Book Review #109
Before the Fall
by Noah Hawley
This is an extremely well-written novel, highly suspenseful, with well-drawn characters and a story line that has you hooked until the very end. The book is also an exploration into the psyches and lives of the various characters, up to the time of their doomed flight and beyond its aftermath.
If there is a love story of sorts, it is between Scott Burroughs, the reluctant hero, and J.J., the four-year-old boy he rescues, when the small plane they are on crashes into the ocean. Their relationship is tender and heartbreaking.
On the other end of the spectrum there are at least three reprehensible characters who are manipulative, damaged and self-destructive. Their presence alone is enough to induce anger and disgust in any reader.
I read the book at a rapid pace. But as I approached the end, I found the events too intense for comfort. I dreaded reading about the inevitable plane crash and who ultimately was responsible for the awful fate of the passengers. So for two days I put aside the book and picked it up again yesterday and read it to its conclusion, even rereading the final pages to clarify certain points in my mind. In the end, "Before the Fall" is a terrific read and one of the best thrillers I have read in quite sometime.
by Noah Hawley
This is an extremely well-written novel, highly suspenseful, with well-drawn characters and a story line that has you hooked until the very end. The book is also an exploration into the psyches and lives of the various characters, up to the time of their doomed flight and beyond its aftermath.
If there is a love story of sorts, it is between Scott Burroughs, the reluctant hero, and J.J., the four-year-old boy he rescues, when the small plane they are on crashes into the ocean. Their relationship is tender and heartbreaking.
On the other end of the spectrum there are at least three reprehensible characters who are manipulative, damaged and self-destructive. Their presence alone is enough to induce anger and disgust in any reader.
I read the book at a rapid pace. But as I approached the end, I found the events too intense for comfort. I dreaded reading about the inevitable plane crash and who ultimately was responsible for the awful fate of the passengers. So for two days I put aside the book and picked it up again yesterday and read it to its conclusion, even rereading the final pages to clarify certain points in my mind. In the end, "Before the Fall" is a terrific read and one of the best thrillers I have read in quite sometime.
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