Just Fall: A Novel

by Nina Sadowsky

Perfect for fans of Patricia Highsmith and Gillian Flynn, this sexy and seductive debut novel asks: How can you find out that the person you love is a killer . . . and continue to love him anyway?

THEN

Ellie Larrabee’s life is perfect. She’s thriving at work, living in a fabulous apartment, and engaged to the man of her dreams. To all appearances, Ellie and Rob Beauman are a golden couple—blessed with good looks, success, and romantic chemistry that’s off the charts. Surely their future together promises nothing but happiness.

But on what should be the most wonderful day of her life, moments after saying “I do,” a shocking secret threatens to shatter Ellie’s happily-ever-after. She learns that the man she just married and loves with all her heart hides a dark past beneath his charismatic exterior. And the more harrowing truth she uncovers, the deeper Ellie is swept into a vortex of betrayal and uncertainty from which she may never escape.

NOW

On the island paradise of St. Lucia, Ellie isn’t basking in honeymoon splendor—she’s grappling with the chilling realities of her violently derailed life: Rob has blood on his hands and some very dangerous people on his trail, and only Ellie stands between him and the lethal destiny he’s facing. Rob never dreamed that Ellie would be dragged into the deadly world he’s trapped in—or used as a pawn against him. And Ellie could never have imagined how far she’d be forced to go to save the man she loves.

Praise for Just Fall

“[A] tense, wild fever dream of a debut.”—Entertainment Weekly

“What a terrific novel! Just Fall arrived in the mail this morning and I read the book in one sitting, which I haven’t done for years. Nina Sadowsky’s premise is original, her voice is clear, her storytelling skills are remarkable, and her pacing is perfect.”—Sue Grafton

“Character-rich and compulsively readable, Just Fall is a marvelous surprise. Exploring the universal need for family and human connection, and the costs incurred when those bonds are severed, Just Fall takes the reader on a wild ride through the psyches of two damaged people who hope to find redemption in each other. The writing is lush, the insights sharp. This novel is a winner.”—Diane Keaton

“Apt comparisons to The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl . . . The tension becomes almost unbearable. . . . The many plot strands are neatly woven together as the story hurtles towards its shocking . . . ending.”—Booklist

“Chilling . . . Sadowsky’s debut is an excellent foray into the depths of the depraved criminal mind and its control over others.”—RT Book Reviews (four stars)

“[An] intriguing setup . . . Sex and violence abound. . . . Ellie must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice for a man she only thought she knew.”—Publishers Weekly

“Impressive and memorable . . . [Sadowsky’s] creative abilities, honed in the film industry, are on display here. She knows just how much to give the reader, and when.”—Bookreporter

“A chilling story exploring the fine lines between love and hate, good and evil, Just Fall is a wild ride of unnerving twists and turns, right up to the last page.”—Andrea Kane, New York Times bestselling author of The Silence That Speaks

• ISBN10: 0399594175
• ISBN13: 9780399594175
• Publish Date: 22 March 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 7 June 2017
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Edition: International edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Just Fall is a dark, mysterious psychological thriller where the characters go to extreme lengths to hide what horrors they are capable of.



Just Fall is a well done psychological thriller where the layers of the story, and the layers of the characters are slowly unpeeled, until only the dark, ugly horror is left for the world to see. Told in several different points of views, and from both the past and the present, the story unfolds in a way that makes it hard to put the book down. At the beginning, it read as something between a love story and a horror story, where one of the main characters, Ellie, is observed by an external narrator who is speculating about what she is doing, and who she is with at a very dark moment.

I loved that there were several sub-plots that happened parallel to the main plot, and there were more than one story-line as well. I was immediately drawn in by Ellie, and her new relationship with Rob. They seemed to be such a normal couple in the beginning, but as their layers were slowly taken away, there was so much more to them than what met the eyes. Just Fall is the kind of mystery and suspense where the dark deeds of the characters are told with a certain detachment, and this detachment makes their actions seem both distant and somehow more gruesome at the same time.

More time was spent with Ellie and her inner thoughts than with the other characters, and that worked really well for me! While Ellie wasn't necessarily the kind of main character I usually fall for, there was something about her that made me want to know her story, understand the reasons behind what she was doing, and her want for love and understanding. As the story unfolded, it became more and more complex, but never to the point of not making sense, and I enjoyed everything that transpired on the beautiful island of St. Lucia.

If you are looking for a slightly muted horror story, where the characters move everything, and where you will be left wondering what is truly going on until the very end, you should pick up Just Fall and see just where it takes you.



The next five years were absorbed by Mary Ann's illness, like a sponge soaking up a rancid spill. Ellie's parents were always at the hospital or seeking out some experimental cure. Ellie's failures, her triumphs, her strivings and dilemmas, went unnoticed because Mary Ann took everything.

Stealth had stuck as a nickname. Ellie liked being called Stealth. It completely suited who she wanted to be in college, a departure from the inherited notoriety that had surrounded her when she was 'the girl whose sister died.' She was seen in her own right and had a cool nickname, one that also spoke to being unseen, which felt like a private little irony.