Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre is a stand-alone psychological thriller set in Portugal where a family unites in their villa to commemorate the loss of the father/husband who has just died. They seem like a successful family with the new widow being a former actress and her husband having been a professor who was in the public eye. The three grown up children attend with their partners, children and a new nanny. But all is not as it seems because sixteen years earlier a daughter of the family died at the same place and this loss haunts them all.
This is a story full of twists and turns but the author is accomplished enough so that they fit well with the plot and seem inevitable when you realise what has really happened – those of us who read a lot of crime fiction may see some of these twists before they happen but the writing is good enough to keep you engaged anyway.
This is a story about secrets, as all the characters have them. It is also about how the past affects the present – on this holiday they will finally find out what happened and it will shake everyone up and cause them to re-examine their decisions and life choices as well as making them re-evaluate what they thought was true. None of the family members is particularly nice and so the author has chosen to tell part of the story from the point of view of the nanny which gives us an outsider’s observations as well.
This is a well-crafted novel which I received as part of my 2024 Book Advent Calendar (see here for my initial impression of the book). It’s full of tension and surprises and definitely keeps the attention. I enjoyed it.
Anne Is Reading 