I Dreamed of Falling

by Julia Dahl

In acclaimed author Julia Dahl's new standalone, the death of a young mother triggers an avalanche of secrets in a small Hudson Valley town.

Roman Grady is the sole reporter for the local newspaper in a tiny Hudson Valley town - a town so small that every store opening and DUI is considered newsworthy. But when Roman's longtime girlfriend, Ashley, the mother of his four-year-old son, is found dead, he realizes he had no idea what was really going on in her life.

And when he starts asking questions, he’s not prepared for the answers.

What was Ashley doing at the cliffside home of her troubled ex-girlfriend? How did no one in a house full of people see what happened to her? And why does it seem like everyone in town suddenly has something to hide? As Roman and his mother dig into Ashley’s last few months, the truths they uncover threaten to expose painful secrets. The kind of secrets that can get you killed.

A gripping thriller and a moving portrait of a family struggling through tragedy, I Dreamed of Falling showcases Julia Dahl's talent for using crime fiction to tell an immersive and unforgettable story. Dahl’s unflinching novel asks hard questions about love, regret, inequality, and the possibilities and the perils of forgiveness.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 17, 2024

About the author

Julia Dahl was born and raised in Fresno, California and currently lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband and son.

Dahl began her career as a journalist working as a fact-checker at Entertainment Weekly. Since then, she has been an editor at Marie Claire, a freelance reporter at the New York Post, the deputy managing editor of The Crime Report, and a crime and justice reporter for CBS News.

She now teaches journalism at NYU.

Dahl's first novel, INVISIBLE CITY, was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and won the Barry Award, the Shamus Award, and the Macavity Award for Best First Novel. INVISIBLE CITY named one of the Boston Globe's Best Books of 2014, and has been translated into eight languages.

Reviews

[Rosie Rodriguez]

Plz don’t judge me. This book has all the makings of a good thriller.. but the constant Covid/ pandemic talk annoyed me.

[Denise]

Slow moving and predictable small-town mystery.

Roman Grady, his partner Ashley, and his 4-year-old son live with his mom, Tara, and Tara's boyfriend, John in a small Hudson Valley town. Ashley is found dead on a cliff ledge close by a friend's home. Roman realizes that he knew next to nothing about what Ashley had been doing in the months leading up to her death. And now there are questions about whether or not this was a drug overdose or if Ashley was murdered.

This entire story and plot were anything but gripping or thrilling. I really disliked all of the characters in this sordid tale. The concepts of open relationships, having sex with anyone, rampant drug use, and all of this poor parenting just made the whole premise unappealing. I didn't enjoy any of it nor care what happened to Ashley. Besides, it was so predictable you could see that revelation coming a mile away. Honestly, just yucky people, and their lives were so cringe worthy. I can't recommend this to anyone.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC -- both provided by the publishers. The two narrators did an adequate job of voicing the characters, but I felt such antipathy to them all that I could not appreciate the quality of their performances.

[Mallory]

I listened to the audiobook of this thriller and it was a fun and fast listen. I thought the narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life. This was a book about grey characters which I liked a lot. I especially liked how the reader was given information so slowly so their perspective of the characters kept changing. I didn’t really like the characters but I empathized with them in different ways which was enough for me (except Mason, I liked Mason, who wouldn’t??). The book is told in several perspectives with a couple of timelines. It starts all in the same timeline, but after Ashely is found dead the reader is slowly given her perspective of the time leading up to the present to understand what was happening in her life. Roman is devastated when his partner Ashley is found dead. They may not have been connecting or happy, but she was his person and he’s a little lost without her. Roman is a journalist and determined to figure out what happened to Ashley since there are several suspicious elements to the situation. This was an interesting story. It does mention the pandemic and the aftermath (the mental health effects, not just the physical ones).

[Jessica]

Thanks to Minotaur Books for this GoodReads giveaway win!

This was an overall lovely read. I found the mystery to be intriguing and one that I didn't quickly figure out which has become rare for me lately. I enjoyed the assortment of characters and liked the aspect of the main family feeling so authentic and flawed. I enjoyed it greatly and can't wait to read more from Julia Dahl in the future!

[Laura A]

Roman is shocked to hear about a woman who was murdered. He can't fathom that their was people nearby who saw nothing. He learns through his investigation that some people don't want him solving this case. A good read

[Karen]

Roman Grady is the town’s sole newspaper reporter. When his partner, Ashley is murdered, he wants answers, but all he gets is more questions.

He lives with his son and his mother Tara. It is a tense relationship. The more he tries to find answers, the more people seem to pull away and hide. What is going on? And, why did someone kill Ashley?

Dahl showcases how a small community of friends and family explore grief, love and deceit, while figuring out why one of their own was murdered. With too many characters to keep track of initially, this immersive story finally comes together as a portrait of a family struggling through tragedy.

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread)]

I really enjoy Julia Dahl’s writing and her stories are always so interesting.with characters that I can’t decide if I like or hate them. I Dreamed of Falling has all this and more. A slow burning mystery that I couldn’t stop reading.

Ashley is found dead after a party at her former best friends house. Her death at first appears to be an overdose, but her partner Roman thinks otherwise. He is the reporter for the local paper and wis prepared to ask the questions that the police seem to be avoiding. This opens up a lot of possibilities and even more questions.

A small town domestic thriller/mystery that you can lose your day in. Thanks to Bedford Square Publishers on NetGalley for my early copy to read. Published on February 13th.

[Jaime Baker]

What a ride! The book is a gut punch with emotion right from the start, and doesn’t stop throughout. Julia Dahl does an amazing job of making the reader feel all the emotions of each character, and will make you love and hate all of them at some point. The story is a roller coaster of secrets and possible motives for the killer, but I can honestly say I did NOT expect it to be who it was. I had not previously read any of Dahl’s work prior to winning an advanced copy of “I Dreamed of Falling” in a #goodreadsgiveaway, but I will definitely look forward to exploring more from her!

[Mandy K]

I Dreamed of Falling
3.5⭐️

Thank you Minotaur Books for this GoodReads giveaway win.

Ashley’s unexpected death leads to more questions than answers. Roman, her partner, quickly realizes there was a lot he didn’t know about Ashley in the months leading up to her death. He also realizes all the ways he was failing her after it was too late. Even while managing his immense grief, Roman is determined to figure out how she died and who was responsible.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I stayed engaged and liked the short chapters. This was slow paced but emotionally charged. Much of the book focused on the immediate journey of grief and loss vs a murder mystery. This pulled me in and did a great job with the character development and presenting complex emotions. Key potential suspects were not really introduced until the second half and then many new characters were introduced. The first half focused on the characters in the household (Roman, Mason, Tara, and John). I found the POVs awkward. The book started with Roman’s and Tara’s (his mom) POV, and then Tara’s POV basically dropped off, it was only Roman for a while and then Ashley’s POV (from beyond?) popped up.

If you have strong conservative views you probably won’t like most of the themes in this book.

I know COVID is another topic that may sway people away from certain books. So here is your warning that COVID was discussed regularly (I would say almost too much) even though it takes place in present day, 4 years post start-of-pandemic.

The final chapters had a nice thrill and wrapped everything up nicely.


Publish date: September 17th, 2024

[Julie (JuJu)]

"I Dreamed of Falling" is a book that stirred strong emotions in me. While the beginning didn't immediately grab my attention, the emotional depth of this crime/mystery eventually won me over. Set in a small, weathered town where judgment and gossip reign, the story revolves around a family with a complex history. Their lives become even more entangled after a tragic event shatters their world.

The characters in "I Dreamed of Falling" are not perfect. They are flawed, like us. The book delves into topics like drugs, open relationships, depression, and bad parenting, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. However, if you, like me, have experienced the complexities of small-town life, you'll find the setting and behaviors portrayed in the book incredibly relatable. This connection with the characters and setting makes this book compelling for those who can appreciate these themes.

Big thanks to MacMillan Audio for the gifted ARC via NetGalley and to Minotaur Books for the gifted ebook through Edelweiss. I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook while following along in the ebook, which is my favorite reading method. The narrators did an excellent job with the characters, and hearing from Ashley, the murdered mother, was a standout for me!

[Jessica]

This was awful, filled with awful people. I was skimming the ending, because I did not care about any of these characters and wanted it to be over. The casual drug use by everyone, the casual sex by most, the poor parenting by most... it was hard to like anyone.

[Erin Clemence]

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Expected publication date: Sept. 17, 2024

Roman Grady and his partner, Ashley, are trying their best to raise their young son in the small Hudson Valley town where Roman is the sole newspaper reporter. When Ashley’s body is found, lying broken on a cliff face, on the property of her former friend, Bella, the police have a lot of questions that Roman doesn’t have answers to. What was Ashley doing at Bella’s the night she was killed, considering the two have been out of touch for years? Why did she have drugs in her pocket? As the investigation continues, and the secrets continue to pile up, Roman begins to wonder if he knew his partner at all.

“I Dreamed of Falling” by journalist and author Julia Dahl is a suspenseful murder-mystery set in a small town where everyone has secrets. There are a lot of twists and turns in this novel, and a lot of possible suspects among the large suspect pool, so “Falling” is one of those novels where you need to pay attention to every detail. The number of characters alone can be overwhelming at first, but the mystery surrounding Ashley’s death is so intriguing, you can’t help but turn the pages at a rapid-fire pace.

The first chapter starts with Ashley’s body being found, so we only know Ashley’s side of the story from snippets in the novel where she is telling her tale (possibly a journal entry? Or post-humously? Not really sure, but it’s definitely an important component that couldn’t be ignored). Both Ashley and Roman are young parents with faults, as they both admit throughout the novel, but they have a strong desire to do right by their son, and their honest portrayal of parenting is refreshing. The complicated in-law relationship Ashley had with Roman’s mother, Tara, was emotional and tense and I was back and forth as to whether I liked Tara or not (which was intentional on Dahl’s part). Is she simply being a caring grandmother? Or a controlling, manipulating in-law from Hell?

It wasn’t until the final few pages of the novel where the actual suspect became clear, and although I had a tiny inkling throughout, “Falling” is written in such a way that any of the characters could easily have been at the centre of the murder, and it would’ve been believable. “Falling” is my first novel by Dahl, (although her Rebekah Roberts novel, “Invisible City”, was award-winning, I have not had the chance to enjoy it- yet) and I was both intrigued and entertained. I am always on the lookout for new authors to enjoy, and Dahl has made this ever-growing list!

[Lindsay Nixon]

DNF @ 42%

The plot isn’t going anywhere. This is very very slow and not the thriller I was expecting. I don’t care enough about anyone or what happened to keep reading.

Thanks netgalley

SUMMARY: 25yo mother is found dead. It’s initially unclear whether she jumped or fell. She also was found with drugs and has a history of using and depression.

That’s all that has happened plus some backstory about the grandmother and her (the deceased) sex life 🥱

I normally don’t mind somewhat slow domestic dramas but this had so little action…

[Wendy Darling]

DNF at 59%. Adds nothing new to the genre, and for the number of times it refers to the pandemic, offers no insights or feelings on that, either.

[Jen]

This book was ok but I felt that it could be developed further. When young mother Ashley dies, her reporter boyfriend Roman and her family/friends try to figure out what really happened.

The mystery was decent but I struggled a little bit with the details behind the scandal. I did figure out the villain but it took me a good ways into the book to do so. My main issue is that none of these characters felt relatable to me and there was so much talk about covid, political candidates, and open relationships that I felt it was just trying too hard to be relevant in 2024. It definitely kept me reading and I was even ok with the way it ended, but I wasn’t totally invested.

Overall, interesting storyline but the characters and the actual telling of the story left a little to be desired. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Kathy Pizzagalli]

I hate to DNF and really tried to finish this book. The author mentions COVID/pandemic a considerable amount throughout the book that it is hard to ignore the redundancy. The political references provide no context to the story other than the author's bias. This story is so slow I found myself not caring about the characters or plot. DNF 52%.

[R L HERSKOWITZ]

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 stars.

Great title!
The novel was not what I expected.

Family, friends, small community, COVID…
Depressing.

The son was often referred to as mister or hey mister.
Hey Mister was the name of the nightclub in
We Love The Nightlife.
Was that on purpose?

I felt like something was missing from the story.
I did enjoy reading this book, but it fell short, in my opinion. I still plan on reading Julia Dahl’s future novels.

Please check out other reviews.

[John Darnielle]

This is a mystery about a death in an area that’s ripe for redevelopment & squarely in the sites of the corporations who stand to gain the most from the struggles of the people who live there. The story’s good and the writing is crisp, a pleasure, but the book soars when Dahl writes about parenthood. There are no ideal families here — everybody involved is carrying one or more generation’s worth of damage — and the compassion and insight Dahl brings to describing their lives together is profoundly moving.

[Ray.Tay]

Honestly I don’t have much to say about this book because it was just too ordinary and blah for me overall. I couldn’t get invested into any of the characters and quite frankly I found most of them to be annoying and frustrating.

Roman is the sole news reporter in his small town where not much happens… until his girlfriend Ashley is murdered and he starts the search of who and why. This is a family going through a tragedy, but I couldn’t find the sympathy for them. Secrets of family, friends, and the unknown. This book was also too slow for me and I guessed the killer early on. This was just a very typical story for me.

Thank you to the Author, Netgalley, and St. Martins Press for the ARC!

[em ☾⋆☁︎]

As a parent myself, I found this book somewhat frustrating to read. No one was really likable, and everyone was incredibly selfish. But of course, that's true to real life. Roman was the hardest character for me to like. Despite being a father with a career in his mid-twenties, he had the personality of a bratty teenager. Thankfully though, most of the characters showed growth by the end.

The mystery of who killed Ashley was enough for me to look past the characters' terrible choices. I guessed who it was early on but then questioned myself because there was enough doubt put in place. I enjoyed that aspect of the book the most.

Covid lockdown wasn't that long ago, so I know a lot of people aren't interested in reliving it, and there were a few times I wanted to roll my eyes when it was mentioned, but I would stop myself because I think it was very important to this story.

Not my favorite, but still a worthwhile read with plenty of examples of what not to do as a parent.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Rachel]

I loved Julia Dahl's first few books/series about the Chasidic community, those novels were phenomenal and I devoured them and recommended them to others. This novel is NOT in that vein at all.

A short version of how I feel about this novel, I detested it and pushed through because I had hope it would get better, instead it made me more angry. This murder mystery about a small town and a couple who SAY over and over that they 'found their person' when they were in like middle school....then why the hell were both of you dirt bag human beings cheating on each other your ENTIRE relationship?!?! NONE of the characters were likable, not a single one. They were all horrible, selfish trash people. If this is how relationships are these day (saying this as someone who just spent almost three years with someone who was cheating on me) then I guess I will stay single. This novel had zero redeeming qualities and just made me so angry. Honestly, I am feeling more and more like this is an author who I no longer need to be reading.

[CLM]

Miserable drug-using characters made this a very depressing read - usually recommendations from Minotaur do not disappoint but there was not one character in this book I cared whether he or she lived or died.

[Anne]

This is a great thriller that had me hooked from the beginning! Ashley and Roman live with son, Mason who is four. But after a party at Ashley's friend, Bella's house, Ashely is discovered dead in a ravine and a baggie of pills is found in her pocket. Roman is shocked as he'd never known her to use drugs, but he's even more concerned about Mason as he's become somewhat catatonic after his mother's death. The police are investigating but something feels "off" to Roman so he begins his own quiet inquiry into things and discovers some fascinating things he never knew. It's a fast-paced and riveting novel and I'll read more of Dahl in the future!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Shauntelle (shauntellereads)]

This was an ok read, but I felt as though it was missing something. There was a lot of pandemic talk even 4 years after the fact. I also felt as though the characters and the plot weren't fully developed. I struggled to relate to the characters, maybe it was because they weren't well developed. It was an interesting premise that initially had me intrigued, but ultimately it fell flat in execution. I did think the narrators did a good job.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

[Lauren Self]

First off, thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my ARC!

This is my first book by this author, and while I didn’t love it, I will definitely check out others written by her,

This book started off strong (it does list a lot of names at first and after a couple chapters I had to go back a re-read the prologue to figure out who was who). Roman stumbles upon his girlfriend/mother of his child dead and is set to figure out what happened. I love a good murder mystery but this one felt so political to me for some reason. Possibly the mention of covid approximately a hundred times throughout the book. Reading is my mental getaway and reading about covid is the last thing I’m looking for in a book.
Also it may sound petty but everyone kept calling the kid & each other “mister” in basically every conversation and it was super overdone. I ended up skimming about 50%-75% range because I was kinda over it and wanted to know how it ended.

Overall I give 3 ⭐️

[Deanna (she_reads_truth_365)]

Bookish thoughts:
This was my first book by author Julia Dahl. It was a slow burn character driven murder mystery where it seems like every one has a motive and could be guilty. In the final chapters, the story starts to pick up into an enjoyable psychological thriller. If you enjoy family secrets and a classic whodunnit story, you might enjoy this one.

I received an advanced electronic copy from publisher Minotaur books and Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview this book.

#IDreamedofFalling
#minotaurinfluencer

[Book.ishJulie]

With a Gillian Flynn blurb of "simply one of the best thriller writers working today," I knew I had to read I Dreamed Of Falling by Julia Dahl!

What I love about psychological thrillers is how slowly character development occurs, but by the ending, all secrets are revealed. Dahl reflected upon and explored a lot of emotionally charged topics as each characters' layers were discovered, which stands to make aspects of this book controversial, while simultaneously luring readers into the dark plot and helping make these characters three dimensional! Many thought-provoking questions are posed in this story, which is filled with family drama and shifting roles, fearlessly showcasing past regrets and the warmth unfailing love provides.

It was a slow, and often meandering road to get there, but the ending was worth the wait, and I didn't see that answer coming at all!

This is now the second book I've read that has been narrated by Jennifer Blom, and her voice fit Ashley so perfectly; once again I've noticed a lack of emotion with her style of narration, and again this fit the character she gave voice to so perfectly! Shahjehan Khan performed the rest of the story in a way that mirrored Blom's style, making for a cohesive audiobook experience!

I am not easily triggered, but this one has topics that bothered me. Warnings: abortion, abortion clinic, miscarriage, suicide, substance abuse, loss of spouse, graphic death of a loved one, open relationships, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

This book is full of red herrings, and although I could have done without a few of the sub-plots being so politically strong, this was an absolute four-star read!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

[Kelli Santistevan]

In acclaimed author Julia Dahl's new standalone, the death of a young mother triggers an avalanche of secrets in a small Hudson Valley town.

Thank you Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio for both of my copies of this book! I’m sorry that I’m late reviewing this book. I decided to DNF this book at 61%. I didn’t like the characters and I didn’t like that Covid and the pandemic were mentioned so much.

[Jenn]

Painfully slow

[SuperWendy]

This is a hard one for me to wrap my head around. Dahl can write and she excels at world-building these insular communities with plenty of secrets they want to keep buried. That said, this is a "thriller" that spends entirely too much time being a domestic drama. The other problem? It's a story populated with miserable people being miserable. Oh, I understood the WHY. These are characters who feel trapped in their lives (for various reasons) and then the pandemic and "other things" ramped up their trauma to 11. I can understand it, doesn't mean I necessarily want to wallow around in their head space because, lordy, they're just exhausting.

The dead body turns up quite early into the story but it takes FOREVER for any actual "sleuthing" to get started and in the end? Our murder victim ends up a victim because, again, all of these characters are miserable, traumatized, and ill-equipped to unpack any of it. Also the fact the hero didn't leave behind scorched Earth at the end annoyed me. Frankly, I'm convinced he chose the path he chose because he knew he didn't have the stones to man up and take it all on himself.