This Fallen Prey: A Rockton Novel (Rockton, #3)

by Kelley Armstrong

A new spine-tingling thriller from the bestselling master of edge-of-your-seat stories.

When Casey Duncan first arrived at Rockton, the off-the-grid, isolated community built as a haven for people running from their pasts, she had no idea what to expect. There are no cell phones, no internet, no mail and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. She certainly didn't expect to become the town homicide detective. But, the very last thing she expected was for the council to drop a dangerous criminal into their midst without a plan to keep him imprisoned. And she never thought that she'd have to be responsible for him.
    
The longer Oliver Brady stays in town, the more people seem to die around him. When evidence begins piling up that someone inside Rockton is working as his accomplice, Casey races to figure out who exactly Brady is and what crimes he's truly responsible for committing.
    
With dangerous secrets and heart-stopping twists, This Fallen Prey is Kelley Armstrong's most gripping thriller yet.

• ISBN10: 125015989X
• ISBN13: 9781250159892
• Publish Date: 6 February 2018 (first published 30 January 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 August 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Chelsea]

I'm not gonna lie, I kept my expectations a little lower for this book because I tend to have issues with books in the middle of the series. They need to be there but they don't usually have as much action as I like. Maybe this method worked for me because I really enjoyed reading This Fallen Prey. It helps that I love Casey and Dalton (and not so little Storm).

The plot moved at a fairly fast pace and there was a lot going on so there was never a point where I was bored. I was trying to put all the pieces together near the end and was surprised to see how wrong I was. A lot did happen in the last few chapters though so it took some time for my brain to figure it all out. There was one sub-plot surrounding a little girl that I'm still a little confused about but it was far from bad. I'm also getting a little tired of the counsel threatening Dalton but I know that part is a set up for the next books for sure. Besides that, the plot moved along until the very end.

I was a little disappointed that we didn't seem to get as much Casey and Dalton time in this book. I mean there was a crazy thrill-killer on the loose so it makes sense, but my favourite part of this series is the relationship between Casey and Dalton. I always have so much fun reading about them. Storm was wonderful as always and I'm really happy we're seeing her grow up!

Can't wait to read the next book!

[justine_manzano]

I'm a huge Kelley Armstrong fan, and I'm usually the first to tout her amazing character development and twisty storylines. I also love the Casey Duncan series, the characters, and the setting of Rockton. However, every series has its weak link, and This Fallen Prey was it.

Loaded down with too many plot twists, this book was mostly a series of one incident interrupting another, interrupting another. The solution to the mystery seemed somewhat implausible, particularly the fact that Casey ever puts the pieces together.

Still, an iffy Kelley Armstrong book is better than most other books to me, and the characterizations (which are really what I go for in a book) were dead on. I still love following around Casey, Eric, and Will, even if the path got a little too far into rough terrain this time around. The mysteries of Rockton, the town itself, still enthrall, so I'm hoping the next one eases up on the distractions and the overburdened mystery plots, and goes for something a little more solid.

Sticking with this series, but unimpressed with this installment.

[Melanie]

Review originally posted at RabidReads.ca.

I’m so excited to be back in Rockton. I fell in love with Casey, Sheriff Dalton, Deputy Anders and the rest of the Rockton residents (well, at least most of them) in the first book and it only grew in the second book. Now to be in the third book, I learn more about some of the residents and more about the secretive council. We also get to meet some of the residents of the First Settlement, a group of people who left Rockton to live in the wilds.

So this story starts off with a plane flying into town. This should not happen. Only Dalton flies into town, so who is this person coming into this secretive town? A man is delivered with just a note. The residents of Rockton are to keep this man, an alleged serial killer, prisoner until other accommodations can be made.

There are reasons to believe that this person might be innocent. The man claims to be, but aren’t prisons full of innocent people? Casey has no reason to trust the council. They’ve proven themselves untrustworthy on more than one occasion and that is just since Casey has been there. She would like to investigate this crime, but it is hard to do when you don’t have internet and can’t leave the town of Rockton.

Things really go sideways when this man escapes and runs out into the woods. People start turning up dead, which makes Casey question his innocence after all. There seems to be a sniper out there shooting at them. When people from the First Settlement end up dead, things go really wrong.

This story is just as fast paced as the previous books. It might even be a bit faster. Casey and Dalton barely have time to sleep. There is a lot with Storm, Casey’s Newfoundland puppy. She is training her to be a police dog, tracking and some other things. She is integral to tracking down this alleged serial killer in the woods, but she is still early in her training and causes some really large issues. She also learns that not all people love her, which is new, as the only dog in Rockton.

I had a great time with this story. There is quite the cliffhanger at the end. I know when I was listening, things were just going along and all of a sudden, the story came to an end. This isn’t something new for Kelley Armstrong. She does seem to leave a lot of cliffhangers out there. Not in every book, but often enough. It will be difficult to wait a whole year to find out what happens. If you haven’t tried this series, I highly recommend it. Kelley Armstrong is known mostly for her paranormal stories, but she is great as a straight up Thriller writer too. I’m a fan of her Nadia Stafford series too.

Narration
I continue to love Thérèse Plummer’s narration of this series. There are more men than women in this story (a product of what Rockton is), but she handles the large cast of men with ease. We do meet a young girl from the First Settlement in this book. I think she did a good job with making the voice of a teenager. I would highly recommend Plummer as a narrator. I love her narrations. I’ve found that I’ve enjoyed her narration of other series too.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[kimbacaffeinate]

While one could technically argue that each book in the Casey Duncan series contains a case/mystery/problem that is resolved I would strongly recommend starting from the beginning. World-building, character relationships and an overall storyline allow for connections, create tension, and well let's face it, Armstrong has created a brilliant and addictive series.

Protecting a small secluded town that depends on the collective resources of its residents is complicated enough, but Sheriff Eric Dalton and Detective Casey Duncan will soon face their biggest threat yet. The council sends a new temporary resident. A charismatic serial killer, whom they are supposed to guard.

Oliver Brady arrived bound and gagged with a recommendation to keep him that way. Brady is soon protesting his innocence with an outlandish story. The arrival of Brady highlights just how closed off from society this remote town is. Having no choice but to adhere to the council's wishes, they place Brady in their small holding cell and begin working on better accommodations. The story that unfolds was intense, with plenty of twists, and non-stop heart-pounding action.

I love that the townsfolk are a relative mystery, even to Eric and Casey as they try to solve events, look for co-conspirators and keep the town safe. It creates an edge in each of the books. You will come to love some and want to keep others in your peripheral vision. We continue to see a strengthening of the relationship between Casy and Eric. While there is a romance, the mysteries, murders, and danger are center stage. The romance and relationships serve to strengthen the stories.

This Fallen Prey was a brilliant installment that not only provided an engaging tale about Oliver Brady but allowed us to spend time in the woods surrounding Rockton. We get up close and personal with the Others, deep in the woods surrounding Rockton. This encounter was downright chilling. Armstrong has a diabolical mind, and I loved every moment of it. We meet a council member, see death and become caught up in a wicked game of cat and mouse. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer