Book Review: The Fall

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Fall     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Michael Allen Dymmoch
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
St. Martin’s, August 2004, $22.95, 243 pp.

Professional photographer Joanne is snapping pictures of wild geese on her Chicago street when she sees a car hit another car. She takes pictures of the driver and memorizes the license plates. She calls the police and what starts out as an ordinary hit-and-run becomes murder when a person in the witness protection program was killed. The police and the FBI think the man that Joanne photographed was the shooter.

She cooperates with the feds especially sexy special Agent Minorine, but even with a police photograph using Joanne’s description, they have no clue who the hit man is. Joanne sees the shooter again and takes a better picture, enabling the FBI to identify a retired mob boss. They want Joanne to testify but if she does it mean her life is in danger and she and her son will be placed in the witness protection program. This is something Joanne is not willing to do so she comes up with a plan that will remove her from the authority and the mob’s radar.

THE FALL is Michael Allen Dymmoch best work to date, a brilliant psychological suspense tale in which the lines between justice and the law become so blurred that readers are left bewildered and uneasy. Fans will understand why the characters behaved in a certain way, but it goes against most people’s belief system. This crime thriller is one novel that readers will want to keep and reread, hoping to better understand how they really feel about the realistic deep ending.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner