This book is what nightmares are made of! I loved it.

A family enjoying a quiet barbeque on a Sunday are unaware that when a dying man shows up at their back gate, all hell is about to break loose.

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.

After that fateful Sunday odd occurrence start happening, and that is only the beginning.
A lot of the “happenings” could have been easily avoided if the father, Rob, pulled his head out of his ass. This would have also helped his family avoid a lot of hassle and pain.
This describes him perfectly…

“… the man was a blinkered, boorish oaf, obstinate to the point of insanity”

However I found all the other characters likable enough to make up for Rob’s abysmal attitude throughout the book. However I must say that his arrogance, whilst it made me want to hit him with a shovel, definitely added to the story line.

This is a well written psychological thriller, which vaguely reminded me of the movie ‘The Strangers’. If you are looking for a book with plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat I highly recommend this book.

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.

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I am a huge fan of Tom’s, I’m not going to lie! I unapologetically fangirl on Twitter because I really enjoy his work so I was more than a little excited to read All Fall Down a MONTH before its release! Having read and LOVED See How They Run earlier this year I was thrilled to get this one!

All Fall Down is twisted and brilliant in equal measure. To be fair, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I started it but that opener certainly sealed the deal in that I was hooked immediately and cursing the fact that I had to leave my kindle down to do real life stuff! I mean come on, do I have to make dinner? I’m at a really good part!!!! (Nobody went hungry, don’t worry!)

Tom Bale has a way with words. His writing is enough to give me the heebie jeebies about everyday, mundane things. Like locking your door at night (SHTR freaked me out for a while after that!) and now I have to contend with making sure our gate is locked too!!!! I don’t like being freaked out Tom!!! *evil eyes*

Scolding aside (he knows I love him really) All Fall Down is a super grippy, page turning rollercoaster of a book! I couldn’t fault the pace, I’m surprised my Kindle is in one piece with the speed I was page tapping towards the end if I’m honest!

I’m an absolute sucker for action in a book. And All Fall Down has it in spades. The characters are excellent too! A mature family is a departure from the characters in SHTR, and it seemed to give Tom much more scope in terms of what they may have experienced in their lives and pasts which gave them a bit more depth and made them seem knowledgeable if that makes sense?!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Tom Bale as the ability to put ordinary characters in extraordinary situations and still manages to keep the momentum going within the plot. All Fall Down is a whirlwind of a book, it will pick you up, spin you around and throw you back down to the ground with a bang!!!

#ALLTHESTARS for this one!!!

Tom Bale has gone and done it again, another breath taking story that had me totally gripped from page one.

How can an ordinary family barbeque end up so un ordinary? Well in All Fall Down we find out and its roller coaster of a ride. Mr Bale has a way of writing a story that feels so real, we have an ordinary family who have flaws and secrets and their life is turned completely upside down. Each character feels real, and well described and are easy to get to know quite quickly. Unlike See How They Run who were a family with a baby the Turners in All Fall Down have older children which gave this book a different pace.

Opening with a bang I found the story slowed down a bit and gradually built up keeping me intrigued and it really was a guessing game all the way through which I loved. I’d say the first half of the book we are getting to know the characters, a piecing together if you like and the second half is a close your eyes and hold on for your life kind of read.

I often wonder how an author will fair with a second book when the first is such a big success but Tom Bale has produced another cracker of a read. It’s suspenseful, realistic, breath taking and just blooming brilliant.

All Fall Down is one of those books that starts off mundane enough – a family barbecue in the back garden, on a beautiful day, until it’s ruined by a knock on the garden gate. A man is fatally injured, whispers, “Help me” and all of a sudden the Turner family are thrust into a nightmare of epic proportions. I was so intrigued with the start to this novel – who was the man? Was he sent to the Turner’s garden for a reason? Was there more than meets the eye of the Turner’s? WHAT WAS GOING ON? I was gripped. I wanted to know more – and the short, snappy chapters helped immensely, because they always seemed to end of a bit of a cliff-hanger so that you had to read just one more chapter.

It takes until half the book to understand what is really going on with the Turner’s. There is heavy, heavy suspense and you just KNOW something bad’s going to happen, but you aren’t quite sure what it is. You don’t know if the Turner family are just being paranoid – perhaps the girl on the doorstep, claiming to be a friend of Evan really IS a friend of Evan. Maybe they’re black sheep of a son Josh took the old laptop. Yet you’re never 100% sure and much like Mark and Wendy, I was just as confused, waiting for the ball to drop, waiting for the villain to reveal itself in all its glory. It all seems to just be pootling along, until you get to that 50% mark and then all hell breaks loose and it’s intense.

I kinda feel like this was more of a plot driven novel than a character driven novel – that it just happened to be the Turner’s who found that man and I didn’t really feel like I knew enough about the family to care too hard about them – why did Josh leave? Why did he avoid his family’s calls? What was the deal with Georgia? There was a lot left unsaid. Yes, we lear Georgia’s history but we never know what happened with Josh, why he seemed to ignore his whole family. It all seemed to hinge on their family holiday to Norfolk and I’m loathe to really talk about it because it’s just so hard to wrap your head around, it will literally blow your mind.

I really, really enjoyed All Fall Down. It was a different thriller to what usually happens – no one went missing! There were no unreliable narrators! It was gripping, thrilling and so incredibly hard to put down. I honestly could barely believe what I was reading – it seemed so fantastical and yet.. There are people like that in the world. There are people who do what happens to the Turner’s and I just keep wondering how I would react in a similar situation (hint: I would die, let’s be real). This is my first Tom Bale novel but it certainly won’t be my last, because I enjoyed it so, so much. It had such a compelling plot, such a good voice and it’s one I’ll remember for ages.