Falling

Karen Sharpe #4

by John Connor

A stunning thriller that sees DC Karen Sharpe brought to the very edge of her sanity

Genres: Thriller, Crime

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

John Connor is the pen name of Tom Winship. John Connor recently left his job as a barrister to write full time. During the fifteen years of his legal career he prosecuted numerous homicide cases in West Yorkshire and London. He advised the police in numerous proactive drugs and organised crime operations, many involving covert activity. He now lives in Brussels with his wife and two young children.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite violent and gritty police thriller, I hadn't realised this was the 4th D.S. Karen Sharpe book so much of the background was a mystery to me. The authors style reminded me of a male Martina Cole.

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 4th Karen Sharpe book, starting 18 months after the previous novel. Karen is living with Pete and Mairead, and gets called into the investigation of a home invasion where a pregnant woman has been stabbed to death in front of her husband. Drawn to one of the other detectives, she begins an affair, and begins to rapidly unravel.
The action is fast and violent, and there's a good range of characters who are frustratingly left hanging. The parallel story is left unsatisfactorily semi-concluded, and the ending itself felt incomplete. Karen is supposed to be smart and dedicated but makes mistake after mistake, disobeys orders and gets herself into trouble, hurts everyone for her own selfish reasons, then wallows in guilt and self-pity because of it. I can't stand her as a character but still want to find out what happens to her!

[Yvette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently I read Child's Play in 2015. I had a hard time recalling the book but apparently I had the same problem with Child's Play as I have with Falling: I cannot relate to nor like the main character Karen.
She's supposed to be smart, but makes terrible mistakes and misjudges people and situations again and again. And honestly? I don 't like her.
Maybe this is less of a problem if you read the books in the order they were written or maybe she grows on you if you know where she suposedly comes from and know her history, but I honestly don't know if I can bother reading the other Karen Sharpe books.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe like a 3 1/2 stars. It was very engaging and kept my attention. Well written.

Am happy with paying $4 for this book, probably wouldn't pay full price, but a discounted price would be fine.

But...

SPOILERS FOR REST OF REVIEW

There was one scene near the very end that took me out of the book and made me go "yep. This was written by a man."
Why on earth would a woman (who has been beaten and raped etc in the past) willingly go with a man she doesn't know who knows someone suspected of stabbing a woman thirty two times, and get into a car with him? Connor tried to play it off as 'she felt uneasy but didn't have any reason to and so disregarded it' but like any woman (who hasn't even had all that stuff happen to her) would be running in the other direction. Or, at the very least, I felt she was determined to find out what he knew, don't get in the fucking car with him, offer to follow in YOUR OWN FUCKING CAR!!?!? WHERE IS ALL YOUR STRANGER DANGER LESSONS? DO YOU NOT KNOW ANYTHING? HOW DUMB ARE YOU?!?!?

Okay okay I am calm.

But overall, I liked his depiction of Karen's mental health and ptsd and everything so I managed to get past this black mark.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first John Connor book, and will likely be the last based on this book. While the writing is descriptive and keeps you engaged, the plot was weak and Karen’s character was annoying. Her unprofessional behaviour and bad choices were hard to believe, especially when she’s supposed to be a highly experienced member of the police force. Maybe I would think differently if I’d read the previous books in this series, but not gong to bother now.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the first book I've read by this author but it won't be the last. The descriptions I here are not for the squeamish or faint of heart. Some of the characters are evil but necessary for the story which moves along at a lively pace.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging text, but eventually became silly as the actions of detective Karen Sharpe became more and more incredulous.
And a teenage Caucasian girl wanting to spend lots of time with older Sikh step-grandparents is beyond belief...
etc. etc.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth Karen Sharpe thriller is another excruciatingly violent and profoundly addictive police procedural rooted in the Troubles and eloquently enacted in West Yorkshire of the all-too recent past.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was good. I could not get on with the main character though

[Ice9Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would consider it more of a 3.5*

Overall enjoyable story and decent writing. Yes, the main character is annoying but she is supposed to be and therefore I think she’s written well. I also found her quite bothering, but I appreciate a flawed main character over a picture perfect one that always makes perfect decisions.

[Marija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realise that this was the fourth book for Karen Sharpe - I enjoyed reading this book but it wouldn't be one i would pick up and read again. It was quite fast paced, but i think that maybe i needed to read the other's to get to know the character of Karen Sharp better.

[Trudee Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written, fast paced crime story. I thoroughly recommend it as it is one of those books that gets you invloved from the first chapter and makes you want to keep reading.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex and well-crafted mystery story. Perhaps it may have been even better if one had read previous works featuring DC Karen Sharpe but it still worked as an engrossing story.