All Fall Down [Paperback]

All Fall Down from the Voss/Edwards writing duo is the follow up to Catch Your Death and returns to the lives of the protagonists of that novel Kate Maddox and Paul Wilson. Kate, virologist and Watoto virus expert is called upon by the FBI when a strain of the virus breaks out on a Native American reservation. Partner Paul follows her to America and does some freelance investigating of his own still seeking explanations and retribution for the death of his twin Stephen.

The third novel from the Voss/Edwards team All Fall Down shows a positive strengthening of their partnership, faster, tauter, and an improvement in terms of their prose from Catch Your Death, the two writers have obviously become more comfortable with each other and the unusual demands of writing as a double act as a continuing professional development.

I was worried that Paul would feel somehow out of place or redundant but his storyline manages to maintain plausibility within an implausible circumstance.

I say this, because in summary of All Fall Down, it is a story in which a religious cult of lesbians attempt to provoke an apocalypse by means of biological terrorism. A snuff threesome occurs before page 150.

If this sounds silly, it's because it is, but it by no means harms the fun thriller purpose of the novel, in many ways this is the product for sale, a giddy race against time with a level of James Bond esque silliness expected from an action film. The moment when the girls break into the secret lab is particularly worthy of any Hollywood blockbuster in terms of the imagery you conjur up in your mind.

I have but one criticism : Jack. Imperiled Jack in this second novel is suffering from a case of Kim Bauer Syndrome, a reference which only 24 fans will truly understand, but reminded me of the second season in which Kim is needlessly hiding behind bins, being chased by coyotes and accidentally caught up in a shop robbery. The way in which Jack collides with characters first met by Paul is overly coincidental. Let Jack be happy at home with his LEGO next time.

I would recommend making sure you've read Catch Your Death first, and hey if you don't think a mad lesbian trying to wipe out civilization is the most original premise you've heard in some time, feel free to let me know of others you have heard of!

I really liked their novel Killing Cupid and the forthcoming novel Forward Slash looks like it is similarly formatted so I'm really looking forward to that.

Any fears I had that the ground-breaking and kindle-smashing writing duo of Voss & Edwards might drop the ball after the tremendous success of Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death were squashed quickly like a virus spreading mosquito within the opening pages of this new novel.

Opening with a powerful prologue which I found akin to Stephen King's The Stand, the scene is set for a new tale of the heroine from Catch Your Death, Kate Maddox, as she strives to battle a new and horrifying strain of a virus she has faced before. But this is anything but a retread of that previous book. With All Fall Down the writing team have upped the ante on every level with a juggernaut of a thriller, packing action into every page throughout its just over 450 page running time (and I do mean `running' along with jumping, fighting, racing, shooting etc). Imagine that Outbreak movie from a few years back, turned into a road movie, with the action of Die Hard and you'd be about there.

Voss and Edwards manage to juggle multiple scenes of peril, splitting their main character from her partner, Paul, and son, Jack, and placing each one of them in their own adventure in parallel - all facing different dangers, all racing against the same clock.

It's a timely tale too, with ebook launch on 20th December, just one day before the Mayan prophecy advises we're all bound for oblivion, as the novel features a cult-like band who are set on a re-start of sorts to the world, believing they will be the only ones immune to the virus and who will do anything to stop anyone with the powers or knowledge to possibly prevent the spread or to find a cure.

With most of the UK currently experiencing symptoms of the annual winter virus at this very moment - it's also a novel that will have you taking note whenever someone near you on the tube sneezes - will give you that niggling doubt in your mind...

...but don't doubt for a moment that Voss and Edwards are clearly here to stay and, with such strong writing and stories, they have just unleashed a viral product for which I really hope there is no cure.

Dose yourself up - you won't regret it for a moment.

Keith ([...])

I'm a bit of a sucker for doomsday thrillers and conspiracy theories, so I loved this book. The chilling, macabre prologue got me completely hooked.

I particularly liked the way that the story was constructed: the spread of the deadly Watoto virus throws the main characters together ... and then blows them apart again, leaving them to forge their own paths through the book. The story moves swiftly to and fro between the characters, offering tantalizing morsels of information as to their progress to uncover a cure, and the truth. But as the virus gruesomely eliminates more and more people, you get the sinking feeling that not all of them are going to make it back alive.

The menacing presence of a sadistic coven of damaged women really adds to the page-turning quality of this novel. Their role is slowly revealed as the story unfolds and I won't spoil it by going into it too much - but I found this a brilliant and fascinating facet to the plot.

And just when you think the ending can't get any more tense, it does! Well worth a read. It slides in front of the eyes very easily: pacy and gripping.