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Before the Fall: The year's best suspense novel Kindle Edition
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Noah Hawley
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherHodder & Stoughton
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Publication date31 May 2016
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File size1324 KB
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Product description
Review
High-class entertainment. (John Williams Mail on Sunday)
As a pacey whodunit...this is the perfect summer read. (The Times)
This is one of the year's best suspense novels, a mesmerizing, surprise-jammed mystery that works purely on its own, character-driven terms...Mr. Hawley has made it very, very easy to race through his book in a state of breathless suspense. (New York Times)
I started and finished Before the Fall in one day. That begins to tell you what kind of smart, compellingly dramatic read it is. So read it. (James Patterson)
There are some books...that stay with you long after you've read them. The characters are so real and because of this their fates matter. Before The Fall by Noah Hawley is one of these books. (Irish Independent)
Before the Fall is an astonishing, character-driven tour-de-force. The story is a multi-layered, immersive examination of truth, relationships, and our unquenchable thirst for the media's immediate explanation of unfathomable tragedy. (Karin Slaughter)
An addictive thriller whose thematic richness is reminiscent of Franzen. (The Sunday Times)
A searingly told, multi-layered portrait of celebrity in the modern world with a tantalising mystery at its heart...Hawley's sublime prose glows on every page in this literary thriller of the highest quality, which never loses its grip. (Daily Mail)
Hawley combines a thriller's tight structure and addictive narrative with characterisation and thematic richness reminiscent of Jonathan Franzen (The Sunday Times, Pick of the Paperbacks)
[A] Literary thriller of genius. (India Knight)
Book Description
From the Inside Flap
The extraordinary nature of their survival, combined with the fact that David Bateman was CEO of a populist TV news channel, means that Scott will not be returning to anonymity. Along with the orphaned boy, he is engulfed by a maelstrom of speculation, which soon overtakes the official investigation into the tragedy.
Who else was on the plane? Was there a bomb, a missile? Who is Scott Burroughs?
As the chapters drive towards their heart-stopping conclusion, weaving with ever-increasing suspense between the shocking aftermath of the crash and the intimate backstory of each of the passengers and crew members, Noah Hawley creates a searching, thrilling novel of love, fame, wealth, art, entertainment and power.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
About the Author
Noah Hawley is the author of three previous novels, including The Punch and A Conspiracy of Tall Men. He created and ran Emmy Award winning television series Fargo, the ABC television shows The Unusuals and My Generation, and wrote the film Lies & Alibis. Noah's short fiction has appeared in the Paris Review. He currently splits his time between Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Visit Noah's website at www.noahhawley.com and follow him on Twitter @noahhawley
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.From the Author
From the Back Cover
The extraordinary nature of their survival, combined with the fact that David Bateman was CEO of a populist TV news channel, means that Scott will not be returning to anonymity. Along with the orphaned boy, he is engulfed by a maelstrom of speculation, which soon overtakes the official investigation into the tragedy.
Who else was on the plane? Was there a bomb, a missile? Who is Scott Burroughs?
As the chapters drive towards their heart-stopping conclusion, weaving with ever-increasing suspense between the shocking aftermath of the crash and the intimate backstory of each of the passengers and crew members, Noah Hawley creates a searching, thrilling novel of love, fame, wealth, art, entertainment and power.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B017RKCC5G
- Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton (31 May 2016)
- Language : English
- File size : 1324 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 401 pages
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Best Sellers Rank:
90,165 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 54 in Aviation
- 234 in Travel Adventure Fiction
- 333 in Conspiracy Thrillers
- Customer reviews:
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After a private plane crashes, the truth of what happened on board is eked out in fragments; clues and red herrings buried in exquisitely-rendered life stories of the passengers on board. The result, despite the way the novel has been marketed, is not a thriller (and the whodunnit may leave readers frustrated). Instead, it's the best kind of drama; rich and emotional, with raw human stories that propell the narrative onward.
Like others, I found the story easy to read and I was particularly taken with the suspenseful opening chapters. It was an intriguing tale, though not the thriller I'd expected it to be. I did enjoy reading about the back stories of the different characters though and it was interesting to read about the course their individual lives had taken leading up to the crash.
Within the story, Noah Hawley explores the media's (and the public's) obsession with certain news stories. The author makes some bang on observations regarding how 'news' is now broadcast and how the media, in many respects, actually makes and controls the news they are feeding to us - often proclaiming that the public has a right to know all the details. Although I had guessed the reason for the crash way before the 'reveal,' I did nevertheless enjoy the style of writing, and did find myself highlighting a number of passages throughout. Not quite worthy of five stars but I would still be tempted to read further works by this author.
[SPOILER WARNING from hereon] Its strong points are that it's a genuine page-turner, as the central mystery of what led to the crash is very gradually revealed. It also taps into some key elements of general interest for its likely audience - the emergence of the super-wealthy class, the politicisation of 24 hour news channels, and the perils and problems of middle age. While these are enough to keep the reader engaged, the novel sadly doesn't have anything very interesting to say, as by the time we reach the rather lacklustre ending, it's clear that the main rightwing character in the story is a monster, that the Fox-type channel is wrong on all counts, and that our hero, despite all his grizzled flaws, really is as much of a hero as the protagonist of any other airport thriller. Mr Hawley chooses some very easy targets, and doesn't let any of them surprise us.
Hawley's success in other fields might have got him the good editor he needed, or it might have exempted him from editing. Sadly it feels like the latter was what happened. The attempts to alternate perspective are jarring, with some characters unable to support the weight of their allotted chapter of individual focus - the Israeli bodyguard is especially underdeveloped. Although the book is in part an attack on sexist attitudes, the female roles in the likely movie will not be particularly interesting or challenging. Brief shifts into historical detail (Jack Lalanne and the Montauk monster) are bluntly inserted into the narrative. The prose style is efficient enough for plot development, but not subtle enough to develop some of the deeper themes that are attempted. Finally, a book analysing the impact of the news media on modern life is remarkably uncurious and unreflective about how the scenario it sets up would play out in reality: the lead character, having survived an incident that would be on all national media, is extraordinary not only in his skill at avoiding the media, but also in avoiding almost anyone (except the implausibly helpful crash investigator) giving him any sensible advice at any point about how to deal with that until the last few pages of the book. No local mayor or politician or colleague of the deceased executive takes the chance, which they would surely seize on, to be his friend or offer advice. And yet, for all his naivete, and unsuitedness, when he does finally decide to take on the power of the media - well, yes, you guessed it.
There were two potentially interesting books here - the most prominent a pacy contemporary thriller with a touch of satire, the second a more reflective exploration of the values of the baby boomers and in particular of the connections between wealth, state power and news. What we have is an early draft which should have become one or the other, but sits awkwardly between the two. Nonetheless there is enough skill in the telling, and in particular in the plotting, to ensure most readers make it to the finish.
Instead, I got a rather thin plot, a lot of inconsequential background, and an ending which simply would not have been allowed to happen.
It's an easy read - it'll only take a couple of hours. Unfortunately I can't honestly say that would be time well spent.
Every single female character is simply a counterfoil for her husband’s/father’s wealth/repugnant personality. Not at all helped by the insipid voice used by the narrator for every piece of female dialogue. (I listened to the audiobook)
Noah Hawley has managed to produce an exquisite story that is made up of several layers and with a twists. The characters are "alive" and I found myself routing for 1 or 2 and really disliking quite a few of the characters. To the point where I felt genuine resentment towards them as if they were real people. It takes an incredible writer and an ingenious story to provoke such strong feelings towards an imaginary figure!
I sincerely hope that this novel is turned into a film or tv show as it has such depth and originality that it deserves to be picked up and produced for the big screen. I will certainly be reading much more from N. Hawley!