Book Review - All Fall Down by Tom Bale

Amazon UK

Title: All Fall Down

Author: Tom Bale

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 1st September 2016

Rating: 3.5 Stars

You tried to save a life. Now you’re fighting to save your own.

It should have been an idyllic day for the Turner family – until a dying man, beaten beyond all recognition, arrives at their home, uttering the words, HELP ME. 

Rob and Wendy Turner and their children try to explain away the horrific scene as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in the days that follow their lives are threatened in ways they could never imagine. 

The family is unaware that they are being watched by someone with their own terrifying agenda, who will stop at nothing to fulfil their own twisted desires. 

But when hidden secrets come rushing to the surface, it’s clear not everything is as it seems in this happy family. Are the Turners a victim of circumstance – or does the key to their fate lie closer to home? 

Forced to fight for everything they hold dear, can they save themselves before time runs out – or will their act of compassion see them paying the ultimate price…? 

After devouring See How They Run earlier this year, and being incredibly impressed by it, I was hyping up All Fall Down in my mind, to be similarly amazing before I started it. However as I should know by now, hype is a dangerous thing and it only leads to disappointment. 

Unfortunately for the majority of this book I just didn't feel connected with the story, or the characters and or even when it was clear there is a huge amount of danger, I found myself not being worried, or scared, more oh well, never mind. 

I just found that the story for the most part didn't resonate with any part of my psyche, however it is a fabulous concept, the writing is certainly good, and there were sections where I did find the book utterly gripping, but they were few and far between. 

It certainly wasn't a story I was able to predict the outcome of, which I am very glad of, but did find myself wondering at times about the actions of the Turner family, and came to the conclusion I just didn't really care for most of them. 

That being said Josh, is clearly incredibly intelligent and a lot of his logic was a pleasure to read, and although I felt he wasn't great at social interaction, the dialogue he did get involved in, was to me one of my most enjoyable bits of the book. 

All Fall Down is a book that I'm sure is going to get a lot of praise and many people will love, however maybe due to way I'm wired, I just didn't feel it, and as a result can only look to the future and hope that the next book I read by Tom Bale, will be a more thrilling thriller, and will be back to being unputdownable for me. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this review copy. This was my honest opinion. 

Book Review - See How They Run by Tom Bale

Amazon UK

Title: See How They Run

Author: Tom Bale

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Publisher supplied review copy

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 6th May 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

How far would you go to save your family?

In the dead of night, new parents Alice and Harry French are plunged into their worst nightmare when they wake to find masked men in their bedroom. Men ruthless enough to threaten their baby daughter, Evie. 

This is no burglary gone wrong. 
The intruders know who they’re looking for – a man called Edward Renshaw. 
And they are prepared to kill to get to him. 

When the men leave empty handed, little do Alice and Harry realise that their nightmare is just beginning. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Who is Renshaw? And what is he hiding? 

One thing is clear – they already know too much. 

As Alice and Harry are separated in the run for their lives, there is no time for breathe in their fight to be reunited. And with their attackers closing in, there is only a choice: 

STAY ALIVE. OR DON’T. 

Terrifying, unputdownable and full of twists and turns, this stunning thriller will have you on the edge of your seat right to the very last page. 

Word of advice don't read the start of this book before you go to bed, and expect to have a great nights sleep. I made that mistake and found my dreams were troubled by the opening scenes of this book, and I suspect they will continue to affect me for some time. 

It must be everyone's nightmare to wake up in the middle of the night to find strangers staring down at you as you sleep, who are willing to threaten your 8 week old child, and are looking for someone who you have never heard of, but that they believe live in your house. And if you tell the police that these men were there, or if the person they are looking for says you did know him, that they will come back and kill you all. 

Well this is exactly the nightmare that Harry, Alice and baby Alice wake up to one night, and from then on their lives become a living hell. After a couple of poor decisions, they both end up on the run, separately all chasing down a common enemy, and its a few days of high action where they have no idea who to trust, who will end up alive, or if they will ever go back to their normal life. 

See How They Run is compulsive high adrenalin reading at its best, as you encounter all manor of unsavoury characters. One or two have half way decent motivation but on the whole greed drives a lot of people, and that is very apparent in this book. 

What gives this whole story a more humane feel to it, and slightly more palatable to the reader is that Evie is involved, and dealing with various situations with an infant who is still being naturally fed makes you really see people's true feelings. Evie is the most innocent party in all of this and she has a pretty good personality for a baby, and there were some moments of complete tenderness between parent and baby that made me smile in amongst all the chaos. 

See How They Run felt quite different to other thrillers I have read recently, in that its people fearing for their lives instead of watching a serial killer at work. There is very little police presence at all in the book, and its all about regular people (well and some criminal masterminds of course). 

I really can't say too much about the story, but I can fully understand that this could be quite rightly a hyped up release, as the book is that good. I loved the writing style and am amazed that I hadn't heard of the author before he was signed to Bookouture. Can't wait to see what other books he will release with them in the future. 

Thank you to Keshini Naidoo at  Bookouture for this review copy. This was my honest opinion. 

Happy publication day to Tom Bale. See How They Run is out now.