make it in time? Will she survive the mountains with limited food and water supplies?
I found the book really easy to read and understand despite it skipping backwards and forwards in time to let us understand the present and past of the characters.

Brilliantly tense and gripping! Loved the way that the narrative flipped between Allison and her mother, slowly revealing why she was on the plane and why it crashed. Great twist too. Raced through it in less than a day and will definitely look out for more from Jessica Barry!

This is an exciting thriller that grips you from the first paragraph and does not let go until the final twist. This was a very easy, enjoyable read and I look forward to reading her next book.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and author for a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

It starts with a plane crash, the pilot is dead and Allison fears for her life. As news breaks her mother who has not seen her for over two years sees a very different daughter. Although Maggie is told her daughter is dead she doesn't believe it and sets out to discover the truth. Plenty of plot twists keeps you on the edge. Brilliant book from start to finish would recommend.

Wow this book blew my mind. I spent most of it on the edge of my seat and there were same amazing twists in there!!!

If you are looking for a really gripping thriller, then I would highly recommend Freefall. Absolutely enjoyed! Plenty of twists and turns and just when I thought I was beginning to think I knew what was going to happen next, so the story took another turn. Two great main characters – mother (Maggie) and daughter (Alison). What strength Alison had! I am not going to write what the story is about, as I prefer one to read it for themselves. A well thought out plot and i do hope to read more books by this author in the near future.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review.

This was an entertaining, fast-paced easy read with some exciting learning points on how to survive in the woods (hint: iodine tablets!)
I really liked the main characters as I do love an action-thriller with kickass female protagonists and felt the story zipping along nicely throughout. I’ll be looking out for more by this author.

FREEFALL is both simultaneously family drama and gripping thriller.

Split into dual narratives, we hear from both Alison and her mother Maggie – two strong women who have their own battles to fight and obstacles to overcome. Barry is gifted in creating an unique sense of individuality between mother and daughter, and yet managing to create subtle links in their personalities that hold the narrative together.

I read FREEFALL very quickly, with the easy prose and dialogue carrying the narrative forward with ease. The short chapters allowed me to dip in and out, although I found myself always wanting to read 'just one more'. My only thought is that much of Allison's perspective is her struggling in the woods, which of course is inevitable, but this – bar the flashbacks – felt a little slow, and stunted the narrative flow a little bit.

A enjoyable read!

I have enjoyed this story so much! We follow Allie and her mother Maggie following the aftermath of the plane crash; for the rest of the world, Allie is dead, but in the mountains, Allie is struggling to keep alive with a killer at her heels.

I really enjoyed the alternative POV's and the themes explored in FREEFALL, with commentaries on social expectations, post-partum depression, wealth and morality. I really appreciated what this story attempted to do and I think Jessica pulled it off really well. The writing flowed well and the short chapters helped to make this a fast read that I struggled to put down.

I did predict certain twists and turns and some of the things at the ending felt just a little bit too lucky for me, but overall it was a really enjoyable read and I am thankful to the publishers a copy of this novel; as always, my opinions are my own!

Freefall by Jessica Barry

4 stars

Love and power make uneasy bedfellows.

The novel opens with Allison waking in the aftermath of a plane crash. Against all the odds she has survived while the pilot is dead. However, Allison knows that staying alive may be harder than she can imagine.

Maggie is Allison’s mother and is making bread when she is told that Allison has been in a plane crash and it is unlikely that she has survived. Although they have been estranged for two years, Maggie knows her daughter and refuses to believe she is dead. She begins her own investigation to investigate Allison’s life and the circumstances of her journey on that particular day.

While Allison fights for survival, Maggie discovers a web of intrigue, secrecy and pure evil in pursuit of money. She is convinced that Ally is alive, but as time passes that hope fades.

The novel alternates between the two women's experiences over time, and there is plenty of suspense, misdirection and plots within plots.

I enjoyed this novel, and it was so nearly 5 stars, but perhaps I am too cynical, and I found the explosive ending lacked credibility


Pashtpaws


Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.