‘The Fall’ by Evie Hunter

Synopsis

Victim or villain?

She’s out of prison…

Lauren Miller has served six years behind bars for a crime she did not commit. Now, with her life in tatters, she is determined to bring those who framed her to justice.

Out for revenge…

Journalist Nate Black is intrigued by Lauren’s story. Is she the innocent victim she claims to be or is there more to her past? Eager to learn more he offers to help Lauren clear her name and bring the real villains to justice.

And running out of time.

But with millions of pounds still missing, Lauren remains the prime suspect…and the main target in an increasingly deadly game. And as Lauren’s plan with Nate reaches its shocking climax, no one knows who will ultimately take the fall…

My Review

Prior to being invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘The Fall’, I must admit that I hadn’t come across Evie Hunter before.  I love discovering new authors and so without further ado, I dived straight in.  Overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Fall’ but more about that in a bit.

I can’t really say that I especially warmed to the character of Lauren Miller and I certainly didn’t trust her.  There was just something that set off little alarm bells for me.  It could of course be the fact that I have read too much crime fiction and I assume nothing, believe nobody and challenge everything.  She is released from prison after serving a jail term for financial crimes.  She is adamant that she wasn’t working alone but nobody appears to believe her.  After her release she keeps herself to herself and works hard in the little café in the layby.  To a degree, Lauren is not looking forward to her ‘secret’ location being leaked and her past catching up with her.  However, Lauren is also determined to take her revenge on the person who she claims was just as involved in the crimes as she was.  What happens?  Well for the answer to that question and so much more you are going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out.

I must admit that for me, the story was a little slow to get going.  I think the fact that there was a fair amount of financial and legal jargon towards the beginning of the story and I switched off a little bit.  However, once the story got going that was it and I was away.  Rather than read this book in one long reading binge, I binge read it over the course of a few days, which actually helped me to enjoy the story.  I had my own ideas as to what was going to happen so I had to keep reading to see if I was anywhere near the truth or I had the wrong end of the stick entirely.  I would become so wrapped up in the story that I would lose all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the story.  I found ‘The Fall’ to be an interesting read, which kept me guessing and kept me on my toes.

‘The Fall’ is well written.  The author certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and then reel the reader in as it were.  For me, the story did hit the ground running and maintained a fairly fast pace throughout.  This is one of those stories where the tension levels increase gradually and gather momentum before ending in a dramatic conclusion.  Reading ‘The Fall’ felt like being on an times scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.

In short and overall, I did enjoy reading ‘The Fall’ and I would recommend this book to other readers.  Fans of Kerry Barnes and Kerry Kaya will particularly enjoy ‘The Fall’.  I will certainly be reading more of Evie’s work in the future.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.