All Fall Down

By Erica Spindler

Murder? Or justice…?

Men are dying unexpectedly in Charlotte, North Carolina – all victims of bizarre accidents. Or so it seems, until Detective Melanie May realises these men had something in common: they all slipped through the fingers of the justice system, accused of abuse but allowed to walk free.

It looks like someone is taking justice into their own hands. And the more Melanie investigates, the more she begins to fear it might even be someone she knows. But one thing is certain, this killer will stop at nothing until all fall down. . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Sep 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781408956588

Erica Spindler

New York Times bestselling author Erica Spindler has written many novels, including Breakneck, Blood Vines, Watch Me Die, Bone Cold, In Silence and Last Known Victim. Her books are published in 25 countries. Raised in Rockford, Illinois, Spindler planned on becoming an artist, and earned visual arts degrees from Delta State University and the University of New Orleans. But one day in 1982, she picked up a romance novel and was immediately hooked. She soon tried to write her own romance, but it was when she leapt from romance to suspense that she found her true calling. Spindler has won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for excellence, the Kiss of Death Award, and has been a three-time RITA Award Finalist. She lives just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband and two sons.

Reviews for All Fall Down

[triciadm_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think I have read this one...

[chrissywest · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To me this book was not as good as some of Spindler's previous novels, However I really enjoy the characters and their development. I liked the basic idea of the story, the climax and conclusion were well put together and very suspenseful. I don't know about anyone else who has read this book, but I knew who the killer was all along, which I sometimes don't like in a book. It was shocking that Mia turned the way she did, I was not expecting that. I felt bad for Ashley, that girl sure had been through alot. One thing I notice about Erica Spindler's writing style is that if someone is getting murdered, sexual assulted etc, she is very vivid in describing what is going on, in the form of sexual details and so forth...however when she writes a love scene between two characters who are falling in love, there is no detailed love scene at all. They start to kiss, head to the bedroom and it's over with. I don't like this. Can't she write a love scene?

[emscape · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Melanie May is a small-town cop with dreams of being bigger, and Connor Parks is an FBI profiler on his way down. They meet investigating the case of a local golden girl, and form a mutual respect. When Melanie discovers a fatal rash of apparent accidents happening to local men, she notices that all of them were abusers and batterers. Connor is the only one who believes her theory that they might have a serial killer on the loose. This book read like an extended, more intimate and detailed episode of "Criminal Minds." That is a compliment. What I was struck most by while reading this book was the authenticity of it. Spindler's characters are extremely real, even her heroine. Many mystery/thriller novels feature a protagonist who is so perfect and brilliant that they don't seem like real people. Even when they are 'flawed,' their flaws make them a better cop/prosecutor/investigator. Melanie's flaws actually impede her investigation at times, which is how things would be in real life. Also, in other novels, every lead pans out, every suspect talks, and every hunch is right. I understand that these are conventions to move the plot along, but the investigation in Spindler's novel takes months, almost a year, and while some parts of the book are almost a 'montage,' we are treated to a lot of the fits and starts of the reality of investigating a crime like this. Of course, all the plot points have to come to a cohesive conclusion at the end, but Spindler's conclusion does not feel hasty or forced, rather it's exhilarating. While I had figured out who the Dark Angel was by page 300, I was also surprised by a lot of the information revealed at the end. Also, I read this more than 500 page novel in less than two days. It was quite the page turner, but not one of those where the chapters are like a paragraph and most of the pages are blank space between chapters, so you feel like the whole thing could have been condensed into 120 pages had not there been a 'cliffhanger' after each paragraph. Another added bonus is the benefit of the story being told from many different perspectives, not just the main character and the killer. Melanie's sisters and other officers involved have chapters where we learn about their thoughts and motivations. Sometimes this is hard to keep track of or feels disjointed, but this author manages it quite smoothly. I recommend this book quite highly.

[maryintexas39 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of her best. Great twist!