thank you to head of zeus publishing for providing me an arc through netgalley.

some spoilers ahead!

overall, i liked this book but it fell a little flat for me. the premise is intriguing- multiple deaths happening in the same place, history of the towns old mental hospital, there’s a lot going on. the story is told from multiple point of views that appear to all be happening at the same time. we have willow, dci jansen, a little girl named alice, and a few others.

when we first met alice, i thought she was the daughter of one of the other characters - michael. but she isn’t and once the timeline is revealed, the rest is pretty easy to figure out.

overall a good story, but nothing keeping me on the edge of my seat or reading *just one more* chapter.

Dark, Devastating…
A fall or a push? A verger discovers the body of a man seemingly having fallen from a high church tower. A dramatic entrance in this dark and devastating literary thriller incorporating a police procedural aspect and a solid mystery at it’s heart. With a pacy narrative, a heavy atmosphere, a credible cast and an intriguing storyline this is perfectly constructed and the short, snappy chapters add to the sense of growing unease and tightly wound tension. Both compelling and absorbing.

The Fall is the 4th book in the DCI Jansen series however I only realised this when pulling information together for my post as the book reads perfectly well as a stand-alone. It is my first novel by Rachel Blok and I am looking forward to reading more of this series now.
When an elderly man falls to his death from the roof of the cathedral it initially seems like a simple suicide but as information begins to emerge, there is more at play that it first seemed. This is a tricky book to review without giving anything away but it’s a really enjoyable, slow burner of a crime book with literary features and a focus on mental health – particularly historic stigma and effect
The main narrator of the story is Willow, who is visiting the cathedral to show an exhibition and also for her sister’s wedding (which happens to be to one of the detectives on the case). Willow is a witness to the fall and the more the investigation learn, the more Willow’s life and history becomes entwined. Willow also has to put up with the tension between herself and her sister as the build up to the wedding puts more strain on their relationship.
There are also chapters from the perspective of Alice, a young child which also give insights into the crime. I like the way these were written, very childlike and innocent. A very interesting perspective to see things through.
The cathedral and it’s grounds provides a very atmospheric setting for this plot, kind of like a malevolent figure always casting a shadow onto everyone and everything. I found this a very clever use of a building.
In the beginning, The Fall may seem a little confusing with lots of characters and jumps in time but it really does cleverly pull together. The Fall is not the fastest paced detective novel but it is meant to unravel slowly and it really does become addictive.

"Secrets don't stay buried forever. Even those cast in stone."

After a long day of travel Willow Eliot finally arrives at St Albans ready to prepare for her exhibition. But in the darkness she hears a scream and witnesses a body falling from the cathedral in the shadows. Did he jump or was he pushed? And are the fall of a young man who works at the cathedral a few days later and the disappearance of Willow’s twin sister connected or simply tragic coincidences?

A story of sins, secrets and suspicion, this literary thriller hit all the right notes for me. Taut, tense and intricately woven, it takes us on a twisty journey as past and present merge together and dark truths are slowly revealed. This book was my introduction to Rachael Blok and I didn’t realise that it is the fourth instalment in a series until I had almost finished reading. But that means I can tell you it makes a great standalone as I never felt like I was missing out on anything or confused about what was going on.

Told in three parts from multiple points of view, I loved the very different voices the author chose in which to tell the story. I found young Alice’s chapters were especially compelling and powerful, drawing into her tragic story. Many of the characters are keeping secrets, some of them with the power to shatter entire lives, leaving us with a complex puzzle to solve that looks nothing like I thought it would.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was that it is rich in history. But it is an awful history that dates back to the psychiatric hospital, Hill Barnes, a bleak, grim place where people were sent when they didn’t know how to deal with them, often committed for what now seem like trivial reasons. Behavioural issues, epilepsy, a wife disagreeing with her husband and being a young mother could all see you committed and subjected to barbaric treatments that did more harm than healing. It is a potent reminder of how we used to treat mental health and those we didn’t understand.

Dark, twisty and captivating, The Fall is a great read for anyone who enjoys a steadily paced thriller.

Thank you to Sophie at Ransom PR for my invitation to the tour and to Head of Zeus for my e copy of the book via Net Galley.

A dramatic start to the story as Willow arrives late at night to the Cathedral, she is organising an exhibition about a local poet, for the museum she works at. She thinks she hears screaming but dismisses as the wind, but is horrified when she is confronted with a tragic death. Was it an accident or was it suicide ?

DCI Maarten Jansen is called to investigate the death of Joel Braxton. There was a similar death in the 60s that some people remember. Are they connected with each other? I really liked Marteen as a DCI he is very humble and has a humility that is not often seen in fictional detectives.

Willow is also in the area for her twin sister Fliss’s wedding which is also being held at St Albans cathedral. Fliss is a bit of a bridezilla and there is a tension between the two sisters, which really kicks off at the exhibition launch.

The book is told from different perspectives, Willow, Marteen, and others. I don’t want to reveal too much as I don’t want to spoil the experience of reading the story cold.

This was my first book by Rachel Blok and I really enjoyed it, it was easy to follow and I did not feel like I had to catch up, with the other books before reading this story. It is fast paced and engrossing I read in two sittings. The characters are well written and real, I was surprised on my occasions and I really like that in a book. Twisty, shocking and a devastating story of secrets hidden and lives destroyed by the past. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series. One of the best thrillers I have read this year and I love discovering a new author . Excellent.

5 stars *****

Even if it's a bit slow at the beginning it was a gripping and fascinating read, well written and riveting.
The solid mystery, the multiple layer of this story were a pleasure to read and I appreciated the storytelling and the character development.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Fall is described by the publishers as a ‘literary thriller’ but don’t let the word ‘literary’ put you off because the writing is no less accessible than a typical contemporary crime novel. The ‘literary’ element is perhaps the fleeting references to Paradise Lost, Milton’s epic poem telling the biblical story of the ‘Fall of Man’ (the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden). Paradise Lost is a text that means a lot to Willow Eliot. Her grandmother, Nonie, read it to her when she was young and some very early drafts of Paradise Lost form part of the exhibition she has organised. I’m not sure if I’m reading too much significance into it but there are also a number of characters in the book with names drawn from the Bible – Michael and Gabriel (who were both archangels), Joel, Noah and Martha.

The first part of the story unfolds quite slowly and is narrated from the points of view of Willow Eliot, one of the witnesses to the verger’s fall from the roof of the cathedral, and DCI Maarten Jansen, the police officer in charge of investigating the case. Although The Fall is the fourth book in the author’s series featuring DCI Maarten Jansen it can easily be read as a standalone (as I did). In fact, those who don’t have much time for police procedurals can be reassured this doesn’t form a major element of the book. It’s much more about buried family secrets that gradually emerge.

Every so often another point of view interrupts the modern day story, that of a young girl named Alice. Set in the 1960s, hers proves a very powerful and emotional story that touches on the stigma attached to mental illness and neurological conditions at the time, and the harsh and often ineffective treatments sufferers were subjected to. I thought this was the most compelling element of the book and it also forms another connection to the subject matter of Willow’s exhibition.

Running alongside the police investigation are preparations for the marriage of Willow’s identical twin sister, Fliss, to Sunny, one of the detectives in Jansen’s team. I have to say I admired Willow’s patience with Fliss who seemed to me entirely self-absorbed and prone to temper tantrums I didn’t think could just be put down to wedding day nerves. Although I appreciate the author was seeking to explore the notion of the special bond between twins – for reasons which will become apparent – personally I could have done without this element of the story. Fliss’s antics are one of the reasons why Willow seems to spend remarkably little time attending to the exhibition she has organised although it does provide a key to the eventual solution to the mystery. Along the way, the author skilfully directs the reader’s suspicions in the direction of just about every character.

St Albans Cathedral makes a suitably atmospheric setting for the book and I’m sure I won’t be the only reader prompted to search for images of the building, especially its tower and roof.

The Fall is a carefully constructed crime novel set in an interesting location that offers plenty of surprises in the closing chapters.

The Fall is a gripping thriller about trauma, loss and how the past has a habit of creeping up on you.

This book's enticing cover lures you and the story grips you from the very beginning, when Willow Eliot witnesses someone fall from a Cathedral she is supposed to be working at. Willow is also in town for her twin sisters wedding and over a few days there are a number of incidents at the Cathedral that leave DCI Maarten Jansen puzzled.

The Cathedral is the main focal point for this novel, with Willow being the main character that links everything together - she witnessed the fall, she is hosting an exhibition at The Cathedral about an old psychiatric hospital and its her twin sisters wedding that the town are all preparing for.

Whilst the police initially think this is a case of suicide, the strange events that occur afterwards lead to a deeper investigation that dig up the past. A past that certain people would rather see buried. As the story evolves we find out that Willow's own family have a big part to play in the once buried history and we start to see how its all connected.

I enjoyed how the story comes to a climax at the end, the development of the characters throughout is brilliant and the different twists and turns add to the thrill. I could not put The Fall down and wanted to know more from each page I read. This is a well written, dark and intriguing tale.

This is my first read by Rachael, but I am now on the hunt for more.

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the chance to read and 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.

Review by Kelly Lacey

Having read Under The Ice by Rachael Blok and making it my book of the year for 2018. I am perplexed as to how I have missed the other books in the series. The Fall is book FOUR in the series and I have promptly purchased books two and three. However, I hasten to add that the books can be read as stand-alone.

Hailed as the new literary thriller from Rachael Blok, The Fall will be published on the 14th of April, 2022. I have to add a note for readers who do not enjoy or are put off by the literary tag. I myself do not enjoy literary fiction. It is just not a good fit for me as a reader. Ms Blok’s writing is beautiful and extremely to the point and not long-winded. For me, this is definitely a psyclogocial thriller. So don’t let that literary tag put you off.

You know when you are falling in a dream and the fear is so very real and you jump awake in bed and the relief floods through you. Well unfortunately for one poor soul in The Fall they don’t get to jump awake. Our main protagonist Willow is the one to witness the deadly fall after having just arrived in St Albans. What a welcome!

Willow is a very relatable and likeable character. As she endeavours to have her very own exhibition. The universe (aka Rachael Blok) has other ideas for her. I really enjoyed the dynamic of the family. They felt real and relatable.

The book treats us to threads of stories from the past. I felt like a detective trying to piece everything together. I really enjoyed that new tangents of stories were thrown in and not once did I feel bored. If anything I wanted more. I did not guess the ending which is a huge bonus.

A dark and thrilling whodunnit with memorable characters and exquisite writing.

Four Stars

This is the fourth book ft. DCI Jansen. Willow is in town for work and to attend her twin’s wedding when she witnesses a man fall to his death from the St. Albans Cathedral. The next day another man falls from the same spot. The story is told from three POVs and at first it was hard to suss out how they all hung together. It does come nicely together at the end. Thx to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It all began more than fifty years ago ...
Willow is in charge of her first exhibition for the museum she works for. Traveling to St. Albans Cathedral has taken much more time than anticipated and Willow arrives in the middle of the night. Hearing some strange noises, she’s not sure if it’s just the wind or if someone needs her help. Timing couldn’t be better with her exhibition as her twin sister is getting married in the same cathedral at the end of the week. As the week progresses, and the police are investigating a fall from the cathedral tower, Willow is brought into the spotlight. When there’s a second fall and her twin goes missing the night of the exhibition party, there’s even more evidence pointing toward Willow. What’s really happening at St. Albans and what deep dark secrets that have been buried are finally coming to light and will Willow be able to prove her innocence and find her twin before it’s too late? This book was quite the twister, but didn’t flow as well as it could have. Even so, it was a good read.

The beginning of the book started a bit slow for me and even at 40% I thought the book was lacking pace. However the second half of the book flew by and I couldn’t put it down until I finished. I didn’t really know how the characters interlinked but I enjoyed how it all came together at the end. Definitely worth a read as the twists at the end were just unreal.

An enjoyable and unusual read.

The book got off to a good start but then seemed to slow down a little after the initial inciting incident and I had to push through the next few chapters before the pace picked up again. The author sowed enough seeds throughout the first quarter of the book to make me want answers as to how everything tied together.

An interesting idea and I liked the dual timelines- Alice’s story was particularly compelling. Parts of the book were quite poignant.

Several of the characters were pretty unlikeable, even stretching credibility at times, but not enough to detract from enjoying the book.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A very well written book, with lots of dark and sinister activities involved. It is dark and gritty and atmospheric. A well written enjoyable read.

The Fall is a haunting literary thriller about loss, trauma, silence, and how our past shapes who we are. Masterfully written, this novel will reel you in and hold you enthralled as the layers of story are revealed.

This book starts with a dramatic prologue, which really hooks you. When someone falls off the roof of St Albans Cathedral the police believe it to be suicide, there are no signs of a struggle. The man was 80 years old, why had he climbed to the top of the building? Willow Eliot has just arrived outside the cathedral it’s 2 am in the morning she had hoped to have arrived earlier but a car accident on the motorway had delayed them. She is doing an exhibition in the cathedral, the first exhibition she has ever done. But as she is standing outside waiting for the boxes to be put inside until the morning she thinks she hears someone shouting, but puts it down to the dark, maybe it’s foxes until…….

Initially after the prologue the story is little slow on pace but then it gradually picks up, the tension grips you as you are reading. DCI Maarten Jansen and his partner DI Adrika Verma are assigned to look into the case. Was it suicide or is there more to it. Not only is Willow there for the exhibition but she is also there for her twin sister Fliss’s wedding day.

But when other things happen Maarten is feeling pretty certain the first person to die didn’t commit suicide. But as they gather information the suspicion falls on one person. But what is the motive. As the Detectives begin to dig deeper, They begin to wonder if somehow the death is linked to the past. But then someone disappears, why?

The story is told in a dual timeline with Alice’s point of view back in the 60’s and Willow and Maarten’s points of view from the present. But what can it be that links the past and the present. There are quite a number of suspects, along with some clever misdirection. There are times the story is quite dark, as we learn more of what went on at Hill Barnes which had been an old mental institute. Some of the cruelties that were done there were quite barbaric, The worst part of it is that these things did happen.

I felt the author got the balance of this story perfect, with secrets from the past finally coming out, mixed with a sense of danger, familial disagreements, along with the setting in and around the cathedral. You are drawn in, not knowing which way things are going to end. I have to admit I was absolutely blindsided by the end. I just hadn’t seen it coming. The author has clearly researched the cathedral as there were some interesting bits of information which added to the story. This was an engrossing, suspenseful, gripping edge of your seat read. With great characters, that are likeable, believable and relatable. If that’s what you like in a book then grab yourself a copy of this you won’t be disappointed.

I would like to thank #netgalley and @AriesFiction for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair nod unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are mine and have not been influenced in any way.

Did I like the book?

The Fall by Rachael Blok flew before my eyes like a movie. Not in the “exceptional twists and explosions” sense of the term. In the “those images are now etched in my memory” way. I could visualize each character clearly. I even felt I was in the pages myself. Right there, in the shadow of the cathedral. So yes, I really liked this book.

Did I enjoy reading it?

The Fall has been described as Rachael’s “ new literary thriller” Now, if you know me, you know I don’t do well with anything “literary” Partly due to the trauma that was English lit at uni, partly because literary fiction too often makes me feel dumb, as if I didn’t hold the keys to understand their world. But don’t be scared, for here you won’t find inexplicable metaphors, long-winded sentences that make so sense, or the weirdest words no living being uses. The literary touch comes from the beautiful intensity of the author’s writing. There’s a chill between those pages that simply stop time and keep you reading, as if falling willingly into the darkness. You think you know what you’re in for, but you don’t.

What did I feel?

Horrified? Imagine getting to St Albans for two happy reasons and witnessing a man fall from the roof of a cathedral, in the middle of the night, after a long day. Hello, ominous start! Willow is not welcomed to St Albans the way she expected, and she is definitely rattled. Is it the fall? Not only. The entire atmosphere of the novel gave me shivers. The tour de force of the author is to bring beauty into the darkness. Emotions are palpable, people are shaken, the entire place is falling into pieces, to unearth past crimes, mistakes, pains.
Willow is a character I took pleasure in following, which I think is always a bad sign as my favorite characters often go through the worst ordeals! As if witnessing one death was not enough, she is then faced with events that don’t seem related but feel somehow tied together, as if invisible strings were being pulled in the shadows. The author did an amazing job at blending the past and the present while giving her characters enough space to live and play their parts.

Oh and the haunting presence of St Albans’ Cathedral adds a dramatic tone to the brilliant plot, as the old cold lady witnesses the worst and the best in people.

Did I crack the case? Nope! I loved being led on by red herrings, not finding my way out of the maze created by Rachael, and spending a few hours suspecting everyone.

How would I describe it?

Atmospheric, high-quality crime fiction, deeply emotional.

Anything else to add?
I like visiting churches and cathedrals but now I’ll have this story in mind when I do!

I love it when you can picture the setting so clearly. St Albans was a Friday night haunt for me many years ago. I haven't been back for a few years and after reading this,I intend to remedy that.
I read Rachael's previous book Into The Fire last year and really enjoyed it.
This is another case for DCI Maarten Jansen and his side kick Adrika and Sunny.
A verger is found dead at the cathedral at 1am. Was it suicide or was he pushed?
Willow has an exhibition at the cathedral about the mental hospital Hill Barnes.
Are the two linked?
This is very cleverly written. The plot entwines two families and what happened 50 years ago.
This has a lot going on which keeps the reader turning the pages.
I look forward to reading more DCI Maarten Jansen cases.
Thanks to Netgalley and Zeus for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Got to be honest - this is exactly why I don't do heights. It's not the being up high bit that bothers me so much as the potential for falling to my death, which is exactly the fate that befalls the victim of Rachel Blok's latest novel, The Fall. This is the first time I have read a book by this author, but I was drawn into the narrative straight away, intrigued as to why the might be facing such a tragic fate - and it is no done deal at the start of the book, not quite anyway. There is clearly something that has happened, something we are not yet privy to, and it got my brain ticking over immediately. It's quite an awful way to be dispatched, and in such an iconic location. But that is just the start, the mystery that follows, part murder investigation and part missing person case, is twisted, intelligent and altogether consuming.

I really liked the Detective pairing of DCI Maarten Jansen and DI Adrika Verma. They are both intelligent, solid characters, not swayed by the fact that the case takes an unexpectedly personal turn for one of their team. There is a solemnity to Jansen as a character, but I found him easy to get to know and a good character to spend time with throughout the course of the investigation. He has a real instinct for what is happening around him, and is not swayed unnecessarily by the seemingly obvious nature of the case. Suspicion may be pointing in one direction but there is more to the case than meets the eye, something we, the readers, are privy to that Jansen and co thus far are not.

There is a kind of duality to the story line and cut away scenes which feed our understanding of the bigger picture, but not necessarily how you might think. I thought I had an idea, but I was wide of the mark at times, and there is plenty of misdirection, and a whole host of potential suspects, although the motive is not immediately apparent for any of them. There is a really dark edge to this story, one which tugged at me on an emotional level and completely rewrote the way I felt about what was happening and what had happened. The book really does touch on key social issues, including mental health, abuse and dark family secrets, and although there are little clues here and there, you need to be very canny to spot them.

This is perhaps a slower paced story than a lot I have read of late, very deliberate and literary in style, but it works perfectly in this case. There is a sense of jeopardy, of there being secrets just waiting to be revealed, that kept me on edge throughout, but with a brilliant cast of characters, and a very vividly portrayed setting, I was completely immersed in the story from start to finish. I definitely feel like I need to go back and read the books I've missed so far in the series. Tense, intriguing and with a beautifully structured storyline, this is a book I could heartily recommend.