Under the Falls

Falls #2

by Richard Russo

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls returns with his first stand-alone novel since Chances Are . . . —a spellbinding page-turner about a crime in a small town that exposes long-held secrets and betrayals among a group of lifelong friends

When Tyler Sinclair left Stone Mountain at eighteen, he had no plans of returning. With only a duffel bag full of clothes, a few bucks stolen from his father’s dresser, and a guitar, his most prized possession, Tyler disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Eighteen years later, and Tyler, now the frontman of a famous band aptly named Stone Mountain, finds himself returning to his hometown for a one-night-only benefit concert to support his old friend, Doc, who lost feeling in his legs following a childhood accident. As Tyler ascends the mountain, memories of his childhood come rushing back—memories of his abusive father and despondent mother, of the friends he left behind—and he quickly learns that, for many people on Stone Mountain, the past does not feel like so long ago, and not everyone has been eagerly awaiting Tyler’s return.

At the concert, resentment simmers just beneath the surface, and Tyler finds himself confronted with faces new and old: there’s Curt, Tyler’s childhood best friend, now Stone Mountain’s chief of police, and his star officer, Deb, an out-of-towner who may have bitten off more than she can chew by accepting a job in Stone Mountain. And then there’s Freddi, Curt’s wife and Tyler’s former lover, a woman whose questionable dealings and fraught history with Tyler will become the catalyst for a tragedy that will upend each of their lives and threaten to validate Tyler’s worst fear: that “Stone Mountain is the kind of place you might escape from once, if you’re lucky, but not twice.”

Under the Falls is at once a propulsive thriller, a gut-wrenching portrait of a tight-knit rural community undone by the sins of its past, and an unflinchingly honest depiction of how porous the line between right and wrong, good versus evil, can become. A stunning, deeply empathetic novel, one that takes Russo’s penchant for character-driven drama to thrilling new heights.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Friendship, Thriller, Family, Suspense

256 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication August 11, 2026

About the author

RICHARD RUSSO is the author of seven previous novels; two collections of stories; and Elsewhere, a memoir. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which like Nobody’s Fool was adapted to film, in a multiple-award-winning HBO miniseries.

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Russo is a favorite of mine. I’ve read and loved all of his novels. His forte is books about small towns with characters whose lives are shaped by the place , by their relationships with one another, as much as specific events. This novel is one of those books . I knew going into it that it was described as a crime/thriller. Even though this is not a genre I enjoy reading, I couldn’t resist because - well it’s Richard Russo. I’m going to chalk up my three stars and not more to the genre. I can’t give it less even though I didn’t fully enjoy it because I found elements of his writing that I love . From the beginning the reader is invited to the place, the past, taking us along with characters connected by their past - by shared trauma, friendship, by love, but also resentment and guilt. For more plot details you can read the description.

I received a copy of this from Knopf through NetGalley.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't know what happened here. Richard Russo has long been ol' reliable for me. His books are funny and heartwarming and full of curmudgeonly and flawed but lovable characters. This book, which was originally a pilot script for a tv show, is a departure and not a welcome one.

I knew when I began reading and found that part of the story is told by a twentysomething Black woman (for those not in the know, Russo is a 76 year-old white man) that things were not looking good. Maybe the story would have worked better in its original form, as a serialized tv show?

Some Lingering Questions (SPOILERS ahead, be warned)
-If Tyler hated his hometown so much and wanted to distance himself, why did he name his band after it?
-Did the concertgoers, like, bring cartons of eggs into the concert?
-Did Doc really die how they said he did? He's used as a plot device and a reason for Tyler to return then quickly discarded and forgotten.
-Why is Beth so mad at Tyler? Even if he called Curtis Jr. while THEIR LIMO WAS ACTIVELY BEING PUSHED OFF A MOUNTAIN, the accident was already in motion.
-Why did Freddi tell Curtis Jr. about who she suspected his father was? She doesn't even know for sure, and she didn't tell her husband.
-Speaking of Freddi, there is nothing about this character or her motivations that I understand.
-How did Tyler figure out it was Curtis Jr. and not Freddi who was driving the hearse?
-What was Curtis Jr. planning to do when he bumped the limo off the mountain? Was he intending to kill its four inhabitants? Much like Freddi's, his motivations are a mystery. And we have so little of him in the novel that it's hard to guess.

[Christopher Febles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Advanced Review Copy

The author of one of my favorite all-time books, Nobody's Fool, returns by stepping into a new genre: murder-mystery.

Tyler Sinclair is the lead singer of the famous rock band Stone Mountain, so named after the Rust-Belt upstate New York town in which he grew up. He returns for a tour stop and visits with Doc, a man who suffered a spinal injury he incurred in a dangerous stunt with Tyler when they were kids. At the concert he also comes across his old friend Curt, now the Chief of Police. Curt’s wife, Freddi, was someone Tyler was in love with way back then, and now she’s involved in something awfully fishy.

Trying to leave town, Tyler’s limo is run off the road by a familiar-looking car. Two people die, his girlfriend and bandmate Beth is critically injured, and he ends up in a hospital also desperately hurt. Looks like an accident until Curt’s deputy, Deb, looks into it. All might not be what it seems, and all those past secrets and misdeeds might come back to haunt them all…



This is one of Russo’s shorter books, coming in just around two-fifty. It reads pretty smoothly, with lots of introspection but done with clear, easy-to-grasp prose. The main characters’ rationale makes sense for the most part. The pain of the past is evident and tactile.

Mystery isn’t something I’d have expected from Russo, but he does a good job with the basic elements. The action is front-heavy, with a big swath of conversations and inner monologues right in the middle. The climax builds where it should and with plenty of swift movements and twists. He digs deep into motivation, allowing ghosts to appear and mess things up for everyone. The plot felt disjointed and confusing at times, causing me to backtrack once in a while. Memories, implanted in the multi-perspective format, interfered with the real events. I wished for just a few very clear narratives that would explain things a bit more clearly.

The characters seem not very redeemable, and some not likeable. In his past works I found the villains to have a comical side, but not here at all. Freddi is just awful, and I wasn’t sure I understood why. But there’s a seriousness and heft that bummed me out. So, I suppose nasty characters doing iffy things was kind of the point.

The setting is important here, perhaps even more so than in previous novels. Russo seems to lean hard into the book’s identity with depressed upstate. Everyone’s so messed up, so mixed up with crime and violence and jealousy, partly because of the poor economy and racism and classism. That was a theme that good, but again: I wanted more mystery.

The Acknowledgements state that this was a script for a TV pilot that didn’t make it through the writer’s strike. Maybe that would’ve helped the enjoyment here: the visuals might’ve made the setting and the crime elements pop.

(Also, when I heard “Stone Mountain,” I thought of the place in Georgia. So, I was confused. Was another town name considered?)

Still, Russo can write. He can put images in my mind and make me think. I sure hope he comes back to this setting with characters just as interesting as the ones he’d created in the past.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. Under the Falls will be released August 11, 2026.

[AndaReadsTooMuch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have so many questions. I think this was a murder mystery? Maybe? But nothing was really solved. And everyone but our main character was the problem, evidently. This was all over the place and absolutely none of it made any sense.

Tyler grew up in Stone Mountain, which according to this is in the Adirondacks, but sounds more like Stone Moutnain GA to me. It was not a happy life, his dad was an abuser, and opportunities were limited to say the least. Tyler wanted to be a musician so he leaves one night without saying goodbye to start his life. He makes it big and returns to town to hold a benefit concert for a friend that was paralyzed when they were younger. Then, everything falls apart.

A list of questions I had while reading. Beware, spoilers below.

Why again did they run the limo off the mountain? Because Tyler got famous after he left without saying goodbye? And this is reason to try to kill a car full of famous people? And hold a grudge about it for 20 years?
Why tf was Freddi such a reprehensible person? And why did Russo constantly harp on her being Black? What do those two things have to do with each other?
Also, the guy with the MAGA hat actively taking orders from Freddi…. Uh, I don’t think that’s how it works?
Beth was such a nonentity, why was she even there? She was with Tyler, making music, then didn’t want to ever see him again after an accident happened in which he was also injured, but then takes him back to help him get over his opioid addiction? Say what?
Curt was the saddest character of all. So desperate for human connection, but he was awful as a human being. Yes, do look the other way while your wife trafficks drugs when you are the chief of police. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
So Freddi and her son get away… and face no consequences because Curt takes the full blame? How about no?
And wtf was Stone Mountain, Harlem Edition? Mentioned it twice and only showed 2 people in the neighborhood.
I still don’t know if Doc died the way they said he did. What was the point of him dying? And did Tyler really intentionally push him causing the injury that paralyzed Doc?

I still don’t quite fully understand what I read. I don’t know what the point was, exactly other than a misery tour.

Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the gifted eARC. All opinions are my own.

[Cindy (leavemetomybooks) · Rating 1 out of 5]

* thanks to Knopf for the NetGalley review copy (pub date: August 2026)

DNF @ 17% because omfg this is tedious

[Margot · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is very sub-par for such a good writer as Russo. Curt is the only interesting character. The plot is pretty predictable. I think it needs better editing as there are way too many sentences ending with question marks. I see at the end it was originally a pilot for a tv series that did not survive the writers’ strike. Russo should have passed on it. I think he generally aims for depth in his novels. There is also zero humor and he can be a master of sarcasm clever ridicule of human nature. I am hoping it will be cleaned up before the release date next year.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a Richard Russo fan, but I feel like he didn’t write this book. The character development was shallow at best. I felt like the plot points were too convenient, and I was not invested at all. I wanted to love this…I didn’t.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC!

[Beth Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ⭐️

Tyler Sinclair, a successful musician, returns home to the small town of Stone Mountain to perform a benefit concert for his childhood friend, Doc, who had lost his legs during a childhood accident involving the falls. While back in town, a tragic car accident occurs that could change the trajectory of the town and the lives of Tyler and Doc.

➕ Interesting small town setting (although I kept thinking the story took place in Stone Mountain, Georgia, but I think it actually took place in New York)
➕ Decent writing although I think more was needed to become attached to the characters.

➖ How race was handled - there are a couple of younger people of color characters, and I feel they needed a sensitivity reader or incorporated their identity a little more.
➖ More connective tissue was needed in this novel. It was a relatively short novel, and I feel “more” was needed. More on Doc, more on Freddi, more on Tyler.
➖ This probably would have been a better TV series than novel, as this was intended in the afterword.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an Advance Reader Copy. My review is completely my own.

It publishes August 11, 2026.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 40%. This is nowhere near the level of writing we usually get from Richard Russo. The premise was a good one, but the way the story unfolds, the way the characters interact,the tedious inner monologues and the choppy, uneven writing were enough for me to give up on this one. Maybe it would work as it was intended, as a serialized television production, but as a novel it suffers from a lack of heart and the depth required to keep readers engaged.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review: Under the Falls (Falls #2) by Richard Russo

Estimated Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.14 out of 5 stars)

Disclaimer: I received a free advance review copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and analyses presented below are entirely my own.

Full review available here: https://prairiefoxreads.blogspot.com/...

Publication and Context

Title: Under the Falls
Author: Richard Russo
Series: Falls (#2)
Expected Publication Date: August 11, 2026
Publisher: Knopf
Page Count: 256 pages
Format: Hardcover (ASIN / ISBN: 9780593805107)
Genres: Fiction / Literary Fiction / Mystery / Suspense / Friendship / Book Club

Contextual Backdrop:
Expected to hit shelves in August 2026, Under the Falls marks the return of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Russo. Billed in the publisher’s description as his first stand-alone novel since Chances Are . . .—despite also being categorized as “Falls #2”—this 256-page novel sees Russo pivoting into the territory of the propulsive thriller. It blends his well-known penchant for character-driven, small-town drama with elements of suspense and crime.
Purpose and Themes of the Work

The novel explores the inescapable gravity of one’s hometown and the long-shadowed consequences of the past. As the narrative states, the central fear of the protagonist is that “Stone Mountain is the kind of place you might escape from once, if you’re lucky, but not twice.”

Core themes revolve around the porosity of the line between right and wrong, the lingering scars of childhood trauma (specifically involving abuse and debilitating accidents), and the deep, often resentful complexities of lifelong friendships. It serves as an unflinchingly honest portrait of a tight-knit rural community unraveling under the weight of its own secrets.
Summary of the Work

Eighteen years ago, eighteen-year-old Tyler Sinclair fled the rural town of Stone Mountain without saying goodbye. Armed only with a guitar, a duffel bag, and money stolen from his abusive father, he successfully escaped a bleak home life and a despondent mother to eventually become the frontman of a famous band named after his hometown.

Now, Tyler is drawn back to Stone Mountain to perform a one-night-only benefit concert for his childhood friend, Doc, who lost the feeling in his legs following an accident years prior. But Tyler’s homecoming is not universally welcomed. As old memories rush back, he is confronted by the people he left behind.

At the concert, simmering resentments boil over. Tyler crosses paths with his former best friend Curt, who is now the town’s chief of police; Deb, Curt’s star officer from out of town; and Freddi, Curt’s wife and Tyler’s former lover. Freddi’s fraught history with Tyler and her current questionable dealings serve as the catalyst for a sudden tragedy, threatening to upend all of their lives and trap Tyler in the town he fought so hard to leave.
Analysis and Evaluation
Format, Pacing, and Structure

At a concise 256 pages, the novel is structured as a page-turner. Unlike some of Russo’s more sprawling, leisurely paced literary epics, Under the Falls is designed to be a propulsive thriller centered around a single, catalytic event (the benefit concert) and the subsequent fallout.
Subjects and Voices

Russo utilizes his established strength: depicting working-class, rural American communities and the tangled interpersonal webs of the people who inhabit them. The dynamic between Tyler (the one who got away), Curt (the one who stayed and assumed authority), and Freddi (the shared romantic link) establishes a classic, tension-filled triangle of loyalty and betrayal.
Strengths and Limitations

Strengths: The premise offers a strong, localized pressure cooker of a plot. By confining the primary action to a homecoming benefit concert, Russo creates a natural convergence point for decades of buried secrets to surface.
Limitations: The book currently holds a somewhat polarized reception. While without fabricating details regarding the specific execution of the ending, it is common for literary authors pivoting into suspense to experience a divide among their traditional readership, who may expect either a conventional thriller pace or a traditional literary character study.
Suitability and Audience Guidance

Content Considerations: The publisher’s synopsis notes themes of childhood abuse, a paralyzing childhood accident, and a central crime/tragedy.
Target Audience: Readers who enjoy small-town mysteries, suspenseful character studies, and the exploration of fractured childhood friendships. It will naturally appeal to fans of Richard Russo’s previous work, as well as book clubs looking for discussions on morality and loyalty.

Conclusion and Verdict

Under the Falls promises an intense, character-driven mystery about the impossibility of truly leaving your past behind. Taking Richard Russo’s signature empathetic storytelling into darker, more suspenseful territory, this upcoming August 2026 release sets the stage for a tight, gut-wrenching drama about the sins of an insular community.
Supplementary Elements: Reading Companions
What to Read Next

For readers interested in the themes presented in Under the Falls:

Chances Are . . . by Richard Russo – Mentioned directly in the book’s synopsis, this is Russo’s previous foray into a mystery involving a reunion of old friends and long-buried secrets.
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane – A masterful, suspenseful exploration of childhood friends who grew apart, only to be forced back together by a tragic crime in their tight-knit hometown, with one friend acting as the investigating police officer.
Empire Falls by Richard Russo – For those who want to experience the Pulitzer Prize–winning pinnacle of Russo’s small-town, character-driven literary fiction.



Rating: ★★★★ 3.14 / 5

- Prairie Fox 🦊📖

[Linda Loretz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russo incorporates many of the same themes from his earlier books, but I did not find Under the Falls as layered and nuanced as his previous novels. The characters in Under the Falls seemed to be stereotypes of those found in "small town" America. Curt, one of the protagonists, is the chief of police. He is in a bad marriage to his high school sweetheart, Freddi, and condones the illegal activity she spearheads. There has been little positive growth in their lives, and they mostly feel resentment and a sense of entrapment. It is difficult to warm up to them since they are so miserable and isolated. Their stunted personal growth serves as a bleak reflection of the tired, neglected community they inhabit.

The story's action revolves around the return of Curt's childhood friend, Tyler Sinclair, who has become a famous rock star and agrees to perform a benefit concert in Stone Mountain, a fictional town in New York State near Albany that serves as the book's setting. Tyler had never wanted to return to his past, and from the moment he arrives, he gets bad vibes and negative messages. Therein lies the main message of Russo's book and a dismal one at that: few people escape the provincial nature of small town living, and if you are one of those who does manage to create a life elsewhere, there is no joy in returning. People hold onto old grievances, and relationships become convoluted rather than growing and propagating. Russo also conveys the message that childhood experiences are an integral part of one's fabric, and that life's outcomes depend on how, or whether, you deal with the events of the formative years.

As Tyler and Curt become reacquainted, the positive and negative aspects of their friendship become apparent, and the flaws in male friendships form the basis for a predictable plot that may be meant as dramatic irony, since readers can figure out what Curt and Tyler only discover at the end of the novel. Without providing spoilers, an important theme Russo repeatedly emphasizes through Tyler is the "world of IS and the world of MEANING." In other words, grappling with reality and recognizing what is happening or figuring out the meaning in the events of one's life is part of self-development, and it is mighty difficult when the community cannot bear any changes.

Since Russo's writing is engaging, I stayed interested in reading this book even though nothing surprising happened after the first few chapters. I think that was the point. The small town of Stone Mountain had dividing lines between the haves and have-nots. Those who stay there accept the precepts of living in a time warp. Companionship is important in a variety of relationships, many of which are shallow and meaningless. Time passes, but humans are somewhat powerless. The characters are amazingly unaware of the details of their lives and accept circumstances somewhat passively. It takes newcomers such as Deb, a new police officer, to question what has been accepted for generations and a returnee such as Tyler to recognize that there are age-old problems to address.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book. To me, Richard Russo is a master in character development as well as story. The novel got off to a great start but somehow derailed along the way. In the acknowledgements, it stated that this was written as a TV pilot that fell victim to the writers’ strike several years ago. It was then turned into a novel.

As with his other books, this one is also set in an upstate New York town experiencing a depressed economy and the opioid epidemic. As the book opens, one of its former residents, a now famous rock star, is on his way to Stone Mountain to do a benefit for Doc, a man he grew up with.

The backstory is that three friends, the rock star Tyler, the now sheriff, Curt and Doc were at the falls and Doc jumped causing his paralysis.

Tyler is extremely reluctant to do this fundraiser. He hasn’t been back to Stone Mountain since he left at 18 and it brings up too many unpleasant memories. An interview was set up with Doc and it is clear there is underlying animosity. The concert is a disaster. The residents are not impressed by a boy made good and it becomes a brawl.

Tyler and his girlfriend lead singer, Beth, push their way out of the crowd. He is on the move and doesn’t really recognize anyone from his youth. It is dark and rainy; their limo is tailgated. The car behind them causes them to crash through a guardrail and down an embankment. Two people are killed. Tyler and Beth are seriously injured.

This is a great set up with so many possibilities. However, the reader is subject to endless pages of ruminations by the main characters. The worst of it is with Curt who is a spineless detective in an abusive marriage who turns a blind eye to his wife’s criminal behavior and her behavior toward him. His fawning over Tyler so many years later also seems a stretch.

Freddi, his wife, was also part of the friend group back in high school who had sex with Tyler before he left. She is a one note character: angry, abusive, cruel, criminal. We never see any humanity in her. I didn’t believe her sustained rage for the twenty years since high school was earned. The parts of the book when she interacts with her husband are nasty and cruel without shades of gray. Between Curt’s passiveness and her rage, it was a slog to read through.

Tyler, who apparently just ran away and buried the past, seemed too willing to take, not only responsibility, but blame for many things out of his control. His songwriting was a good outlet but a therapist might have been a good idea!

This is a Richard Russo book so the setting, the restlessness among residents of this crumbling town, some of the dialogue, was a pleasure to read. I only wish that when this story transferred from a script to novel, the beginning was kept but after the accident, a rewrite would have been welcome.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for allowing me to read the ARC and honestly review the book.

[Sue Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Under the Falls by Richard Russo

Thank you to Knopf Publishing & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Tyler Sinclair, a now famous rock star in his mid-thirties, reluctantly returns to the tiny Adirondack town of Stone Mountain that he fled at 18. His band manager persuades him to return to the town to perform a charity concert. To Tyler’s surprise, he finds that many of the townspeople and even several of his old friends are less than happy to see him. The story revolves around the relationship between Tyler and his old friend, Curtis, now the town’s police chief who happens to be married to Tyler’s old crush, Freddi.

I am a huge Richard Russo fan and have enjoyed everything of his that I have read. I’ve found his books to be cleverly written, with an ironic even sometimes hilarious sense of humor. His characters with their often unique perspectives are interesting and believable. Obviously, my expectations for Under the Falls were pretty high. So it was disappointing to see that something clearly went wrong with this story.

The prologue is the best part of the book, and it made me want to keep reading. However, Russo’s usual humor is completely missing. The characters seem shallow, with none of his usual compelling descriptions. Finally, the mystery that is supposed to emerge after a tragic accident on Tyler’s way out of town was not very credible.

The author’s acknowledgments at the back of the book mentioned that Under The Falls was originally written to be a TV pilot script, but it was doomed by the WGA writers’ strike. The script was then adapted into a novel meant to be mystery/thriller novel. The author thanks “three different writer friends” for the good notes on both versions, and that he was able to incorporate many of these into his resulting novel. I believe that answers many of the questions I had as to why the book reads the way it does.

Although it may be too late in the publishing process, a suggestion would be to move the author’s acknowledgements to be a foreword. Having that understanding that the story was originally a tv pilot script could make a difference right from the start in the way the reader views some aspects of the story. I know it would have for me.

[Raymond Muraida · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are times I have amazing days and there are times the days just don’t go my way. But that’s life. Apparently, that’s also true with the writing life. Years ago, I fell in love with Russo’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Empire Falls. Empire Falls was a great literary example of an amazing day. Near perfect with characters you could care for and a setting that made you sadder as each page turned. In my opinion, that novel is up there as the Great American Novel. I’m sorry to say that Under the Falls is a writer’s example of things not quite going the way they should. The characters were so one-dimensional. I got lost in the setting. Frankly, I got so lost in Under the Falls, I started to feel like I was missing pages. Even to the point that I kept turning the pages back to see if I indeed did miss something. But I didn’t.

I kept thinking of the tagline of this novel: a spell-binding page turner about a crime in a small town. Seriously, the only spell that was impacting me was the one that was closing my eyes in boredom. Please, understand, I’m trying to be honest about a story that I had high hopes for as I love the writings of Mr. Russo.

Then I got to the acknowledgement at the end of the novel. The story I just finished was originally written as a pilot for a television series that did not happen. Maybe that should have been a clue (since the novel is a mystery) that maybe it should have just stayed unpublished. As it was to be a television series in its original form now made sense to me the huge amount of unexplained and lingering questions throughout the novel. He was saving these reveals for seasons two and three. Believe me, I do not relish beating up on this novel, but I did devote a good amount of time reading it.

As I meandered my way through the fictitious town of Stone Mountain and the characters who lived or had once lived there, I came to the realization that I have watched better crime dramas on the BBC Network. Delightfully wonderful stories not written by a Pulitzer Prize winning author.

I am hoping for amazing days in the future for Mr. Russo.

An E-ARC of Under the Falls by Richard Russo was provided by NetGalley, Knopf, and author Richard Russo in exchange for my honest review.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published August 11, 2026.

3 stars

So, Russo. He’s not my favorite, but he’s usually pretty reliable. This….is not his best.

First off, now I’m sure this is primarily because I’m a Southern person, and I know Russo’s books are very specific as to place, which, if I remember correctly, is typically New York State. However, there are many, many of us Southern people and we do read. This book is set in a small town called Stone Mountain.

I don’t know about y’all (placed here very specifically, of course) but where I come from there’s only one Stone Mountain. It’s in Georgia. Kind of well known. The protagonist names his popular band Stone Mountain and the town name keeps coming up over and over again throughout the book. Has Russo never heard of Stone Mountain, Georgia? No editor? Because I have to say that it kept throwing me off. It would be like naming the fictional town in your book Kalamazoo, but not THAT Kalamazoo. Weird. But, again, maybe it’s just me.

Tyler Sinclair is Stone Mountain’s prodigal son; left at 18 and now he returns, eighteen years later, a star. He’s there, reluctantly to do a benefit show for his boyhood friend Doc who has severe medical issues.

Curt, Tyler’s childhood best friend is now chief of police. Freddi, Tyler’s former lover is Curt’s wife. Curt and Tyler reconnect. We also meet Deb, Curt’s star officer.

“Stone Mountain is the kind of place you might escape from once, if you’re lucky, but not twice.” This is a bit of a departure for Russo, or I think it is based on what I’ve read of him in that his has some thriller elements, but’s it’s still the examination of a rural, small town and a look at right and wrong.

The book is blessedly short. The big secrets are both pretty clear by page 20, one would have been obvious to a 5th grader with a calendar and Russo should know better. Plus, did this never occur to Tyler or has he suffered a brain injury we are not told about? The entire thing was predictable and disappointing. It gets three stars versus two only because Russo is still a great writer.

[LyndaIn Oregon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Russo isn’t capable of writing a bad book, but this one only rates midpack in his body of work. It’s not disappointing; it’s just not particularly memorable.

For one thing, Russo’s sly sense of humor is largely absent here, and the quirky background characters that people so many of his novels, fail to make an appearance. Only the stars strut the stage here, and the loss of that depth of texture is part of what keeps this tale from rising to the level Russo’s readers have come to expect.

Basically, the story revolves around what happens when “local boy makes good” visits a home town with decidedly mixed feelings about him. Music star Tyler Sinclair is reluctantly returning to the small Adirondack town he fled at 18, in order to perform a benefit concert for a childhood friend, but is caught up in his own history by a series of events that spiral beyond his control. People from past and echoes of thoughtless acts lead to a level of violence he could have never expected, and loyalties are tested to the breaking point as events unfold.

Key to the action is Freddi, the wife of Tyler’s best boyhood friend Curtis, and that’s where things broke down a bit for this reader. There’s a fairly transparent backstory here that most readers will spot early on, but even given that background, Freddi’s motivation seems unlikely. Her ultimate role in the story arc is to just fade into the wallpaper – something the character would seem to be incapable of doing, given her fierceness earlier. It’s simply a false note in an otherwise well-crafted tale of conflicting loyalties, childhood betrayals, and journeys to acceptance, if not forgiveness.

“Living”, Tyler tells us, “is a lifelong process of messing things up.” And Curtis, who has himself made some very questionable decisions, points out that “the older you get, the harder it is to make things better.” Ultimately, each of these men makes his own journey to making things better, but there’s also an acknowledgement that some breaks can’t be mended – only lived with.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looooove Richard Russo’s writing. His books are some of my favorites – ever – and for him to write a crime thriller was truly a gift I never thought I’d receive. Unfortunately, this book fell a bit flat for me and it truly devastates me to write that. Quick synopsis – Under the Falls primarily follows Tyler, a kid from a small Adirondack Mountain town who left at 18, hit it big in the music business, and never looked back. What did he leave behind? Three friends who he never said goodbye to, one of whom is paralyzed from a childhood accident that involved Tyler. When Tyler has to return to his small town for a benefit concert, he’s forced to confront those friends and the secrets and regrets he thought he left behind.

I feel like this book missed on both the usual beautiful character development I expect from Russo as well as pulling through any crime/thriller aspects. I’d rather the book have dialed down the crime piece (and I still have unanswered questions) and concentrated on the relationships between these old/former friends and the reckoning they are facing. Russo is incredibly gifted at bringing small, dying New England towns and their inhabitants to life and I so wanted that to happen here. But I didn’t find that the characters had sufficient depth for me to care much about what happened to them. And that makes me sad because I still regularly think about some of Russo’s former characters (like Sully) and I wanted more of that. Really, some of my favorite writing for the whole book was the opening passage describing the Adirondack region in general and Stone Mountain in particular. Having spent a lot of time in the ADKs, I was ready to love this one and I just never quite got there. It wasn’t quite paced quickly enough for a thriller either, and I feel like the book ultimately sits somewhere between a few different genres, never quite getting to where I wanted it to go. Regardless, I’ll always love Richard Russo and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Many thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tyler Sinclair left Stone Mountain, a small sleepy town in the Adirondacks, when he was 18, vowing never to return. He made it big, fronting a band called Stone Mountain. When asked to play a benefit concert for an old friend, his band mates convince him to return to Stone Mountain, even though he knows that it will dredge up old memories and rivalries. The concert doesn't go as planned, and after an accident changes the course of Tyler's life, the community of Stone Mountain must grapple with its history and the relationships that shaped Tyler's life.

This really was a wonderful novel. Richard Russo is a master at character development, and this book was a study in the many layers that make up good character driven novels. We saw so many different aspects of Tyler - the scared child, the petulant teenager, the mentally cracking rock star. And Curt... the Chief of Police who is torn between his job and his family. The other characters, Freddi and Deb and Beth, all add to the story in their own important ways.

So many of the book these days are written in dual timelines. This one is too and it works okay. I think this is one book that could have been told in chronological order instead of jumping back and forth. By doing that, we could have had more history between Curt and Freddi and Tyler which, in my opinion, would have made Tyler's return to Stone Mountain more suspenseful. As it was, the author tries to build suspense only on the premise that he was returning without the reader understanding what was suspenseful about it.

I'm so glad I got to read this novel. I love many of Richard Russo's other novels. Under the Falls is another one to add to his long list of really great books. 4 ⭐s!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy. The book is scheduled to be published on August 11, 2026.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Under The Falls is one of those books that features bad people (or bad adjacent), doing bad things, while the few good people turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. In the story, rock star Tyler left his small town in the Adirondacks of New York 18 years ago with no desire to return. His band mates think it would be therapeutic for him to return and hold a benefit concert to raise money for a childhood friend who was left paraplegic after an accident that the two were involved in as boys. Things don’t go well, and the town makes it abundantly clear that he is persona non grata. Desperate to flee, he and his entourage are involved in a horrific accident that puts Tyler in the hospital. He tries to reconnect with his childhood best friend, Curt, who is also the current chief of police, and who is married to Freddi, a woman Tyler also had feelings for. Freddi is an unflinching character, who has inured her husband to her cruel and emasculating treatment. Tyler’s return sets off a catalyst in Freddi, and the subsequent events that take place change the trajectory of their lives forever.

The novel was satisfactory, although there were parts where the quality of the writing seemed subpar, if not silly. For example, Freddie’s henchman seemed like a bumbling fool straight out of central casting. The personality traits that made him a villain were such low hanging fruit. Also, the sustained depravity of Freddi was relentless. She was such a vulgar, evil person I failed to see how either men could love her. There was no counter balance of justice to ameliorate her brutality. The epilogue was perfunctory in that it provided an update on what happened to the main characters, but there was no retribution.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor, and to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner’s famous dictum hangs over the latest novel from Richard Russo, longstanding bard of the working-class Rust Belt residents of upstate New York. At eighteen, future rock star Tyler Sinclair left his rural hometown never to look back, aside from taking the name—Stone Mountain—for his band. As a surprise for Tyler, the group’s manager has booked them for a one-night benefit concert aimed at raising money for Tyler’s paraplegic childhood friend “Doc,” who was injured in a swimming accident when they were young. Devastated by shuttered industries and rampant drug abuse, some folks in the Stone Mountain community are jealous and a bit resentful of rich boy Tyler, who is angry himself over this unwanted homecoming. When the night turns into a nightmare, Tyler is confronted by the living ghosts of a past that he tried to escape: his pinkie-swear-bonded best friend Curt, who is also chief of police; Curt’s African-American wife, Freddi; and their troubled son, Curtis, Jr. Newly minted police detective Deb, an outsider, suddenly finds herself becoming a reluctant player in a small-town tragedy, uncovering the secrets—past and present—that connect these damaged souls. Unlike Russo’s large-scale human operas—which include “Nobody’s Fool,” “Empire Falls,” and “Bridge of Sighs”—“Under the Falls” is more of a chamber piece. Compared to earlier novels, it feels a bit thin and lacks the large dollops of the author’s signature laugh-out-loud humor (possibly because it started out as a TV pilot that—in the wake of a Writers Guild strike—never got off the ground). Astute readers will sniff out some plot twists early on and there are questions that go unanswered in the page-turning rush of the finale. Still, Russo is just too good of a storyteller not to stick the landing. Which he does, beautifully. Bottom line: even a work in a minor key will be welcomed by Russo’s legion of fans. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance copy.

[Mary Taber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley and to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for allowing me to read this book and provide honest feedback. First, I have loved Richard Russo’s books and read many of them. This book was a “stand-alone,” but his characters were unique and well-drawn, and his settings made the reader feel as if they were there.
The story begins with Tyler Sinclair, the lead singer of the Stone Mountains, returning to his home, ironically called Stone Mountain, after being away for 18 years. Jason, the band manager, made the arrangements and he thought that Tyler would be thrilled. He’s not!!
Beth, Jack, and Eddie are riding in the limo, all members of the band, they will soon arrive at Stone Mountain, where secrets get revealed and lives are destroyed.
Tyler’s old friends Curt and Doc are there to greet them. Doc had been seriously injured during an incident that happened when all three boys were kids. Doc would end up paralyzed and Curt became the Chief of Police. Curt’s wife, Freddie looks after Doc, helping him dress and take care of himself. Freddie used to date Tyler when they were younger, adding to the chaos.
After the Stone Mountain’s performance at the local high school, the band is heading out of town when a car pulls up behind them and shoves them off the road. Several people are killed and Tyler winds up staying in town. The rest of the story focuses on Tyler’s recovery and the secrets that come out.
The characters were quirky, but I found myself liking every one of them even with all their flaws and shortcomings. Russo has a way of providing background knowledge painting an in-depth picture of what made the characters who they are. Dealing with such themes as racism and drug running, I found this a very entertaining yet sad story.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hidden behind the rushing water of a waterfall on Stone Mountain in the Adirondacks, ten year olds Curt and Tyler pinkie promise to be best friends forever. Three decades later, Curt is the police chief of their run-down, forgotten town. And Tyler, now a rock star, is back in Stone Mountain for the first time in eighteen years after leaving town without saying goodbye to a single soul.

Stone Mountain has a tight grip on its hard scrabble residents, or maybe they just have nowhere else to go. Tyler’s the only one who got out. His return ripples through the lives of both those who stayed and those who came after him, especially Curt, Curt’s wife Freddi, and Deb, a young local police officer.

Tyler's reappearance causes Curt and Freddi to reflect on their last teenage summer together, the paths they might have taken, and the hold that Stone Mountain has on them. None of the characters are living in a way they can sustain. Relationships are strained, secrets simmer beneath the surface, and corruption and opioids are ever present. Under the Falls explores whether longstanding bonds and shared history are enough to get them through.

In the acknowledgments, Richard Russo states that Under the Falls started life as a TV pilot script but was lost to the writer's strike. I think it would make a wonderful limited series. The setting and small town characters are vivid and the story does seem a bit made for TV. As a novel, it was okay. I kept reading it because Richard Russo's writing is very compelling, but I wanted more emotional depth from it. It's a good choice for readers who enjoy small-town dramas and character-driven stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at https://www.fogfiction.com

[Ryan Davison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stone Mountain is the name of a famous rock band and a tiny mountain town that lead singer Tyler Sinclair called home for his first eighteen years of life. He left without saying goodbye to anyone and is returning for the first time, almost two decades later, as a major rock star. Many of Tyler’s long-ago friends and acquaintances seem strangely upset about his success, and the town acts mostly unhappy that his band is holding a charity concert to raise money for a partially paralyzed friend. Heavy-handed warnings make clear that no one leaves Stone Mountain twice, and a foreboding cloud hangs over the charity show. It does indeed go badly with violent repercussions that set the story in motion.

Chapter titles are characters' names, so we have Beth, Tyler’s current girlfriend and co-lead of the band, Curt, the chief of Stone Mountain police, Freddie, Curt's wife, and Tyler’s secret high school love, and Deb, the spunky, overly curious cop. Early coincidences and mortal violence raise the reader’s antennae, but secrets of the book are revealed too early and easily. It seems as if the author was worried the reader might miss a development, so everyone thinks out loud about what the implication of a scene means. Characters’ thoughts are constantly posed as questions to themselves and with our hands held so tightly it leaves little room for guessing.

The COVID pandemic is considered and handled well in Under the Falls, and the writing remains strong throughout, but it too often feels like a restrained, easy-to-solve mystery penned by a talented writer. Perhaps fans of easy reading would enjoy ... I'm trying to be diplomatic because Russo's writing is full of interesting flourishes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for a review copy

[Emily Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I was approved for on NetGalley and the first I’m leaving feedback for, so it feels like a special read to me in that respect! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Under the Falls follows Tyler Sinclair, a famous musician who was born in Stone Mountain, NY. He hasn’t returned since he abruptly left at the age of 18, but he is now headed back (involuntarily) to perform a benefit concert to raise money for his childhood friend’s medical expenses. As Tyler reunites with people from his past, he quickly realizes not everyone is a fan of him. The people of Stone Mountain, like Tyler himself, have things to hide. The word around the mountain seems to be that once you leave, you don’t come back… and if you do, you won’t be leaving again.

I’ve been going back and forth as to whether to rate this 2 or 3 stars. I’ve decided to settle at 2.5 rounded up to 3 (which feels a bit generous). Initially, I struggled to understand where the story was going. However, I became more intrigued after about 10-15% in. I enjoyed the multiple points of view and fairly short chapters. I was able to visualize a solid picture of what Stone Mountain looked and felt like. Dreary, gloomy, and sort of devoid of ambition - or rather, devoid of resources/a path forward for those who are ambitious.

I disliked almost every single character. Although, I liked Deb and even enjoyed Everett for a brief moment (with the exception of his MAGA hat…). The ending didn’t quite satisfy me. It felt hollow and left me wanting more. Overall, I needed more depth in this novel.


**TW: Sexual assault, domestic violence, addiction.
Personally, I found the sexual assault scene quite abrupt and unsettling. I hated that the characters were dismissive of it.

[Doga Sevgi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Net Galley for providing me with the ARC of this novel.

After hearing so many good reviews on Richard Russo's writing, I was so excited to pick this one up. It started out pretty good and even though I could tell what was going to happen I still enjoyed to writing for the most part. However, there wasn't a single 'plot-twist' I didn't see it coming and it kind of took me out of the experience. I wasn't also the biggest fan on how many people had their own POV chapters. In order for the suspense element to properly work, we needed to know less about certain people but everything was given to us directly from the person committing the act and I simply wasn't the biggest fan of that.

I really enjoyed the world-building in the novel and was able to feel as if I was actually at Stone Mountain with the characters. I believe the mindset of Deb, Tyler, and Curt was described really well and you could truly understand why they were going down the paths they've chosen for themselves.

I have to add my review with one part of the novel that just doesn't sit right with me - I'm giving a SPOILER ALERT here as I will be talking about things that happened in the end.

There was absolutely no need for the SA scene to happen, not only did it happen but Tyler later described it as something he enjoyed. He states that he was drugged and uses the word "apparently" but then he also says that Freddie was still so much better than anyone that came after her. He was very much r**ped and it is absolutely disgusting to paint it as anything but that. Especially when society doesn't see male SA victims as even real victims - this is truly disturbing and I am disappointed in the author and the editors to go that route.

[EVAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Under the Falls” by Richard Russo is an unusual mix of genres but, as always, he makes it work.

Nominally, the book is about Tyler Sinclair, a rock star, returning somewhat unwillingly to his hometown (Stone Mountain, NY), the hometown he left when he was 18, for a benefit concert for an old friend. He returns to find an economically depressed town, not all of whom are happy to see the star come back.

One thinks that it’s ultimately going to be a hybrid of Russo’s other work - the upstate New York milieu, resentment of the resort towns downstream (e.g., Everybody’s Fool) mixed with the famous person who left and the people left behind who claim a friendship that may or may not be reciprocated (Bridge of Sighs). It’s the ultimate conundrum of knowing famous people from before they were famous - you’re their friend, but are they yours? I was reminded, in the relationship of Curt and Tyler, of “Shotgun Lovesongs,” by Nickolas Butler, another story centered on the person who went away and became famous, and the people who stayed behind.

To be clear, I would’ve been satisfied with that, as I’ve been with his earlier books. But then, it segues into a crime novel. I don’t want to give spoilers and so won’t go into details, but Russo has done a great job in that genre as well.

Once again, he’s created a novel with multiple protagonists, all of whom have pasts they’re escaping and/or futures they fear, especially Curt, Tyler’s childhood best friend and the town’s chief of police. His saga of learning how to open his eyes is the fulcrum of the book.

This honest review was given in thanks to Net Galley and Knopf, Pantheon and Vintage for an advanced reader copy.

[Dawn529 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into Under the Falls expecting something familiar. Richard Russo has a pattern I’ve grown very comfortable with. A male protagonist, often a college professor, usually in the middle of a quiet midlife reckoning, surrounded by small town dynamics and sharp, funny observations. I’ve read six of his books so far, and he’s firmly a favorite author of mine. Because of that, I think I made this one harder for myself than it needed to be.

This felt like a big departure from his usual formula. Instead of centering on one main character’s internal crisis, this story is far more layered, with multiple main characters sharing the spotlight. At first, I kept trying to slot it into the Richard Russo box I already had in my head, and that comparison didn’t do the book any favors. Once I stopped doing that and pretended this was a completely new author, everything clicked into place.

There are a lot of flawed people here, but most of them are likeable, or at least understandable. Russo has always been good at writing imperfect humans, and that skill is on full display, just spread across a wider cast than I’m used to from him.

Similar to Daisy Jones and the Six, the story feels communal and voice driven. It has that sense of lives intersecting, histories overlapping, and truths being shaped by who’s telling them. That added an energy I wasn’t expecting from a Russo novel, and once I embraced it, I really enjoyed the ride.

This isn’t my favorite Richard Russo book, but it’s a good one, and I admire him for taking a risk and stretching beyond his usual boundaries. I think longtime fans just need to go in with an open mind and let the book be what it wants to be, not what we assume it will be.

Thank you to Richard Russo, NetGalley, and Knopf Publishing for the ARC. I’m always grateful for the chance to read early, especially from an author I’ve loved for so long.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am such a Richard Russo fan that I' actually own all his books, and was thrilled that Under the Falls was available through Netgalley.. Most of his work is semi autobiographical, and the setting here in a poor rural community in upstate New York, continues the model, but .it could just as easily have been set in an impoverished isolated town in any region of the country. It asks tthe eternal question of whether you are ever able to escape your roots and the secrets that hold you fast. . In this case the person in conflict is a singing star on tour returning to the town he left as a teen fifteen years before without a backward look
This is a very dark book. Unlike Empire Falls and Nobody’s Fool, It does not soften the bleakness of the setting with the quirky charm of it’s inhabitants. And making it even more difficult to read, the strongest character of the book ,at the center of the secrets and tragedy, is not a sympathetic character at all. . The others are caught in the web of this woman’s power., and the escape from her control provides a heart pounding climax.
I wish authors would trust their readers more. Russo feels the need to follow almost every line of dialogue with several paragraphs of exposition, giving us the subtext to fill in any unanswered questions the reader might have I’m a reader, not a writer, so I can’t offer how that might be done. All I know is that it definitely slows the pace of the narrative..
If you are coming to Russo as a first time reader, I would not start with Under the Falls. The affection that Russo has had for his characters in previous works seems to be missing here. I hope he finds it again.

[Drea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Russo is one of those authors whose books I will always pick up, and Under the Falls is a reminder of why. He has an unmatched ability to create small-town communities that feel real, populated by flawed, complicated people whose histories are tangled together in ways that are messy, funny, heartbreaking, and deeply human.

What I enjoyed most was the way Russo slowly peeled back layers of the past, revealing old resentments, buried secrets, and the complicated bonds that connect the residents of Stone Mountain. Tyler's return home serves as the catalyst, but the novel is really about a community reckoning with the choices people have made and the stories they've told themselves for years.

As always, Russo's writing is warm, perceptive, and filled with sharp observations about family, friendship, loyalty, and regret. Even when the story takes darker turns, there is a deep sense of compassion for the characters that keeps the novel grounded.

My only minor criticisms are that a few plot developments felt a bit more dramatic than what I typically expect from Russo, and there were moments when I wanted certain secondary characters to have a little more page time. Neither issue significantly impacted my enjoyment, but they stood out because the rest of the novel is so engaging.

Overall, this is a thoughtful, compelling story from a writer who continues to be one of the most reliable voices in contemporary fiction. If you're a Russo fan, you'll find plenty to appreciate here, and if you're new to his work, this offers a strong introduction to what makes his novels so memorable.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of Under The Falls.

It is impossible not to have great expectations when reading a new book by Richard Russo. So a review is difficult because one automatically judges the new in comparison to the long and wonderful body of work that came before it, which isn't fair.

The story centers around a now famous rock star returning to the mountain town he fled at 18. Old friends, old wounds and misdeeds bubble up and the book takes a turn into a crime story. We have a lot of Russo's familiar elements - dilapidated town, friends with a lot of problems and a long history. The crime was a twist I wouldn't have expected from Russo, except it was so obviously laid out in the beginning of the story that there was no mystery to it.

I believe this book was originally the script for a pilot, and I can easily picture this as a limited series. This could explain why the characters are not as fleshed out as they should be. We don't understand the motivations behind so many of the questionable decisions they make. Events happen later in the story that simply aren't credible and there are quite a few plot holes. I missed Russo's usual flair for creating flawed, but immensely likeable characters. The book isn't up to Russo's usual standard and feels like a story that still needed work to make it plausible - and worthy of his reputation. I doubt I would have cared about any of these characters if the author was anyone else, but Russo, so a generous 3 stars.