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The Fall Guy
In this taut psychological thriller, a couple and their houseguest find themselves caught in a deadly web of secrets, obsession, and revenge. It is summer, 2012. Charlie, a wealthy banker with an uneasy conscience, invites his troubled cousin Matthew to visit him and his wife in their idyllic mountaintop house. As the days grow hotter, the friendship between the three begins to reveal its fault lines, and with the arrival of a fourth character, the household finds itself suddenly in the grip of uncontrollable passions. As readers of James Lasdun’s acclaimed fiction can expect, The Fall Guy is a complex moral tale as well as a gripping suspense story, probing questions of guilt and betrayal with ruthless incisiveness. Who is the real victim here? Who is the perpetrator? And who, ultimately, is the fall guy? Darkly vivid, with an atmosphere of erotic danger, The Fall Guy is Lasdun’s most entertaining novel yet.
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 18, 2016
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4576 people want to read
About the author
James Lasdun
48 books136 followersJames Lasdun was born in London and now lives in upstate New York. He has published two novels as well as several collections of short stories and poetry. He has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and short-listed for the Los Angeles Times, T. S. Eliot, and Forward prizes in poetry; and he was the winner of the inaugural U.K./BBC Short Story Prize. His nonfiction has been published in Harper’s Magazine, Granta, and the London Review of Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 524 reviews
October 19, 2016
Enh. I didn't like the characters, and I know I wasn't supposed to, but they weren't even well written, and well written unlikable characters can still be enjoyable. I wasn't wowed by the plot or the author's writing voice, either. Lasdun seems to regard that old writing adage "show don't tell" as bad advice, and spends a lot (a lot) of the book hammering us with telling, with very little showing. Early on, there's this:
"[They] sat in the living room one morning playing Scrabble. Matthew's family had been avid Scrabble players and Charlie had been introduced to the game when he gone to live with them as a teenager. He hadn't much liked it--it had been accorded with his sense of what was "cool": a novel concept in Matthew's old-fashioned home, but extremely important to the adolescent Charlie--and he hadn't been very good either. And yet as an adult he'd incorporated into his own household rituals when Lily learned to read. The game seemed to have a significant emotional resonance for him, and Matthew was always touched when he suggested playing it. It was as if his cousin were acknowledging the ancient bond between them."
Like, we know. We know Matthew feels as if his cousin was acknowledging the bond between them, because Lasdun showed us that with the entire paragraph flashing back to the ancient bond between them playing scrabble. But then Lasdun beats you over the head with it by adding that irritatingly redundant sentence at the end, to TELL us how Matthew is feeling.
There's a lot of that. A lot of thesaurus-y words, more exclamation marks than I could handle, and sentences I had to re-read because they were so fragmented and loaded down with synonyms. This passage in particular made me groan out loud after I'd finished it:
"Depending on his mood, almost any image of success or even just average functionality had the potential to initiate a kind of looping self-interrogation; the abject sense of being confronted by some viable version of himself provoking the question of why he couldn't become that version, which in turn would arouse the fleetingly hopeful sense that all it would take would be a determined act of self-adjustment, followed, however, almost immediately, by the recollection of this adjustment would have to take place in that tantalizing stretch of time we wander in so freely and yet can no longer alter in even the minutest degree, namely the past. Which brought him back, like some infernal Möbius strip of thought, to that condition of abject susceptibility to the lives of others..."
(Ellipses not mine.) Oy.
I finished this really quickly, not because, as my Book of the Month box suggested, it was so "gripping" and "thrilling," but rather because it was just not that deep. And when I got to the back flap with Lasdun's bio, I found out he teaches creative writing at Columbia and The New School. So what do I know, right?
"[They] sat in the living room one morning playing Scrabble. Matthew's family had been avid Scrabble players and Charlie had been introduced to the game when he gone to live with them as a teenager. He hadn't much liked it--it had been accorded with his sense of what was "cool": a novel concept in Matthew's old-fashioned home, but extremely important to the adolescent Charlie--and he hadn't been very good either. And yet as an adult he'd incorporated into his own household rituals when Lily learned to read. The game seemed to have a significant emotional resonance for him, and Matthew was always touched when he suggested playing it. It was as if his cousin were acknowledging the ancient bond between them."
Like, we know. We know Matthew feels as if his cousin was acknowledging the bond between them, because Lasdun showed us that with the entire paragraph flashing back to the ancient bond between them playing scrabble. But then Lasdun beats you over the head with it by adding that irritatingly redundant sentence at the end, to TELL us how Matthew is feeling.
There's a lot of that. A lot of thesaurus-y words, more exclamation marks than I could handle, and sentences I had to re-read because they were so fragmented and loaded down with synonyms. This passage in particular made me groan out loud after I'd finished it:
"Depending on his mood, almost any image of success or even just average functionality had the potential to initiate a kind of looping self-interrogation; the abject sense of being confronted by some viable version of himself provoking the question of why he couldn't become that version, which in turn would arouse the fleetingly hopeful sense that all it would take would be a determined act of self-adjustment, followed, however, almost immediately, by the recollection of this adjustment would have to take place in that tantalizing stretch of time we wander in so freely and yet can no longer alter in even the minutest degree, namely the past. Which brought him back, like some infernal Möbius strip of thought, to that condition of abject susceptibility to the lives of others..."
(Ellipses not mine.) Oy.
I finished this really quickly, not because, as my Book of the Month box suggested, it was so "gripping" and "thrilling," but rather because it was just not that deep. And when I got to the back flap with Lasdun's bio, I found out he teaches creative writing at Columbia and The New School. So what do I know, right?
August 4, 2017
Ever since I read It’s Beginning to Hurt, a collection of stories by James Lasdun, I have eagerly picked up any writing of his I could find. He comes from a long line of self-aware male novelists who point to themselves, the human condition with its male inadequacies, and laugh with us, e.g., Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Graham Swift, and further back, Kingsley Amis and P.G. Wodehouse. That Lasdun is not as broad as these last two, matters not at all for what it is he perceives and is able to convey.
Lasdun may be one of the most underrated novelists of whom I am aware. A new novel of his should be an event, and widely heralded. Instead I came upon this novel published last year in a library display. My other reading had to wait until I had a chance to see what he was doing in this extraordinarily chilling horror novel in which the unspooling of mystery is embedded in the comfort the characters enjoy.
There is a threesome: a wealthy banker, his beautiful wife, and a talented cousin. There are some stressors: the banker has been laid off, the wife has an artist’s eye but not an artist’s income, and the talented cousin lost his last investment in a restaurant of which he was chef. However, it is summer, and the three escape city heat to enjoy the cool of the summer house in the Catskills, time to refuel one’s energies for the stretch ahead.
The vacation idyll has a butterfly garden, a pool house, privacy hedges, large airy rooms, and a fully stocked kitchen. The chef shops for local produce using the banker’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of funds to prepare gorgeous meals of diverse and exciting courses, accompanied by wines from an extensive cellar that the banker enjoys replenishing in his free time. Everything is lovely, until, suddenly, one character in the piece appears in town outside of the role assigned them…
On one foray to the tiny shops in town servicing the vacationers, the chef sees the wife driving to an apparently secret assignation. Lasdun cleverly constructs this novel so that whatever happens after, our sympathies are at war with our understanding. Tiny, shocking revelations mentioned almost as afterthought set alarm bells clanging, turning around hours of conclusions we have already made from the details Lasdun gives us.
This is a deeply disturbing novel, perhaps the more so because we are lulled into believing that none of these likable and ordinary characters can harbor dark secrets. But, we discover, one of the three is indeed twisted, and even when we get an inkling of the truth, we are not willing to completely believe the evidence of our eyes. After all, Lasdun did leave out something crucial when we were first constructing our own narrative.
Tell me the following passage, which comes late in the story, isn’t calculated to give you chills. Can we even trust the author?
Lasdun may be one of the most underrated novelists of whom I am aware. A new novel of his should be an event, and widely heralded. Instead I came upon this novel published last year in a library display. My other reading had to wait until I had a chance to see what he was doing in this extraordinarily chilling horror novel in which the unspooling of mystery is embedded in the comfort the characters enjoy.
There is a threesome: a wealthy banker, his beautiful wife, and a talented cousin. There are some stressors: the banker has been laid off, the wife has an artist’s eye but not an artist’s income, and the talented cousin lost his last investment in a restaurant of which he was chef. However, it is summer, and the three escape city heat to enjoy the cool of the summer house in the Catskills, time to refuel one’s energies for the stretch ahead.
The vacation idyll has a butterfly garden, a pool house, privacy hedges, large airy rooms, and a fully stocked kitchen. The chef shops for local produce using the banker’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of funds to prepare gorgeous meals of diverse and exciting courses, accompanied by wines from an extensive cellar that the banker enjoys replenishing in his free time. Everything is lovely, until, suddenly, one character in the piece appears in town outside of the role assigned them…
On one foray to the tiny shops in town servicing the vacationers, the chef sees the wife driving to an apparently secret assignation. Lasdun cleverly constructs this novel so that whatever happens after, our sympathies are at war with our understanding. Tiny, shocking revelations mentioned almost as afterthought set alarm bells clanging, turning around hours of conclusions we have already made from the details Lasdun gives us.
This is a deeply disturbing novel, perhaps the more so because we are lulled into believing that none of these likable and ordinary characters can harbor dark secrets. But, we discover, one of the three is indeed twisted, and even when we get an inkling of the truth, we are not willing to completely believe the evidence of our eyes. After all, Lasdun did leave out something crucial when we were first constructing our own narrative.
Tell me the following passage, which comes late in the story, isn’t calculated to give you chills. Can we even trust the author?
“It was still raining when he went to bed. The pines stood dripping behind the guesthouse, dark and immense. Glittering strings ran from the unguttered octagonal eaves. He opened the door and slid the suitcase out from under the bed, half expecting, as he always did, the things inside to have rearranged themselves, so bristlingly volatile had they become in his imagination. They lay exactly as he had left them.”Loved it. To me this is a perfect summer read—drifting in and out of consciousness by the water—one instinctively feels something is wrong, but a stray sentence jolts us awake, sending heart rate pounding. Terrific little psychological thriller.
September 16, 2016
(2.5) This is a capable psychological thriller about an out-of-work chef who becomes obsessed with the idea that his wealthy cousin’s alluring wife is cheating on him during a summer spent with them in their upstate New York bolthole. I liked hearing about Matthew’s cooking and Chloe’s photography, and it’s interesting how Lasdun draws in a bit about banking and the Occupy movement. However, the complicated Anglo-American family backstory between Matthew and Charlie feels belabored, and the fact that we only see things from Matthew’s perspective is limiting in a bad way. There’s a decent Hitchcock vibe in places, but overall this is somewhat lackluster. I’ve preferred Lasdun’s poetry (Water Sessions) and nonfiction (Give Me Everything You Have) to this first taste of his fiction.
October 17, 2016
This would have been so much better if told from all 3 character perspectives!
October 3, 2016
Whoever is handling publicity for this new release, is doing an excellent job. Covered in one of the weeklies as a must read thriller for Fall, 'The Fall Guy' really did not deliver in my opinion. The tale of revenge and obsession involved no thrills at all. I appreciate a multi-layer psychological suspense but this book was rather slow and the ending left me with a 'meh'. Don't get me started on the amateurish 'stalking' of Chloe, her elusive yoga classes and the wealthy husband's paranoia. The writing was great but the characters were developed far less than the self-indulgent food descriptions, which actually stuck with me (a duck egg and aged gruyere omelette, much?). Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.
October 21, 2016
Matthew, an unemployed and struggling chef, accompanies his wealthy cousin, Charlie, and Charlie's wife, Chloe, to their idyllic country house for the summer. Through secrets, suspicions, and jealousy cracks in their relationships are revealed, as Matthew becomes increasingly obsessed with Chloe and her behavior.
The story is told solely from the perspective of Matthew. I would have preferred to have Charlie's and especially Chloe's perspectives as well. While Matthew's character was well developed, I never found out enough about Chloe's motivations or Charlie's thoughts and feelings.
This was a pretty average piece of literary fiction with a slow start, but it picked up at 60%, and as it was relatively short at 256 pages, it can be read pretty quickly.
However, I'm afraid this was another of these books that simply didn't evoke any emotions. Class, money, and politics were discussed in more detail than I cared for, and the elaborate descriptions of the food and the scenery made it very tempting to skim read. Probably rather cheeky coming from me, as I tend to construct really long sentences myself, but believe me that's nothing compared to some of the sentences James Lasdun knocks together. Mind you, he's a creative writing teacher, so he obviously knows his stuff.
The Fall Guy is heralded as a taut psychological thriller / gripping suspense story, but many of the developments felt really contrived (the safe, the door key to the vacation rental, items found at the back of the sofa etc.) and the plot meanders along so that the thriller/suspense elements just didn't work for me, I'm afraid.
But if you ignore the marketing and treat this as a literary character study, with the focus on Matthew, rather than on the plot, then it turns into a reasonable read.
I received an ARC via NetGalley.
The story is told solely from the perspective of Matthew. I would have preferred to have Charlie's and especially Chloe's perspectives as well. While Matthew's character was well developed, I never found out enough about Chloe's motivations or Charlie's thoughts and feelings.
This was a pretty average piece of literary fiction with a slow start, but it picked up at 60%, and as it was relatively short at 256 pages, it can be read pretty quickly.
However, I'm afraid this was another of these books that simply didn't evoke any emotions. Class, money, and politics were discussed in more detail than I cared for, and the elaborate descriptions of the food and the scenery made it very tempting to skim read. Probably rather cheeky coming from me, as I tend to construct really long sentences myself, but believe me that's nothing compared to some of the sentences James Lasdun knocks together. Mind you, he's a creative writing teacher, so he obviously knows his stuff.
The Fall Guy is heralded as a taut psychological thriller / gripping suspense story, but many of the developments felt really contrived (the safe, the door key to the vacation rental, items found at the back of the sofa etc.) and the plot meanders along so that the thriller/suspense elements just didn't work for me, I'm afraid.
But if you ignore the marketing and treat this as a literary character study, with the focus on Matthew, rather than on the plot, then it turns into a reasonable read.
I received an ARC via NetGalley.
July 11, 2019
Cousins Matthew and Charlie set off to spend their summer at the latter's second home, along with Charlie's wife, Chloe. Charlie, a former banker turned 'ethical investor', is a multimillionaire; Matthew, a restaurateur with no current job and vague dreams of opening a 'gourmet food truck', has not been quite so successful (though this is one of those stories so stuffed with unimaginably privileged people that Matthew still has the sort of lifestyle most of us can only dream of). To make matters more complicated, Matthew is possessed of an odd combination of feelings towards Chloe. He's attracted to her, but it's not as simple as desire alone: she is 'an idealised composite in whom daughter, sister, cousin, mother, mistress, friend and mystical other half were all miraculously commingled'. But rather than being (as you might imagine) seethingly jealous of Charlie, he 'had no actual designs on Chloe, and in fact believed in her and Charlie's marriage almost as an article of religious faith. It was something he considered absolutely right and absolutely fixed'.
Still, the friendship between Matthew and Charlie is volatile. After a severe falling-out when they were schoolboys, they've only become amiable again over the past ten years. Matthew still feels burned by that experience, and is well aware he is enormously in debt to his cousin in a number of ways. When Matthew starts to suspect Chloe is having an affair – and an investigation of her comings and goings seems to bear out his fears – the stage is set for disaster. The tension will slowly simmer for quite a while first, though...
The Fall Guy makes you believe it centres on a simple and surely universally relatable moral dilemma: if you found out your friend's partner was cheating, what would you do? (What if you secretly liked the partner better than the friend? What if your relationship with the friend was already uneasy?) It pulls you into those questions, then spits you out as it forces Matthew into an ever-worsening spiral of poor choices and lies. The protagonist's innate shiftiness, remarked upon by other characters as well as being apparent to the reader, becomes an asset, as does the use of third- rather than first-person narrator. You're distanced from Matthew enough that you're able to feel disgust at his actions – but the relentless focus on his point of view, his obsessiveness, his panic, makes you feel like you're colluding nevertheless.
Lasdun's style has such a smooth, easy flow to it here. I know it's an odd word to apply to writing, but I'd describe it as unobtrusive; it was like I was reading without realising I was reading, and I flew through the story at a speed that continually surprised me. In several ways, it seems absolutely effortless. A gripping, glittering novel.
I received an advance review copy of The Fall Guy from the publisher through NetGalley.
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Still, the friendship between Matthew and Charlie is volatile. After a severe falling-out when they were schoolboys, they've only become amiable again over the past ten years. Matthew still feels burned by that experience, and is well aware he is enormously in debt to his cousin in a number of ways. When Matthew starts to suspect Chloe is having an affair – and an investigation of her comings and goings seems to bear out his fears – the stage is set for disaster. The tension will slowly simmer for quite a while first, though...
The Fall Guy makes you believe it centres on a simple and surely universally relatable moral dilemma: if you found out your friend's partner was cheating, what would you do? (What if you secretly liked the partner better than the friend? What if your relationship with the friend was already uneasy?) It pulls you into those questions, then spits you out as it forces Matthew into an ever-worsening spiral of poor choices and lies. The protagonist's innate shiftiness, remarked upon by other characters as well as being apparent to the reader, becomes an asset, as does the use of third- rather than first-person narrator. You're distanced from Matthew enough that you're able to feel disgust at his actions – but the relentless focus on his point of view, his obsessiveness, his panic, makes you feel like you're colluding nevertheless.
Lasdun's style has such a smooth, easy flow to it here. I know it's an odd word to apply to writing, but I'd describe it as unobtrusive; it was like I was reading without realising I was reading, and I flew through the story at a speed that continually surprised me. In several ways, it seems absolutely effortless. A gripping, glittering novel.
I received an advance review copy of The Fall Guy from the publisher through NetGalley.
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November 2, 2016
First of all, I’m grateful to the Goodreads Firstreads program and to the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, for allowing me to be an early reader.
James Lasdun knows a thing or two about betrayal and revenge. In the last book I read by him – a memoir entitled Give Me Everything You Have – he tells the harrowing real-life story of being stalked by an unbalanced student.
So it’s no surprise that this work of fiction, The Fall Guy, is so darn good. It builds momentum slowly, beginning with the introduction of two of the three main characters – Matthew, a superb haute cuisine chef who is currently unemployed, and his far more successful cousin Charlie, a one-time investment broker for Morgan Stanley. Charlie, who is married to the ethereal Chloe, invites Matthew to spend the summer with them in their second home in the Catskills.
The only thing is that Matthew is obsessed with Chloe and Chloe may very well be obsessed with a fourth character, who is fleshed out later in the book. Each of these three characters is unreliable: nothing is precisely as it appears. Lingering in the background is the wide social class and money gap between the cousins and the resentment that traces back to their childhood.
As tensions mount and secrets become unveiled, there is an almost unbearable feeling of suspense in the final 100 pages of the book. Who, in fact, is the victim? Who will be the fall guy? Who is the guilty party and what is the nature of guilt? Can someone ever reinvent themselves or is the die cast early on? The relationship between the Matt, Charlie and Chloe is finely nuanced and wonderfully explored and exposed. As the fault lines in these relationships expand to become chasms, it is impossible to look away. Expect to feel unsettled and totally absorbed.
James Lasdun knows a thing or two about betrayal and revenge. In the last book I read by him – a memoir entitled Give Me Everything You Have – he tells the harrowing real-life story of being stalked by an unbalanced student.
So it’s no surprise that this work of fiction, The Fall Guy, is so darn good. It builds momentum slowly, beginning with the introduction of two of the three main characters – Matthew, a superb haute cuisine chef who is currently unemployed, and his far more successful cousin Charlie, a one-time investment broker for Morgan Stanley. Charlie, who is married to the ethereal Chloe, invites Matthew to spend the summer with them in their second home in the Catskills.
The only thing is that Matthew is obsessed with Chloe and Chloe may very well be obsessed with a fourth character, who is fleshed out later in the book. Each of these three characters is unreliable: nothing is precisely as it appears. Lingering in the background is the wide social class and money gap between the cousins and the resentment that traces back to their childhood.
As tensions mount and secrets become unveiled, there is an almost unbearable feeling of suspense in the final 100 pages of the book. Who, in fact, is the victim? Who will be the fall guy? Who is the guilty party and what is the nature of guilt? Can someone ever reinvent themselves or is the die cast early on? The relationship between the Matt, Charlie and Chloe is finely nuanced and wonderfully explored and exposed. As the fault lines in these relationships expand to become chasms, it is impossible to look away. Expect to feel unsettled and totally absorbed.
April 30, 2019
I bought and read this book after a friend recommended it, but I was hesitant. Although it had quite a few good editorial reviews, I don't pay attention to that. The readers reviews, however, showed that this novel was not well received, either on Amazon or Goodreads. For example, out of nearly 3000 ratings on Goodreads, 32% gave it less than 3 stars. I began to regret one-clicking away ten hard-earned dollars for the Kindle version.
But I was pleasantly surprised and rewarded. This was a psychological thriller in a true sense, with the personalities of the characters finely dissected, albeit by the protagonist's own questionable point of view. The protagonist is Matthew, who is invited to stay with his best friend/cousin and his wife(Charlie and Chloe) for the summer at their upstate NY retreat. Included in his analysis of how these friends feel and behave, is his assessment of what they think of him, but whether this is an accurate representation of what they really think of him is debatable. Despite that the narration has an almost exclusive focus on Matthew's thoughts and opinions, the book is written in the third person, and I wonder why. As another GR reviewer pointed out (my GoodReads friend Kasa), the story would have had more of an impact on the readers if it was in the first person. I don't recall any scene that takes place with Matthew absent. Maybe the author felt he could be more flexible with his similes and metaphors, which often did not gel with me anyway, but just made the book more wordy (perhaps Lasdun needed filler, since it is a short book and might have been under 200 pages without the blah blah)
In spite of these criticisms, I really enjoyed this book, and it haunted me for some time after I had finished. The suspense was insidious, slowly creeping up stealthily, and I had to keep turning the pages to the end, so I could rid myself of the tension. The sociopathic tendencies and rationalizations of the protagonist evoke The Talented Mr. Ripley, or even the The Stranger. Outside of his cousin Charlie and Charlies' wife Chloe, Matthew doesn't seem to have any current friends, another aspect that makes him suspect regarding relationships.
With such a mixed bag of reader reactions, I cannot recommend this book, but for me it was a very satisfying read. I will be checking out other books by this author.
But I was pleasantly surprised and rewarded. This was a psychological thriller in a true sense, with the personalities of the characters finely dissected, albeit by the protagonist's own questionable point of view. The protagonist is Matthew, who is invited to stay with his best friend/cousin and his wife(Charlie and Chloe) for the summer at their upstate NY retreat. Included in his analysis of how these friends feel and behave, is his assessment of what they think of him, but whether this is an accurate representation of what they really think of him is debatable. Despite that the narration has an almost exclusive focus on Matthew's thoughts and opinions, the book is written in the third person, and I wonder why. As another GR reviewer pointed out (my GoodReads friend Kasa), the story would have had more of an impact on the readers if it was in the first person. I don't recall any scene that takes place with Matthew absent. Maybe the author felt he could be more flexible with his similes and metaphors, which often did not gel with me anyway, but just made the book more wordy (perhaps Lasdun needed filler, since it is a short book and might have been under 200 pages without the blah blah)
In spite of these criticisms, I really enjoyed this book, and it haunted me for some time after I had finished. The suspense was insidious, slowly creeping up stealthily, and I had to keep turning the pages to the end, so I could rid myself of the tension. The sociopathic tendencies and rationalizations of the protagonist evoke The Talented Mr. Ripley, or even the The Stranger. Outside of his cousin Charlie and Charlies' wife Chloe, Matthew doesn't seem to have any current friends, another aspect that makes him suspect regarding relationships.
With such a mixed bag of reader reactions, I cannot recommend this book, but for me it was a very satisfying read. I will be checking out other books by this author.
January 2, 2017
The Fall Guy was just too slow. That is the basic reason that it was not for me. I'm not sure selling it as a "Taut psychological thriller " is doing it any favours because it is not taut nor is it really a thriller. It is more character study and yes some lovely literary writing the author has got going on here but although I love some literary stuff I need to have at least a sense that something might happen soon. Or at least a little tension.
I think it would have worked better from multiple viewpoints. We only get the one and that one is vaguely monotonous at times and seriously if I wanted to read a cookbook I'd get a cookbook. The plot kind of meanders along until quite late then suddenly things pick up but by then I was genuinely past caring. If we had heard from the other characters in the drama - and that is what this is a character drama- it might have added layers beyond lots of beautiful words tagged together to tell a rather long winded (yes it is only a short novel but trust me it feels long winded) story. For me the ending was lazy too.
Look it's not terrible, certainly James Lasdun has excellent writing skill but I was bored. The only reason I finished it was because it was short and I had an occasional eye on "maybe this is going to have a kick ass finale that will make all this worthwhile". Sadly that did not happen. At least not in my opinion.
I think The Fall Guy and I are not compatible. We had a brief interlude in time but the relationship really wasn't going anywhere.
If you like the Donna Tartt school of novels you will likely love this to be fair. I was the wrong audience and I'm probably missing the nuances of what the author was trying to achieve here, hey it happens.
I think it would have worked better from multiple viewpoints. We only get the one and that one is vaguely monotonous at times and seriously if I wanted to read a cookbook I'd get a cookbook. The plot kind of meanders along until quite late then suddenly things pick up but by then I was genuinely past caring. If we had heard from the other characters in the drama - and that is what this is a character drama- it might have added layers beyond lots of beautiful words tagged together to tell a rather long winded (yes it is only a short novel but trust me it feels long winded) story. For me the ending was lazy too.
Look it's not terrible, certainly James Lasdun has excellent writing skill but I was bored. The only reason I finished it was because it was short and I had an occasional eye on "maybe this is going to have a kick ass finale that will make all this worthwhile". Sadly that did not happen. At least not in my opinion.
I think The Fall Guy and I are not compatible. We had a brief interlude in time but the relationship really wasn't going anywhere.
If you like the Donna Tartt school of novels you will likely love this to be fair. I was the wrong audience and I'm probably missing the nuances of what the author was trying to achieve here, hey it happens.
October 10, 2016
Wealthy Charlie and Chloe have invited Charlie’s cousin Matthew, a struggling chef, to stay with them in their luxurious home for the summer. Matthew stays in the guest cottage and dreams of perhaps one day living there as caretaker of the home. He steps in as chef for the three of them and cooks enticing meals and they spend their days lounging by the pool or playing Scrabble. But tensions, suspicions and jealousy slowly escalate and the cracks in their relationship begin to appear.
Saying anything more plot wise would go into spoiler territory. As for the writing, there were a few things that weren’t really credible and I kept thinking “Why doesn’t he just…?” But I had such a good time with this book and the world around me was completely lost the whole time I read. It certainly kept me riveted to the pages enjoying the whole experience. I was sure it was taking me in one direction when it never did so I was kept in suspense as to what would happen. The author has created a chilling, sinister, erotic atmosphere that was very entertaining. He truly knows how to tell a story and I’ll be checking out his other books soon. Highly recommended.
This book was given to me by the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.
Saying anything more plot wise would go into spoiler territory. As for the writing, there were a few things that weren’t really credible and I kept thinking “Why doesn’t he just…?” But I had such a good time with this book and the world around me was completely lost the whole time I read. It certainly kept me riveted to the pages enjoying the whole experience. I was sure it was taking me in one direction when it never did so I was kept in suspense as to what would happen. The author has created a chilling, sinister, erotic atmosphere that was very entertaining. He truly knows how to tell a story and I’ll be checking out his other books soon. Highly recommended.
This book was given to me by the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.
September 11, 2016
“The Fall Guy” by James Lasdun tells the story of Matthew, his cousin Charlie, and Charlie’s wife Chloe, as they leave New York City to spend the warmer summer months at their home near the Catskill mountains. As the summer wears on, their proximity to each other and their seemingly tight knit relationships begin to show the cracks of mistrust, past harms and current betrayals leading all three to make difficult decisions about their lives once they are forced to return to reality.
“The Fall Guy” is a story that takes it’s time. It doesn’t thrust you directly into any sort of action, instead, it’s a slow burn of tension and character study that forces you to wonder what is laying beneath each layer of each character and the motivations behind each of their at times questionable decision making.
I will be honest, this was a slow starter for me. I struggled to make it to the half way point, but I am so glad I kept pushing because that is where the story begins to pull you in. From there, I could not stop myself from seeing how these people’s lives could possibly end up.
I enjoyed “The Fall Guy”. A story full of drama, tension and buildup, and at only 256 pages, a great Saturday afternoon read.
A very special thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“The Fall Guy” is a story that takes it’s time. It doesn’t thrust you directly into any sort of action, instead, it’s a slow burn of tension and character study that forces you to wonder what is laying beneath each layer of each character and the motivations behind each of their at times questionable decision making.
I will be honest, this was a slow starter for me. I struggled to make it to the half way point, but I am so glad I kept pushing because that is where the story begins to pull you in. From there, I could not stop myself from seeing how these people’s lives could possibly end up.
I enjoyed “The Fall Guy”. A story full of drama, tension and buildup, and at only 256 pages, a great Saturday afternoon read.
A very special thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 16, 2016
This was a fast, engrossing read with better writing than I expect from a book like this.
Matthew, stagnant and inadequate in his own life, observes the lives of those around him with envy, projecting his own desires onto others. His main focus is his successful cousin, Charlie, with whom he shares a complicated history. When Charlie and his wife Chloe invite Matthew to spend the summer with them at their mansion in the mountains, tensions slowly rise and things take a turn for the ominous.
Matthew is a classic unreliable narrator, so convincing in his certitude that it's genuinely hard to distinguish whether he's a delusional creep or just a strange, lonely guy who was a dealt a bad hand. He operates with a sense of moral passivity—as if he has no control over the things he does and the decisions he makes.
The Fall Guy blurs the lines between victim and perpetrator, right and wrong. It's a surprisingly smart, stimulating read—right down to the Cioran and Pascal references within. If you need an absorbing page-turner, it certainly does the trick.
Matthew, stagnant and inadequate in his own life, observes the lives of those around him with envy, projecting his own desires onto others. His main focus is his successful cousin, Charlie, with whom he shares a complicated history. When Charlie and his wife Chloe invite Matthew to spend the summer with them at their mansion in the mountains, tensions slowly rise and things take a turn for the ominous.
Matthew is a classic unreliable narrator, so convincing in his certitude that it's genuinely hard to distinguish whether he's a delusional creep or just a strange, lonely guy who was a dealt a bad hand. He operates with a sense of moral passivity—as if he has no control over the things he does and the decisions he makes.
The Fall Guy blurs the lines between victim and perpetrator, right and wrong. It's a surprisingly smart, stimulating read—right down to the Cioran and Pascal references within. If you need an absorbing page-turner, it certainly does the trick.
February 6, 2017
This is a decent psychological slow-burning thriller set in rural New York State. Charlie is invited to spend the summer with his good friend Matthew, a city financier, and his wife in their very smart holiday home. It isn't long into the novel when it is clear that despite his cooking and general help around the place, Charlie's presence is a bit awkward, a bit of a hanger-on.
Dirty deeds are expected, but the pace of the novel isn't quick, not that that is a problem, it suits the hot New York weather and the pace of life the trio have. The story is well told. Though the characters are not particularly likeable, they are strongly drawn. Few will take rich city New Yorkers to their heart. When something bad does happen, it is almost welcomed.
Just after half way through the book takes a significant turn, or twist, and the pace increases. It is now a page-turner, but instead of going up through the gears like the best in the genre would, the ending is something of a anti-climax.
Despite this, it is better than it's really low rating on goodreads, which I am quite surprised about.
Dirty deeds are expected, but the pace of the novel isn't quick, not that that is a problem, it suits the hot New York weather and the pace of life the trio have. The story is well told. Though the characters are not particularly likeable, they are strongly drawn. Few will take rich city New Yorkers to their heart. When something bad does happen, it is almost welcomed.
Just after half way through the book takes a significant turn, or twist, and the pace increases. It is now a page-turner, but instead of going up through the gears like the best in the genre would, the ending is something of a anti-climax.
Despite this, it is better than it's really low rating on goodreads, which I am quite surprised about.
November 18, 2016
I didn't like it...
I didn't like the characters...
I didn't like the story...
I didn't like the way it was told...
I didn't like the constant directions on how to get back to the house...
I didn't feel the feelings that I was told these characters had...
I didn't even like it enough to give specific reasons of why
I didn't like it, I just didn't and I disliked it that much that I can't even explain it. :(
I didn't like the characters...
I didn't like the story...
I didn't like the way it was told...
I didn't like the constant directions on how to get back to the house...
I didn't feel the feelings that I was told these characters had...
I didn't even like it enough to give specific reasons of why
I didn't like it, I just didn't and I disliked it that much that I can't even explain it. :(
March 14, 2017
After having just read A Month in the Country (Carr) and To the Wedding (Berger) this new Lasdun novel seemed gauche and almost vapid. If it hadn't been a library-download about to expire from my device, I would not have chosen to read this directly after those works of understated complexity and sublime beauty. But I'm not saying I would have loved this novel even if it hadn't been juxtaposed with those two.
This is a quasi-mystery and here Lasdun is again exploring the mind of a sociopath through the device of an unreliable narrator. But I didn't find the psychological insight valuable or sustainable over the course of the novel. The reader knows the narrator is paranoid and self-delusional, and I didn't find anything verbally interesting or ethically challenging in continually hearing Matthew's troubled insights over and over again. Added to that is the story's milieu of entitlement and wealth, an obnoxious foodie vocabulary, and lackluster fictional conversations on the global financial crash. The Occupy movement is touched on several times but the participants seem to be merged with a local group of "Rainbow people," and the participants of either/both group are viewed as "dirty hippies."
What is sort of interesting (in a different sense) is that Lasdun's earlier novel, The Horned Man, also had an (obviously) unreliable and paranoid narrator and the plot centers on uncovering an assumed personal conspiracy against him. I didn't care for that novel (read it on an airplane: only book in my carry-on), but I later enjoyed Lasdun's memoir (Give Me Everything You Have), which I thought was fascinating. The memoir is about - big surprise! - the author's own experience of being stalked by an obsessed female student.
~ Is there a trend here? Is this just his subject, his obsession, and anything he writes inevitably turns into an exploration of conspiracy, paranoia, and obsession? Would another writer have been able to compose a truly compelling memoir about terrible experience of being the object of stalking, let alone chosen it as a book-length subject at all? And, I almost don't want to say it - but should I wonder if Lasdun exaggerated the experience because what he lived through also happens to be his personal idée fixe?
He's welcome to write on whatever subject he wants, of course. But I didn't think the exploration of compulsive infatuation and criminality was very good in this novel. Unless he comes out with something completely different in the future I probably won't be reading Lasdun again.
This is a quasi-mystery and here Lasdun is again exploring the mind of a sociopath through the device of an unreliable narrator. But I didn't find the psychological insight valuable or sustainable over the course of the novel. The reader knows the narrator is paranoid and self-delusional, and I didn't find anything verbally interesting or ethically challenging in continually hearing Matthew's troubled insights over and over again. Added to that is the story's milieu of entitlement and wealth, an obnoxious foodie vocabulary, and lackluster fictional conversations on the global financial crash. The Occupy movement is touched on several times but the participants seem to be merged with a local group of "Rainbow people," and the participants of either/both group are viewed as "dirty hippies."
What is sort of interesting (in a different sense) is that Lasdun's earlier novel, The Horned Man, also had an (obviously) unreliable and paranoid narrator and the plot centers on uncovering an assumed personal conspiracy against him. I didn't care for that novel (read it on an airplane: only book in my carry-on), but I later enjoyed Lasdun's memoir (Give Me Everything You Have), which I thought was fascinating. The memoir is about - big surprise! - the author's own experience of being stalked by an obsessed female student.
~ Is there a trend here? Is this just his subject, his obsession, and anything he writes inevitably turns into an exploration of conspiracy, paranoia, and obsession? Would another writer have been able to compose a truly compelling memoir about terrible experience of being the object of stalking, let alone chosen it as a book-length subject at all? And, I almost don't want to say it - but should I wonder if Lasdun exaggerated the experience because what he lived through also happens to be his personal idée fixe?
He's welcome to write on whatever subject he wants, of course. But I didn't think the exploration of compulsive infatuation and criminality was very good in this novel. Unless he comes out with something completely different in the future I probably won't be reading Lasdun again.
August 9, 2019
DNF past the halfway point. Should I tell him? Shouldn’t I? I will! No, it is not my business. Okay, now I am telling him. Hmm, maybe not now but later. Jesus, I am so telling him! But the time isn’t right.
There may have been great writing past the 50% point but this silly flip flopping finally exhausted my patience. Interesting premise, great promise, poor early follow through.
There may have been great writing past the 50% point but this silly flip flopping finally exhausted my patience. Interesting premise, great promise, poor early follow through.
December 6, 2017
Genre: Physical Thriller
Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company
Mini Review
We meet two cousins that have a long history together. At one point in their teens they lived together. They have loving memories as well as buried resentments for one another. Throw in an obsessive attraction to the wife and what you get is a murder mystery. I enjoyed this book, but I suspect many fans of the genre, Physical Thriller, will not be. The difference between “Fall Guy” and most other thrillers is that this is a slow paced novel, which is written taunt and (for lack of a better word) intelligently. I often found myself having to look up the meaning of a word. It is always nice to build up one’s vocabulary. My major criticism is that the dialogue for obsessed cousin happens mostly in his head, which gets trying. But, there is a twist at the end to stay true to form for this genre.
Find all my book reviews at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Leave Me Alone I am Reading & Reviewing: https://books6259.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Martie's Book Reviews: https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company
Mini Review
We meet two cousins that have a long history together. At one point in their teens they lived together. They have loving memories as well as buried resentments for one another. Throw in an obsessive attraction to the wife and what you get is a murder mystery. I enjoyed this book, but I suspect many fans of the genre, Physical Thriller, will not be. The difference between “Fall Guy” and most other thrillers is that this is a slow paced novel, which is written taunt and (for lack of a better word) intelligently. I often found myself having to look up the meaning of a word. It is always nice to build up one’s vocabulary. My major criticism is that the dialogue for obsessed cousin happens mostly in his head, which gets trying. But, there is a twist at the end to stay true to form for this genre.
Find all my book reviews at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Leave Me Alone I am Reading & Reviewing: https://books6259.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Martie's Book Reviews: https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
October 9, 2016
I think I heard too much about this book before I read it. The book flap bills it as a "taut psychological thriller" and a "complex moral tale as well as a gripping suspense story," and the book club that sent it to me said "I would recommend starting this book early in the day - once you pop, you won't stop".
In fact I DID read this book all in one sitting, but my primary motivation to keep turning pages was curiosity about when the "psychological thriller" aspects were going to kick in. It's not until page fifty that anything of even minor significance happens, and things don't get truly suspenseful for another hundred pages after that. Even then, the plot meanders calmly throughout the book, progressing from one logical event to the next with not a single one of the Gone Girl twists I was expecting based on the description of the book.
There are several events in the book that lend themselves easily to speculation about how those twists, surprises, and double-crosses will come into play. At the beginning of the novel, the main character's cousin gives him the combination to a safe containing $1.5 million on the flimsy pretext of retrieving a conveniently forgotten gift for his wife. Later, we're introduced to a character renting a summer home who inexplicably and illogically keeps his only key to the house inside a grill on the front lawn. All of this, plus the title of the book, seems to be leading the reader and the MC into a trap where he'll be framed - but .
This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it - James Lasdun is a brilliant writer and the true gem in this book is not the suspense but the masterful way that he weave's the MC's evolving emotional state into the narrative. It's incredibly difficult to evoke emotion in writing, and this is clearly Lasdun's best strength. If the book had been positioned as literary fiction rather than suspense, I would have read it much more happily in the mindset of a Bret Easton Ellis novel - the reader's focus throughout this book should be on the development of the characters, not the unfolding of the plot.
There is, however, one ENORMOUS plot hole that I cannot abide. Throughout the progression of the book we see the MC's mental state degrading, and the more we get into his head we see that . All of this leads up to his role in the climax of the story, and . This was the LAZIEST plotting I've seen in a long time and it kind of ruined the end of the book for me - a little bit of creative problem solving on the writer's part could have avoided this whole mess and made for a much more satisfactory scene.
In fact I DID read this book all in one sitting, but my primary motivation to keep turning pages was curiosity about when the "psychological thriller" aspects were going to kick in. It's not until page fifty that anything of even minor significance happens, and things don't get truly suspenseful for another hundred pages after that. Even then, the plot meanders calmly throughout the book, progressing from one logical event to the next with not a single one of the Gone Girl twists I was expecting based on the description of the book.
There are several events in the book that lend themselves easily to speculation about how those twists, surprises, and double-crosses will come into play. At the beginning of the novel, the main character's cousin gives him the combination to a safe containing $1.5 million on the flimsy pretext of retrieving a conveniently forgotten gift for his wife. Later, we're introduced to a character renting a summer home who inexplicably and illogically keeps his only key to the house inside a grill on the front lawn. All of this, plus the title of the book, seems to be leading the reader and the MC into a trap where he'll be framed - but .
This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it - James Lasdun is a brilliant writer and the true gem in this book is not the suspense but the masterful way that he weave's the MC's evolving emotional state into the narrative. It's incredibly difficult to evoke emotion in writing, and this is clearly Lasdun's best strength. If the book had been positioned as literary fiction rather than suspense, I would have read it much more happily in the mindset of a Bret Easton Ellis novel - the reader's focus throughout this book should be on the development of the characters, not the unfolding of the plot.
There is, however, one ENORMOUS plot hole that I cannot abide. Throughout the progression of the book we see the MC's mental state degrading, and the more we get into his head we see that . All of this leads up to his role in the climax of the story, and . This was the LAZIEST plotting I've seen in a long time and it kind of ruined the end of the book for me - a little bit of creative problem solving on the writer's part could have avoided this whole mess and made for a much more satisfactory scene.
March 15, 2018
A new author for me, and a great introduction to his work, as The Fall Guy, resonates with a feel of Patricia Highsmith, and kept the Raven hooked in its clutches…
As is natural with an intense character driven psychological thriller of this kind, the synopsis above is all I am going to give you in terms of plot reveal. Like me, I would urge you to read this largely in a vacuum of unknowing, as the tension both in personal relationships, and the air of deceit and disloyalty, gradually builds and builds. With such a finite group of characters, I felt like I was almost observing a stage play, and for some reason I had an echo of Albee’s brilliant Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf tickling in the back of mind throughout. I thought the relationship between the three main characters and the dips, ecstasies and growing dislike and distrust were beautifully played out, against the backdrop of a sultry heat that seemed to add to the tension of the piece even more. There is an increasingly poisonous relationship building between married couple Charlie and Chloe and cousin Matthew, and be warned your sympathies will be toyed with, and your allegiances shifted along the way…
Lasdun shows his perfect control of pace, as slight reveals and little moments of trickery, lulling us into the feeling that we know exactly what’s going on, and how this will all play out. Wrong tiddly wrong wrong. I was sucker punched by the ending, and was just so, so pleased that it caught me completely off guard. Beautifully paced, a brilliant escalation of tension, and great characterisation. Highly recommended.
As is natural with an intense character driven psychological thriller of this kind, the synopsis above is all I am going to give you in terms of plot reveal. Like me, I would urge you to read this largely in a vacuum of unknowing, as the tension both in personal relationships, and the air of deceit and disloyalty, gradually builds and builds. With such a finite group of characters, I felt like I was almost observing a stage play, and for some reason I had an echo of Albee’s brilliant Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf tickling in the back of mind throughout. I thought the relationship between the three main characters and the dips, ecstasies and growing dislike and distrust were beautifully played out, against the backdrop of a sultry heat that seemed to add to the tension of the piece even more. There is an increasingly poisonous relationship building between married couple Charlie and Chloe and cousin Matthew, and be warned your sympathies will be toyed with, and your allegiances shifted along the way…
Lasdun shows his perfect control of pace, as slight reveals and little moments of trickery, lulling us into the feeling that we know exactly what’s going on, and how this will all play out. Wrong tiddly wrong wrong. I was sucker punched by the ending, and was just so, so pleased that it caught me completely off guard. Beautifully paced, a brilliant escalation of tension, and great characterisation. Highly recommended.
September 11, 2016
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
After hearing about this book from a few book bloggers I was very excited to get a chance to read this book but that's where the excitement ended. The book takes a very, very long time for anything exciting to happen. Basically, half the book is spent "setting the scene" and the other half flys by. I mean I was flat out shocked when I turned the last page because there was at least another chapter or 2 of story to go. I felt the author spent a lot of time building up to this climax and then just decided to stop writing. It was a little disappointing to say the least. Also, there were times in the book that I couldn't understand how the story got to that point. Like there was no "cause land "effect" for certain situations so it was hard to understand why a character was feeling the way he/she was.
Overall I was glad to get the chance to read this book but in the end i was left feeling slighted at the way this book ended.
After hearing about this book from a few book bloggers I was very excited to get a chance to read this book but that's where the excitement ended. The book takes a very, very long time for anything exciting to happen. Basically, half the book is spent "setting the scene" and the other half flys by. I mean I was flat out shocked when I turned the last page because there was at least another chapter or 2 of story to go. I felt the author spent a lot of time building up to this climax and then just decided to stop writing. It was a little disappointing to say the least. Also, there were times in the book that I couldn't understand how the story got to that point. Like there was no "cause land "effect" for certain situations so it was hard to understand why a character was feeling the way he/she was.
Overall I was glad to get the chance to read this book but in the end i was left feeling slighted at the way this book ended.
October 29, 2016
Very quick read, and that's the best thing about it. There is a bit of tension during the last 1/3 of the book that could have gone in many different directions, but didn't resolve. As noted in the description, there are three main characters -- Charles married to Chloe, an affluent couple who invite Charles's cousin Matthew to spend the summer at their "place" in the Catskills. As the backstory unspools, we learn of Matthew's troubled past and familial history with Charles. We learn nothing of Chloe and little of Charles. In fact, my greatest disappointment was that although the story focussed entirely on Matthew, the book is written in the third person, and would have been much more creepy if it had been in first person with Matthew as a highly unreliable narrator. That would have made the book more fun.
August 19, 2016
Loved it. The perfect blend of drama, suspense and literary merit. Characters with depth that you care about and who act like real people, not characters in books. Unlike most books, I did not know how it would turn out which kept me involved. Loved it. Highly recommended.
May 11, 2022
I am surprised by the low ratings here, since this is a magnificent, dark little thriller imo. On second thought, I can see how Lasdun's style is not for all tastes - but it certainly is for mine. As in The Horned Man, he gives us a realistic, introspective psychological thriller that is written in nuanced, articulate prose, one that focuses on a possibly disturbed, 30-something male protagonist. In an interview once, Lasdun identified himself as a fan of Patricia Highsmith, and one can clearly see that there is a connection between them. I would bet a healthy sum that she would have appreciated his work as much as he appreciates hers.
This tale begins fairly peacefully, as what looks to be a languid summer is getting underway. We are introduced to a pair of cousins, Matthew and Charlie. The former is a struggling cook, the son of a man who embezzled a large some of money and then vanished; the latter is a well-off financier, somewhat cold and abrupt, but seemingly a responsible and decent guy overall, who is generous with his less successful cousin. For some reason, Matthew repeatedly refers to Charlie as his friend as well as his cousin, which I found disconcerting, but anyway . . . We spend all of this book inside the head of Matthew, and even though he is welcome to stay in Charlie's spacious vacation home in fictional Aurelia, New York, and to spend time with Charlie and his wife Chloe, he still is an outsider in their comfortable existence, and tries to win their favor by running errands and cooking nice meals for them.
The troubles begin to appear slowly, but steadily. For one thing, Matthew and Chloe have an unspoken, never-to-be-expressed attraction to each other, and that is one of the things that begins to eat away at our troubled protagonist. Lasdun is superb at carefully and eloquently unwinding a dark, nasty scenario. It begins to become apparent that Chloe is up to something with another man, a masculine filmmaker named Wade Grolier - although it is not entirely clear what. Matthew almost confides his suspicions to his cousin a number of times, but fear and a sense of propriety hold him back. Instead, he decides to do some solitary snooping and investigating, a decision that eventually has catastrophic consequences.
By the end of the story, Matthew's troubled tendencies are increasingly on display, and Lasdun milks the tension between the characters perfectly. The choice of title is a fascinating one. By using this well-worn phrase (which makes it seem like the kind of book one might pick up in a train station), the author gets us wondering which of the main characters it will apply to - and the reader does not find out until the last paragraph.
Don't trust those 2 star reviews. This is an excellent literary mystery, with a slowly developing but effective plot, and some depth to the characters (particularly Matthew and Chloe). I listened to an audio version of it, in which Charles Constant gives a very good reading.
This tale begins fairly peacefully, as what looks to be a languid summer is getting underway. We are introduced to a pair of cousins, Matthew and Charlie. The former is a struggling cook, the son of a man who embezzled a large some of money and then vanished; the latter is a well-off financier, somewhat cold and abrupt, but seemingly a responsible and decent guy overall, who is generous with his less successful cousin. For some reason, Matthew repeatedly refers to Charlie as his friend as well as his cousin, which I found disconcerting, but anyway . . . We spend all of this book inside the head of Matthew, and even though he is welcome to stay in Charlie's spacious vacation home in fictional Aurelia, New York, and to spend time with Charlie and his wife Chloe, he still is an outsider in their comfortable existence, and tries to win their favor by running errands and cooking nice meals for them.
The troubles begin to appear slowly, but steadily. For one thing, Matthew and Chloe have an unspoken, never-to-be-expressed attraction to each other, and that is one of the things that begins to eat away at our troubled protagonist. Lasdun is superb at carefully and eloquently unwinding a dark, nasty scenario. It begins to become apparent that Chloe is up to something with another man, a masculine filmmaker named Wade Grolier - although it is not entirely clear what. Matthew almost confides his suspicions to his cousin a number of times, but fear and a sense of propriety hold him back. Instead, he decides to do some solitary snooping and investigating, a decision that eventually has catastrophic consequences.
By the end of the story, Matthew's troubled tendencies are increasingly on display, and Lasdun milks the tension between the characters perfectly. The choice of title is a fascinating one. By using this well-worn phrase (which makes it seem like the kind of book one might pick up in a train station), the author gets us wondering which of the main characters it will apply to - and the reader does not find out until the last paragraph.
Don't trust those 2 star reviews. This is an excellent literary mystery, with a slowly developing but effective plot, and some depth to the characters (particularly Matthew and Chloe). I listened to an audio version of it, in which Charles Constant gives a very good reading.
September 22, 2017
This is not a greatly memorable book, but it is surely diverting. Disappointingly, the characters are flat and – across the board – unsympathetic. But there’s an intriguing plot, an unfolding story of people whose past relations with each other, while not immediately apparent, are particularly awful.
In the beginning, we have a trio – an investment banker who recently lost his job but has no shortage of money, his lovely photographer wife who appears flawless, and the banker’s cousin, a fine chef whose restaurant venture has failed. They have retreated for the summer to a perfect summer home in the Catskills, with a pool, privacy hedges, a butterfly garden, and a separate guest house. The summer is filled with languid days, exquisite meals, and fine wines.
The book’s strong point is its moral ambiguity. The banker is portrayed as having a social conscience. But does he really have a conscience? The banker’s beautiful wife has a secret. Most of the narrative centers on the thoughts of the cousin and protagonist, Matthew, who worries constantly about his decisions and motivations but is absolutely confused in his pursuit of what is right. “Pursuit” is the operative word here. To say more is to spoil.
I’ve been recovering from a concussion (sheesh!). I have listened to and will be reviewing some books that are a bit of departure for me. I was looking for books not too complex and not a stress on my shaken-up brain. This one was easy to listen to, all right, but tension filled. As promised by other reviewers, there are no shootouts or car chases, but there is a definite sense of foreboding.
Quite regularly, I wondered who the Fall Guy was. And who was going to suffer for transgressions. Too bad I didn’t care a whole lot. This may say more about me than about the book. I seem to require fuller character development, and those who really crave a psychological thriller will be much happier.
In the beginning, we have a trio – an investment banker who recently lost his job but has no shortage of money, his lovely photographer wife who appears flawless, and the banker’s cousin, a fine chef whose restaurant venture has failed. They have retreated for the summer to a perfect summer home in the Catskills, with a pool, privacy hedges, a butterfly garden, and a separate guest house. The summer is filled with languid days, exquisite meals, and fine wines.
The book’s strong point is its moral ambiguity. The banker is portrayed as having a social conscience. But does he really have a conscience? The banker’s beautiful wife has a secret. Most of the narrative centers on the thoughts of the cousin and protagonist, Matthew, who worries constantly about his decisions and motivations but is absolutely confused in his pursuit of what is right. “Pursuit” is the operative word here. To say more is to spoil.
I’ve been recovering from a concussion (sheesh!). I have listened to and will be reviewing some books that are a bit of departure for me. I was looking for books not too complex and not a stress on my shaken-up brain. This one was easy to listen to, all right, but tension filled. As promised by other reviewers, there are no shootouts or car chases, but there is a definite sense of foreboding.
Quite regularly, I wondered who the Fall Guy was. And who was going to suffer for transgressions. Too bad I didn’t care a whole lot. This may say more about me than about the book. I seem to require fuller character development, and those who really crave a psychological thriller will be much happier.
December 16, 2016
To put it bluntly, this book tries way too hard.
I've read a LOT of thrillers. Short of actual horror, they're probably my favorite genre. In that, I've read a good chunk of novels about weirdly obsessed men with women. I read The Undoing, Watching Edie, and Orchard Grove all just this year, in fact.
You know what all those books did well that The Fall Guy didn't? Focused on the characters. Y'know, the characters who are either stalking or being stalked? The ones who make terrible decisions that drastically alter their lives?
You know what The Fall Guy did instead? Tell me every inane detail about Matthew's interior monologue. Tell me every single time he went to town. Tell me every single time that he made a fancy dish while ruminating about how obsessed he is with Chloe.
You know what happens with his obsession of Chloe? Well..... a lot of nothing for two-thirds of the book. And then a big thing happens! Then it's handled so dismally that it's barely even a blip on the screen. Seriously, who knew murder could be so boring?
That's just it. It takes several situations that could have been wrought with tension and smoothed them out so thoroughly that none of them resembled even ant hills.
I've read a LOT of thrillers. Short of actual horror, they're probably my favorite genre. In that, I've read a good chunk of novels about weirdly obsessed men with women. I read The Undoing, Watching Edie, and Orchard Grove all just this year, in fact.
You know what all those books did well that The Fall Guy didn't? Focused on the characters. Y'know, the characters who are either stalking or being stalked? The ones who make terrible decisions that drastically alter their lives?
You know what The Fall Guy did instead? Tell me every inane detail about Matthew's interior monologue. Tell me every single time he went to town. Tell me every single time that he made a fancy dish while ruminating about how obsessed he is with Chloe.
You know what happens with his obsession of Chloe? Well..... a lot of nothing for two-thirds of the book. And then a big thing happens! Then it's handled so dismally that it's barely even a blip on the screen. Seriously, who knew murder could be so boring?
That's just it. It takes several situations that could have been wrought with tension and smoothed them out so thoroughly that none of them resembled even ant hills.
May 6, 2016
I love stories like this, that plunge me right in from page one. Matthew, a down-on-his-luck chef, visits Charlie and Chloe, his wealthy cousin and wife. At first everything seems idyllic, but as the story progresses, each character has secrets and motives that slowly unfold. The narrative is from Matthew's point of view and at first you might believe everything he says, but again, as things progress, you have reasons to wonder if he's being totally honest. And then it's a matter of Chloe, who constantly surprises. And where is it that Charlie disappears to every day? Jealousy, murder, infidelity and voyeurism all play a part in the well-told tale and by the time you get to the last page you'll still be wondering who the real fall guy (or girl) is.
I would have given it 5 stars, but there were a couple of too obvious clues near the end, making the ending more predicable than it should have been. That said, it was an extremely enjoyable read.
Thank you Netgalley and WW Norton & Company for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I would have given it 5 stars, but there were a couple of too obvious clues near the end, making the ending more predicable than it should have been. That said, it was an extremely enjoyable read.
Thank you Netgalley and WW Norton & Company for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
November 8, 2016
A kind of messed drama about Matthew who goes to stay at the summer home of his rich cousin Charlie and his alluring wife Chloe. While there Matthew begins to see fissures in what he thought was a great marriage/relationship between his cousin and his wife as well as his own relationship to Charlie. One day on a suspicious hunch he follows Chloe only to discover her betrayal which begins a chain of events that ultimately does Matthew in. Without giving away more of the plot, the ending is what left me feeling flat. Maybe It was because I was hoping for a different ending, can't help feeling the main character was ultimately duped.
October 25, 2016
I don't give a whole lot of one star reviews, so this kinda pains me. But not as much as reading this book. I assumed by the cover art that I wouldn't like this book, but the title totally made me give it a shot.
While not a requirement, not a single character was likable or relatable. It took more than half of the book for there to even be any action. And then it kinda ends abruptly.
I wasted a free Book of the Month Club credit on this book and I'll never get it back. Saying this book was underwhelming, would be too kind.
While not a requirement, not a single character was likable or relatable. It took more than half of the book for there to even be any action. And then it kinda ends abruptly.
I wasted a free Book of the Month Club credit on this book and I'll never get it back. Saying this book was underwhelming, would be too kind.
January 3, 2019
I should have learned my lesson by now. Two important rules in life - never eat in a restaurant which has pictures of the food outside and never read a novel with a picture of a woman in a swimsuit/bikini lying on a beach or next to a swimming pool on the cover. This is basically a story about obsession with a psychological thriller element tacked on. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work as a thriller as there is no real tension. Also, none of the three main characters in this summer ménage à trois, Matthew, Charlie and Chloe, are very interesting and the luxury hilltop holiday home milieu is a tad clichéd. By the end, I had little or no interest in what was going to happen to them.
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