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Book Review – Freefall – Jessica Barry

Freefall by Jessica Barry

Genre: Crime Thriller/ Women’s Fiction

Published: 8 January 2019 by Harper Books

Swathi’s Rating: 4/5

Verdict: A surreal, fast-paced journey of a woman who tries to survive despite the mistakes of her past.  

The galley of this book had been waiting on my Bookshelf for almost 6 months, and every time I had to fight the urge to pick it up and read ASAP but I had to wait until it’s January, when the paperback is published! It’s finally out of the bag and flying in bright colours around the world, which means you could order your copy anytime now!


Plot:

When your life is a lie, the truth can kill you

When her fiancé’s private plane crashes in the Colorado Rockies, Allison Carpenter miraculously survives. But the fight for her life is just beginning. For years, Allison has been living with a terrible secret, a shocking truth that powerful men will kill to keep buried. If they know she’s alive, they will come for her. She must make it home.

In the small community of Owl Creek, Maine, Maggie Carpenter learns that her only child is presumed dead. But authorities have not recovered her body—giving Maggie a shred of hope. She, too, harbors a shameful secret: she hasn’t communicated with her daughter in two years, since a family tragedy drove Allison away. Maggie doesn’t know anything about her daughter’s life now—not even that she was engaged to wealthy pharmaceutical CEO Ben Gardner, or why she was on a private plane.

As Allison struggles across the treacherous mountain wilderness, Maggie embarks on a desperate search for answers. Immersing herself in Allison’s life, she discovers a sleek socialite hiding dark secrets. What was Allison running from—and can Maggie uncover the truth in time to save her?

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Swathi’s Review:

This book is a total package for a Hollywood flick featuring strong women leads and some not-so-important men for the scandals! I hear they’re already gearing up for a movie, and if it’s true – it’s going to be HUGE! Let me share a few points I enjoyed reading this debut thriller. Come, read with me please!

The chapters shift between the mother & daughter – Allison and Maggie Carpenter each facing a trauma and fighting to overcome the tough times.

Now, Allison plays the main role as the story spins around her as she wakes up after the plane she was traveling has crashed and the pilot is long dead. She is struck all alone in the forest and has a long way to go until she finds another human being. Somehow she is afraid someone is coming after her and they’re not letting her walk alive into the world again. She is badly injured, but she is determined not to die there. Whatever it takes to survive in the woods, without water and some squirrel food, it’s not going to be an easy thing to try.

While she walks into the forest, she is faced by fear, hunger, rains, and when she is tired she is hallucinating – thinking about her late beloved father, and her mother whom she hadn’t spoken to for the past two years! As she starts hallucinating, we get to look at her past, when she struggled to get a job in the city, detaching from her mom, and finally meeting her fiancé Ben Gardner – the pharmaceutical CEO. She surrenders herself to the wealthy, gentle Ben who is her saviour from her ‘spirals of self-destruction’.

Meanwhile, there is Maggie Carpenter – the determined mother who has been mourning her husband’s death and losing her daughter over a dirty secret. When she hears the news of her daughter’s death reaches her, she just can’t believe it. She starts digging into her daughter’s life only to find that the Ally she had known all her life is completely different. It’s like she never knew her own daughter.

But she wouldn’t let it go, would she? She digs and digs until she is so close to finding out the politics and scandals surrounding Ally’s new life and what might have possibly caused her disappearance. Is it too late before the truth comes out? You will have to read to find out!

Final Thoughts:

As I read along, I could see two different women – One is a matured, believer of life while the other is still getting to know the world by doing mistakes and wanting to correct herself. As a mother, all Maggie knows is this sweet, brilliant girl Ally used to be and the little family of theirs was just perfect. Allison though, has had her rough days trying to be independent in a city, hunting jobs and ending up waitressing in a low end pub.  It’s shocking how self-destructive she had been, with her degree and all her good looks. She could have been anything she wanted, but she settled with the wrong ones, putting herself into danger.

I liked the style of narration, the way the chapters shuffled between these women and a killer tracking Allison through her trail. Credits to Jessica’s fast paced storytelling that keeps the reader hooked to know how/if she survives! Although, I could predict the climax a bit earlier than the end, it was an absorbing read and I read it in a single sitting.

Do I recommend this book to my fellow Thriller lovers? Hell, yeah! You’d have a great time and you might learn some survival techniques if you’re ever struck in a forest with no water and little food!

Thanks to the publisher for my ARE. All opinions are mine and they are unbiased.


Author Bio:

Jessica Barry is a pseudonym for an American author who grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and was raised on a steady diet of library books and PBS.

She attended Boston University, where she majored in English and Art History, before moving to London in 2004 to pursue an MA from University College London.

She lives with her husband, Simon, and their two cats, Roger Livesey and BoJack Horseman.

Click here to read her Interview.

Find her on Twitter @jessbarryauthor and Instagram @jessicabarry9 

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