Fall Girl

by Toni Jordan

[Leah]

When I noticed Fall Girl by Toni Jordan on Amazon earlier this year I was intrigued. I’d never heard of Toni before, but when I read the synopsis of Fall Girl I really, really wanted to read it. It sounded really different to any Chick Lit novels I’d ever read before so when I saw it available as an e-book I downloaded it to my Kindle and started it immediately, because it sounded totally awesome and totally brilliant.

Fall Girl is Toni Jordan’s second novel and is reminiscent of Hustle (the UK TV show where a group of hustlers scam rich people) and Leverage (an American TV show about a group of con artists who provide ‘leverage’). I absolutely adore both shows. Leverage is my favourite so when I read Fall Girl was all about a family of con artists, I couldn’t wait to read Toni’s interpretation of con artists and grifters. As soon as I started the book I wanted to rush out and become a grifter. (I know, I’m easily led.) I thought Jordan pulled off the novel beautifully, and whilst watching the US Open one night I completed almost 70% of the book in a few hours because it was just so readable.

The Gilmore family have made their living off grifting; from pulling scams on rich people and never leaving a trail. When Della Gilmore decides to try and scam millionaire Daniel Metcalf, it becomes her biggest con yet as she find herself desperately trying to convince him to give her the money. Trouble is, to pull it off, Della has to be convincing as a scientist, as Ella Canfield. However, Della can’t shake the feeling that there’s something slightly off about Daniel, but despite being an expert people-reader, not even she can tell what it is. I found the plot fascinating. I mean, seriously excellent. So many novels are run-of-the-mill and Fall Girl is a breath of fresh air and despite the fact not many people will want to read a novel about a group of con artists, I did and I loved it.

Despite Della’s job, despite what she does, what her family does, I found them fascinating people. I found it fascinating that her father brought up his children to be grifters (I love that word) than to let them go to school. The entire family reside in one large house and I loved how close they were. I mean, the trust they have despite the fact they’re all grifters is something else entirely. It’s a bit hard to keep up with all of the Gilmore family – there’s loads of them – but they all made their mark and I enjoyed how they all pitched in to Della’s con as she tried to lure Daniel in to her trap. I found the dynamics between Della and Daniel to be so fascinating. The mark and the grifter as they tiptoed around each other, it was like a game of chess particularly as Daniel affected Della the way no mark ever has before.

Fall Girl was brilliant. The ending was slightly confusing – I have no idea whatsoever who Daniel really was and I felt that could have been explained a little better, but apart from that niggle (yes, I like my endings wrapped up in neat bows) I loved the book. Toni Jordan has tapped into the grifter’s life excellently and I loved reading about Della and the rest of the Gilmore’s. I’ll be going back to read Toni’s debut novel now and I’d thoroughly recommend Fall Girl. If you like Hustle or Leverage or you want a Chick Lit novel with a different, then Fall Girl is for you. The grifter life fascinates me, at least fictionally it does, and I’d love to see more novels like this because it was very well-written and very, very enjoyable.