Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Not so much a 'who done it?', more a 'how on earth did that happen?' kind of book. It starts with a terrible accident, that may or may not turn out to be a crime, then tracks back through the lives of everyone involved to try and get at the truth.

Noah Hawley writes with such a comprehensive attention to detail and order that I wondered if he was a lawyer before he became a writer. A quick Google search reveals that his degree was in political sciences and he has also worked for the Legal Aid Society in New York City. Each of his principal characters are observed in detail to allow the reader to start putting together theories for themselves and all these bits of evidence eventually add up to the full picture.

Some scenes are very well written with just the right amount of tension to keep you turning the pages, but there were one or two places where I felt the methodology of the story construction slightly jarred against the flow of the story-line. The only reason I noticed this was that I have only recently finished Hawley's latest novel Anthem and in the space of time between these two publications his style has been polished into something outstanding.

If you have not yet read anything by Hawley, read Before the Fall first, and you will probably think it's brilliant because it really is very good. Then move on to Anthem and experience the power of modern thriller writing at its best.

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