A nicely layered novel set in rural small town USA. Engaging cast of characters, all with a lifetime of shared history.
For me, it was more a question of "how", than "who". The missing person was such a jerk. It honestly could have been anyone.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Amberjack Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion.

In Fallen Mountains a sheriff takes on his final case and attempts to solve a missing persons report prior to retirement. Grant alternates chapters between present time as the sheriff works the case and looks back to the events leading up to the circumstances surrounding the disappearance. I found this to be a unique way of writing suspense in comparison with other novels I've read recently. What was disappointing to me is that I found the characters to be rather flat and that the storytelling heavily relied upon vivid descriptions of setting rather than development of the plot. The ending was somewhat unexpected which I appreciated, but overall I found the book somewhat dull.

"The summer's heat arrived in Fallen Mountains like a winged thing, swift and startling: the pansies drooped, the lettuce bolted, the trees shook off their buds. As Red walked back to the police station from the diner, crabapple blossoms, pink and white and wet, dropped from the trees that lined Main Street and stuck to his shoes"

Fallen Mountains is the story of a small town in lumberjack country, USA. It's a story of the Sheriff, Red, and the interconnected lives of the families that live there and a current day mystery that stirs up memories of a crime that was committed 17 years before.

The novel is written in alternating chapters of "before" and "after" Transom's disappearance.
By the end though, I didn't really mind if they found him or not, it was more about closure of the story. And frankly, guy was a jerk.

The chapters spiral towards the end, closer and closer until before and after converge
Hopefully your favourite characters are absolved
Hopefully they find Transom
Hopefully Red can finally hand in his resignation

Trigger warning... author is obsessed with guns. It's a gun happy town.

Superb. Coming from a small town myself, I love to read books with small town settings and dark secrets. You will not be disappointed with this one. I highly recommend it. The cast of characters will keep you turning the pages. Thanks to Amberjack Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The vivid detail created in this book is amazing! I was hooked from the first chapter. The characters are so well developed, you feel like you're from Fallen Mountains. Even though there are a lot histories from each character given throughout the book, Grant does a wonderful job crafting the characters backstories together to seamless tell one complete tale from multiple angles. I'm a die hard fan of Ron Rash and this novel reminded me of his sometimes southern gothic tales.

An interesting story about growing up and hard times. The people dealing with life and loss. You'll feel with them and for them. This will keep you guessing up till the end.

This was an enjoyable mystery which takes place in a small rural town. The atmospheric setting and the description of relationships between people of a small town, and between people and the land made this book a great debut novel. The mystery in the book keeps you wanting to read and find out what happens, but it is not an "on the edge of my seat" mystery. The book is well written and the author did a great job in pulling the reader into the story. I've connected with all the characters, but especially Chase...I could feel his emotions and understand how he was connected with the land, and why his relationship with Transom changed so drastically, from brotherly love to dislike and disgust. I would like to read more from this author in the future. Thank you Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for a great read!

Fallen Mountain is a suspense/thriller that will not let you down. It will keep you guessing right to the end.. Great read. I also like the way the author seamlessly jumped from then and now and between suspects.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — William Faulkner

This quote is shared early in the book and is the major theme. As we get to know the characters, both the young and the not so young, we see how their past circumstances and choices echo through time and haunt their present.

This is a very readable, fast moving mystery which takes a look at some of the darker sides of human nature, especially as experienced in small towns: depression, parental neglect, marital problems, gossip, teenage cruelty.

Recommended for mystery fans, and those interested in the dark side of rural, small town America.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC to review. For a first novel this was wonderful.
I loved the split narrative - past and present mixing the double narrative nicely so you can understand events in their entirety without compromising the pace.
The fact that you never really know until the very end what has happened to Transom is well planned and executed by Grant. You can understand why every character in the novel would want him gone. He was a horrible human-being with little to no morals.
The rural setting in Fallen Mountains allows you to totally buy into the big city oil companies raping and pillaging their way through the picturesque landscape. So you soon realize that the story is a family saga but also an environmental commentary on the Fracking Industry and its disregard for the small town and its folks..
The characters are all broken and flawed from historical issues and bullying incidents but each of them is a likable and worthy of some empathy, including in a way Transom but only at the very end.
Chase, who has lost every person he loves, has fallen on hard times due to historical mismanagement of the farm, he is swindled by his best friend - Transom.
Laney has been in love with both boys but has never admitted it to anyone, she finally chooses Chase and Transom holds their secret over her future...
Thomas (Possum) is Transom Bullying project - their history is long and sordid and rather dangerous - Possum has never shared this history with his cousin Laney but it altered him in significant ways.
Sheriff Red could have changed a few trajectories had he been able to speak his mind earlier, but he made some very hard choices and thus allowed some things to happen that he regrets...
Every single person has a reason to hate Transom and to exact revenge but who and why will keep you riveted to the words on the page.
Excellent first novel. Hauntingly good.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I'm shocked to see that this is Kimi Grant's first novel, her writing kept me invested in the story. I love that it is set in a small down where everyone basically knows everyone and everyone knows their secrets.
The son of the only rich party in the town has gone missing and its a mystery of who was behind it. Was it his best friend, ex-girlfriend or the boy he bullied in HS?
The book starts a little slow, but as it goes on, you realized why it started off slow, Grant was laying the foundation and then slowly became building the suspense. Great read and really hard to put down.

Great whodunit filled with rich characters and an interesting plot. Grant tells the story in alternating before and after sequences which does a great job of building the tension. She also approaches each of these flawed characters with compassion, allowing the reader to fully see their humanity. No one dimensional characters here. My only complaint was that after the big reveal, there was no epilogue and by then I really cared about the remaining characters and wanted to know what was going to happen to them. Sequel?

What an impressive debut!

I'm a sucker for mystery novels set in a small town with its own hidden secrets, a story line full of unexpected twists and characters that are complicated enough and full of surprises. With her gripping and atmospheric debut novel Kimi Cunningham Grant has really hit the mark.

Trust but verify. Is one of the messages this book delivered. But not only.
Excitingly suspenseful, very good written, with multilayered characters and absolutely unputdownable. I read it literally in one sitting.

Highly recommended!

Usually books set in a sleepy, small town focusing on a small set of characters don't appeal to me. But I have to say that this story proved my previous assumptions completely wrong and I actually really enjoyed this story. It's always good to try something new!

The story follows the disappearance of the wealthy and charismatic Transom Schultz, and moves between the past and present in order to reveal what happened to him. I found these time jumps so well done in this book, sometimes it can be a bit monotonous but in this case it was a perfect way to introduce the other characters, reflect the close knit community and build suspense.

I think one of the most refreshing things for me in this book was the portrayal of small town life and the impact that all of these individuals can have of each others experiences. It wasn't just a straight up mystery or thriller, it had some heart to it and some life lessons.

We're left to wonder what happened to Transom, was it his ex girlfriend whose trying to cover her back? or the town loner who is finally getting his own back? Or most worryingly, his best friend who feels betrayed?
I
don't want to spoil anything in case any of you want to read the book but just know it all comes full circle and the story wraps up in a way that's both believable and tragic - some of my favourite endings are somewhat sad, I wonder what that says about me? I'm not sure!

Thank you #Netgally for letting me read such an amazing book. Simply put, this book has no flaws in it. Although the book is written in a way that it fluctuates between present and past, the author still maintains a smooth flow in terms of storytelling and manages to capture vividly the life and people living in small towns, their hopes, their problems, their secrets, etc. An excellent debut! ❤️

The haunting yet beautiful cover – that’s what drew me to this book, and I don’t regret picking it up.

Transom Shultz—son of the only rich person in the small town of Fallen Mountains—goes missing. Who could be behind his disappearance? Is it his best friend, Chase Hardy, whose farm Transom had bought and damaged irreparably? Is it his ex-girlfriend, Laney? Or is it Thomas Miller, the boy Transom bullied in school? It’s up to Sheriff Red to solve the case, but Red is hiding a secret too.

Grant’s first novel "Fallen Mountains" is brilliant. I could hardly find any fault with this book. True to its cover, where dark clouds can be seen over the horizon, Transom’s disappearance threatens to plunge the lives of Chase, Laney, Red, and Thomas into chaos. The story is gripping from the beginning till the end. Grant uses simple yet apt words to describe vividly the characters, their actions, and even the picturesque scenery. She seamlessly alternates between the past and the present to craft a spellbinding mystery tale.

The beginning is slow. Grant introduces the backstory of every character and builds the suspense gradually. Notwithstanding the slow beginning, I could not leave the book since I wanted to untangle the complex web of secrets and lies. She lifts the fog of mystery gradually, and till the last page, I was on tenterhooks. Further, she has an unusual ability to give voice to every emotion of a character. Throughout the book, she reminds her readers that “the past is never dead.” The haunting unraveling of the mystery coupled with the attention to detail makes it perfect for a reread. Fans of mystery tales and character-driven dramas will love it; however, action-buffs will not like it. Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked Fallen Mountains. It easily combined the now and the then for a seamless reading experience. I love small town books, especially ones like this. I would definitely recommend. Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.

Fallen Mountain by author Kimi Cunningham Grant is a chilly, intense mystery\literacy fiction novel that holds interest and does not disappoint! I will definitely be recommending this book to others.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of Fallen Mountain in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good. Such a great debut. Techincally the author has a memoir under her belt, so let’s say fictional debut. Small town stories (and this is very much a small (population around 950) town story, it’s title is the name of one) are conducive to a sort of almost forced intimacy, where lives are interwoven, fates interconnected and secrets seldom properly covered up. And so when the prodigal son of the wealthiest man in town returns only to disappear soon after, it brings up a lot of dirt that’s been resting under various rugs for many years. Transom is charismatic, popular with the ladies, seemingly generous with his old friend…or so it seems. The truth is much darker, the intentions are much less altruistic. But then again he’s walking back into an emotional charged situation, several situations, really, that have been slowly simmering all these years, trapped much like the characters themselves in this tiny microcosm. It can’t be safe, it won’t be safe, when it all boils over. So it’s that kind of a story, very well executed. The author creates a number of complex, realistic, likeable (and some not so much) characters and really draws you in, you become emotionally invested with them so that in the end it’s immensely satisfactory to see each one given a resolution, something very much like closure and a way forward. There is even a strong element of suspense, Transom, after all, has given cause to be hated by more than one person, so there’s a police investigation and, even when you think you know the ending, a very welcome surprise. A very plot appropriate one, a closure moment. It’s just a very well rounded story well told. Although as compelling as the narrative is, this is very much a character driven work, quiet lives of quiet integrities, quiet desperations and small graces to rise above it all. While normally small towns can be sinister in many different ways and genres, this one is well worth an armchair visit. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

A hugely atmospheric book wherein you find yourself caught up with a small group of characters in small town America. The destruction of the land through fracking and oil drilling is palpable. It's like a microcosm of attitudes towards the destruction wrought on the land for the sake of financial reward. The sharp contrast between Chase's love of the land and Transom's love of money is so sad. The relationships between the group are complex as they have been interwoven from childhood. I liked that I genuinely wasn't sure who the culprit was until I was told! It won't rock your world but it's a really good read and food for thought regarding the way we are treating the earth.