I have always been a big fan of Dennis Lehane's series featuring Boston P.I.s Patrick Kenze and Angie Genarro, and Mystic River remains one of my favorite books of all time. For me, at least, the problem is that Lehane set such a very high standard in these books, that whenever he writes something that's a bit more average, I'm inevitably disappointed. Such is the case here.For openers, I confess that I had a lot of trouble deciding what this book was supposed to be--the story of a young woman s...

I'd rate this 4.5 stars.Dennis Lehane is truly one of my most favorite contemporary authors. He electrified me the minute I read the first Kenzie-Gennaro mystery (and all of the others that followed) and dazzled me with Mystic River , and while not every subsequent novel has been a home run, the indisputable fact is, I love the way he writes.Needless to say, I pounced on Since We Fell , his newest novel, practically at midnight the day it came out. I've decided that how you feel about this...

Rachel Child's mother, Elizabeth, was a famous writer, known best for her book on relationships and spent the rest of her career trying to recapture the success from her first book. Even more ironically Elizabeth spent her whole life unable to be in any healthy relationship, spending all of Rachel's life emotionally manipulating her and with holding any information about her birth father. Eventually after her mothers death Rachel sets out to search for her birth father. She decides to hire a PI

Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane is a 2017 Little, Brown Book Group publication. Rachel has been through some pretty hard times in her life. She started suffering panic attacks early on, but while covering the Haitian earthquake, she has an on air meltdown, which leads to agoraphobia, the end of her career, and finally a divorce. But when she miraculously encounters Brian, an old acquaintance, the couple begins a sweet relationship that eventually leads to marriage. Although Brian’s work requires

This is going to be one of those pain in the ass books to review because you can’t really talk about it without spoiling it, and the things that really need to be discussed all happen later in the plot. Yet there’s so much wrong that I really want to get into all of it. It’s quite a dilemma. Here’s what I can safely tell you: Rachel Childs’ mother refused to tell her who her father is which leads to a troubled childhood and rebellious teenage years. After her mother’s death Rachel follows up on

Just no for me. Not this one

Rachel has the world in her grasp, a successful journalism career, marriage to an equally successful man, and then in a very public way it and she falls apart. Until she reconnects with Brian......The first part of this book is slowly paced as we get to know Rachel, her search for the birth father she never knew, her career, marriage and her breakdown and it's after effects. I enjoyed this first part, it was well wriiten and I had a great deal of sympathy for Rachel. Then this story does almost

The story was not very remarkable, but it kept my interest. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. The authors writing style was fantastic.

I don’t read a lot of thrillers. I feel like it can be a hard genre to do really well. A lot of times, the stories are excessively complicated in an attempt to confuse the reader. Other times, so much emphasis is put on shocking the reader that the characters don’t feel like actual people. Or, it can go the opposite way and the thing that’s meant to shock us is telegraphed so clearly that it sucks all the tension out of the story.So, yeah, I don’t read a lot of straight-up thrillers. But I do th...

Rachel hasn’t had the best life: her dad left when she was a baby and her manipulative, cruel mother took his identity with her to the grave. Her cold husband divorced her after she had a mental breakdown covering the Haiti earthquake, the trauma causing her to lose her job as a journalist as well as turning her into a shut-in. By chance she meets her future second husband and the love of her life, Brian, who slowly helps turn things around for her. Until she realises he’s been lying to her sinc...

I am really disappointed with how Since We Fell turned out. It started okay. I've seen some other reviewers mention the slowness of the first half but, to be honest, I didn't mind so much because I assumed it was leading up to something bigger; something important. Unfortunately, though, it kind of wasn't.The first part turns out to be an overlong and elaborate backstory about Rachel's childhood, adolescence, her mother's death and the subsequent search for her absent father, her career in inves...

4.5 Stars* (rounded up).“Since We Fell” by Dennis Lehane is the story of Rachel Childs. Though her life seems ordinary at first, it is anything but. She is complicated and smart. At times she may seem frail, though she is stronger than even she realizes. Her life experience has caused her to hide from the world, until one day, when hiding is no longer an option. Rachel was raised by a single mother, Elizabeth, who kept the “mother” of all secrets from her daughter: she refused to tell Rachel wh...

My first question when I finished the last page was...."has a movie already been made"? What stands out more than anything to me is the creation of "Rachel Childs". In the same way that Lisbeth Salander is synonymous with the Steig Larsson's Millennium Series ....Rachel Childs is with "Since We Fall".NOT that these two women are alike - or behave the same -but she's one hell of a fascinating female protagonist. When Paul asked me what I was reading.... I replied Dennis Lehane's new book -"Rachel...

It pains me to do this, but I am going to have to go with two stars. I fell in love with Dennis Lehane's writing ever since I first read A Drink Before the War, but this one just didn't do it for me. The first half of this book is bogged down with so much back story that you have no idea what the point of the book is. The second half of the book is a bad Katherine Heigl movie. Period.

My life has been such misery and pain / I guess I'll never be the same / Since I fell for you I chose to read this because I've enjoyed most of Lehane's gritty, intelligent Kenzie/Gennaro series set in Boston (e.g., Gone, Baby, Gone). This is his first non-period novel in a while.This is a suspense/psychological thriller that works for the most part. I was puzzled by some disconnects though (one thread dropped off without explanation). Also, while I thought the female protagonist was very well-d...

I am well versed in the art of disbelief suspension, and understand completely that fiction is, well, fiction.  But this one had me swinging from the rafters of absurdity.  So, no.  Do not expect the smooth plot flow of Mystic River.  The first 200 pages or so had a completely different feel from the remainder of the book, and it is the latter half about which I grumble.  This is the first novel of Lehane's that has missed the mark for me, and in no way will deter me from reading more from him i...

I have been a big fan of Lehane since his start with detective stories featuring Kenzie and Gennaro set in Boston. Thus, I eagerly take up each novel when I get my hands on it. He usually has an engaging story, lively pacing and dialog, and, above all, character development that elucidates human nature. He has an affinity for characters with flaws and a dynamic driving his stories between what they think they want and what they really need. Here we are concerned with the growth trajectory of one...

I can see why people are divided on their opinion of this book, especially with the writing format being split into two (or is this just my imagination?). The first half was good, but more of a stream-of-consciousness style of writing that is not at all what fans have come to expect from Dennis Lehane. Not a lot happens in the first half; mostly it's about Rachel Childs and her search for her father, her relationship with her mother, her love life, her career, her emotional issues, you know, the...

Hmmm . . . not really all that tight and interesting. It started off strong, but the twists and turns were all over the board and felt forced (and sometimes silly).As mentioned, it started very good and the first third of the book was an interesting story that is basically completely unrelated to the rest of the book (I would give the first third 5 stars). This is sad because it was the best part and I thought it was building up to something much better than I ended up with. I need to try some o...

Rachel was an only child, raised by a single mother. Her mother, Elizabeth Childs, died in a car accident leaving everything to Rachel except her father's name. Rachel wanted to know who her father was as she thought somehow knowing about his identity would fill the hole in her heart. Even after a turbulent childhood, Rachel managed to make her life as a news presenter. She got married to man, she thought she was in love with. When she was about to make a big in her professional life, few panic