John Andrew Sutherland is a British academic, newspaper columnist and author. He is Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.
The Fallen is an English political thriller set in London.
Superintendent Alex Lewis, a voluntary hostage negotiator, is called to attend Westminster Bridge where a woman is intending to jump.
Becca Palmer has been drowning her sorrows after a relationship break-up and the loss of her job in the Home Office. She is the one sitting on the edge of the bridge when Alex arrives.
As the story progresses, Alex is called out a second time when Becca returns to the bridge. Alex’s experience and compassion for Becca have him delving deeper into her boss’s activities which coincide with the work of an investigative journalist.
The author’s previous work in policing shines through in this story, especially his knowledge of the hardships inflicted by government cut-backs over many years. This is the second outing for Alex Lewis and I have not read book one The Siege; if I had, I may have empathised with Alex and his partner more. As it was, I was left wanting more in the way of character depth and development.
The story pace moved well, but was resolved rather quickly with an ending which didn’t quite fit the rest of the story in terms of some of the physical action. Overall an okay read, with a realistic account of British policing, but other parts of the storyline felt a bit lacking.
Some areas were hard to follow mainly due to the police lingo along with the names of certain companies involved BUT otherwise very gripping and made me desperate to find out who was telling the truth (my mind went back and fore 20 times).
there’s not much to say except this is a detective novel based in london. it’s an extremely easy read but i wouldn’t say that anything in this book shocked me