Orion The Fallen A heart-pounding London police thriller for 2024 for crime and thriller fans.

by John Sutherland

New Store Stock The Fallen A heart-pounding London police thriller for 2024 for crime and thriller fans ABISBOOK.

Genres: Thriller

384 pages, Paperback

Published August 29, 2024

About the author

John Andrew Sutherland is an English academic, newspaper columnist and author. He is Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.

Reviews

[Rosie Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The Fallen is an English political thriller set in London.

Superintendent Alex Lewis, a voluntary hostage negotiator, is called to attend Westminster Bridge where a woman is intending to jump.

Becca Palmer has been drowning her sorrows after a relationship break-up and the loss of her job in the Home Office. She is the one sitting on the edge of the bridge when Alex arrives.

As the story progresses, Alex is called out a second time when Becca returns to the bridge. Alex’s experience and compassion for Becca have him delving deeper into her boss’s activities which coincide with the work of an investigative journalist.

The author’s previous work in policing shines through in this story, especially his knowledge of the hardships inflicted by government cut-backs over many years. This is the second outing for Alex Lewis and I have not read book one The Siege; if I had, I may have empathised with Alex and his partner more. As it was, I was left wanting more in the way of character depth and development.

The story pace moved well, but was resolved rather quickly with an ending which didn’t quite fit the rest of the story in terms of some of the physical action. Overall an okay read, with a realistic account of British policing, but other parts of the storyline felt a bit lacking.

[Oundle Crime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this by chance when I was looking for something to read on my Kindle. Alex Lewis is a superintendent in the Met and a trained hostage negotiator. Called to Westminster Bridge he finds a very drunk and upset, Becca Palmer, who has just been sacked from her job as assistant to Simon Jones MP – the policing minister who’s tipped to be a future Prime Minister. Becca tells Alex she’s been having an affair with Jones and hints that she knows things that she shouldn’t. Alex and his partner Pip (who is also in the police) take Becca under their wing, and together with Becca’s sister find themselves trying to get to the bottom of a conspiracy. I was expecting this to be a run-of-the-mill police procedural but it isn't. The characters are believable and the story so well-paced that, as the novel nears the end, I found it unputdownable. So much so that I'm now tracking down the others in this series.
Review by Norfolk Gal, Oundle Crime

[Kaleb Steell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some areas were hard to follow mainly due to the police lingo along with the names of certain companies involved BUT otherwise very gripping and made me desperate to find out who was telling the truth (my mind went back and fore 20 times).

[Sandra]

Review is under a "c0ver yet to be issued" because Goodreads appear to have mis-identified the correct John Sutherland here.

[Lucie Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping, so well written, complete insight into police negotiation

[Linda Wallis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually finished this one 24 hours thanks to train journeys!
Great premise & characters...
Quite topical for now...really!

[Nicola Ankers · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Fallen By John Sutherland 👍🏽

An Amazing Read But It Does Contain Mental Health & Possible Suicidal Tendencies ⭐️

[Leah-May · Rating 3 out of 5]

there’s not much to say except this is a detective novel based in london. it’s an extremely easy read but i wouldn’t say that anything in this book shocked me

[Sydney Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow start but was very intriguing and made me want to know what happened next towards the end.