Delacorte 2004

Norway:  Damm

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Author: Kathleen George
It happened in the night, when no one was around to see it. A Pittsburgh doctor, who dedicated himself to helping others, was shot through the heart. Now days have passed, and Dan Ross's wife, Elizabeth, has entered a twilight zone of grief, flooded with memories, voices, and regrets. And while a determined police investigator is feverishly following a trail of mystery back into her husband’s squeaky-clean past, a new neighbor suddenly moves in to the house next door and begins watching every move Elizabeth makes…watching her children come to visit ... watching her acts of private grief and public dignity. This man, this stranger to the city, is fascinated by Elizabeth’s sorrow. And he knows exactly who killed her husband and why. But he isn't in the business of telling truths. He simply wants to know her. He wants to take her in his arms. He wants to know she has fallen just for him.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: George ... writes with the kind of attention to detail that's rare in any genre. Using her stage background, she uses the interior language of her characters like a master psychologist, revealing the story in escalating layers of suspense.   Los Angeles Times: A well-loved doctor is shot dead on a Pittsburgh street while returning late from work, and no one can fathom who did it or why ... part dirge for dysfunctional families ... Fallen startles, stings and gives fair value.   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: [W]ell-written and well-plotted, with elegant language equal to that of mainstream literature and psychological profiles of each main character as gripping as Jonathan Kellerman's at his best -- [Fallen] is not just a story but a study of grief, jealousy, deception and instinct.   Barbara Paul, author of First Gravedigger: Fallen is a wonderfully personal sort of crime story. The clues are found in the personalities of the characters, all of them fully -- and fairly -- drawn. We're given a murder victim's widow trying to cope with the trauma, shabby family secrets that won't stay hidden, small details that tell so much. I love a story that grabs hold of you and won't let go.   Chuck Kinder, author of Honeymooners: Fallen is an absolute page-turner, as well it should be. Let's get that out of the way. But what really lifts this beautifully written book above any limitations of genre is its depth of characterization. The people George brings to life on the page are among the most interesting, complex, and frightening I have encountered anywhere. Never has evil been so seductive, even understandable, and, gasp, almost forgivable. That's what finally makes this wonderful novel so scary in the end. Forgive me, Lord, for I have rooted for the Devil, and Kathy George made me do it.