Before the Fall
Noah Hawley
Grand Central Publishing 2016
400 pages
Noah Hawley’s Before the Fall is an excellent mystery novel.
The craziness and fragility of life, with it’s synchronicities, and sometimes inexplicable consequences and joys are all wrapped up in a single desperate moment. There are no accidents. Noah Hawley Before the Fall on Kindle
A private plane chartered by the mega rich and equally famous, plummets into the ocean, just minutes into it’s flight from Martha’s Vineyard to New York. Left injured yet swimming, is Scott Burroughs, an artist of unrecognized status. He is towing the only other survivor, the innocent JJ, 4 year-old son of a prominent media-mogul. The boys former life, blissfully untouched by tragedy, is forever changed by his family’s descent into the depths of the sea.
Everyone else is gone. Money, connections, and expertise couldn’t save them.
So what happened? Was it sabotage? Terrorism? Was there a vendetta against the billionaires within? Or was it an accident, pure and simple? The reader is left to ponder and rework each and every theory of the plane and its commuters’ ultimate destruction.
In the interim, Noah Hawley weaves compelling background stories for passengers and crew alike; many with their lives already in the balance, waiting for change to come, or be imposed upon them. Every one has a strong human component that is raw and relatable that cause the reader to ponder the “what if’s”.
Noah Hawley Before the Fall has a solid start that hauls you in, and maintains momentum. It is richly layered, well choreographed, and always interesting.
I look forward to more from Noah Hawley.