We All Fall Down [Mass Market Paperback]

Simon Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2008

Hayden Duke is a young man on the fast track.  He's just signed on with Marin Design Engineering to work on a very high-level project.  But before Hayden started, one of MDE's employee's committed suicide.  And he's not the only one.  Is it the pressure?  Or is there some other connection?  Has Hayden Duke just put himself on the fast track to an early death?

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Simon Wood is an ex-racecar driver, a licensed pilot and an occasional private investigator. He shares his world with his American wife, Julie. A longhaired dachshund and five cats dominate their lives. He's had over 150 stories and articles published. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines anthologies, such as Seattle Noir, Thriller 2 and Woman's World. He's a frequent contributor to Writer's Digest. He's the Anthony Award winning author of Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, Paying the Piper and We All Fall Down. As Simon Janus, he's the author of The Scrubs and Road Rash. His latest thriller, Terminated, is out in mass paperback with a new short story collection, Asking for Trouble, out later in the year. Curious people can learn more at simonwood.net.

About the Author

Simon Wood is an ex-racecar driver, a licensed pilot and an occasional private investigator. He shares his world with his American wife, Julie. A longhaired dachshund and five cats dominate their lives. He's had over 150 stories and articles published. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines anthologies, such as Seattle Noir, Thriller 2 and Woman's World. He's a frequent contributor to Writer's Digest. He's the Anthony Award winning author of Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, Paying the Piper and We All Fall Down. As Simon Janus, he's the author of The Scrubs and Road Rash. His latest thriller, Terminated, is out in mass paperback with a new short story collection, Asking for Trouble, out later in the year. Curious people can learn more at simonwood.net. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 353 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (July 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843960531
• ISBN-13: 978-0843960532
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #945,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting enthralling thriller, June 29, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)

Design engineering contractor Hayden Duke is pleased to have been hired by Marin Design Engineering for a short term project. He hopes that his work will impress the firm's bosses so they would hire him for a full time position. Before he was selected, another contractor walked into the ocean and drowned. The witnesses who called 911 heard the man mumble he did a horrible thing and must pay the price.

The person who hired Hayden is his friend Shane Fallon who is glad to have his pal on board. A couple of days after Hayden starts working Shane sends him an email with an attachment that he cannot open. Hayden calls Shane, who warns him to delete it. Hayden goes to Shane's house only to find a hallucinating man who is locked inside his apartment seeking electronic bugs. He kills himself and the autopsy reveals a bruise on his hand like the man who committed suicide in the ocean. Shane's sister Rebecca and Hayden believe there is more to his apparent suicide and it is linked in some manner to the project. When the project is completed, everyone associated with it except Hayden and Rebecca die in an arson fire. Trying to stay alive and elude police and fire officials' suspicions, the pair seek the truth, which may prove deadly for them.

WE ALL FALL DOWN is an exciting enthralling thriller that focuses on two characters, Hayden and Rebecca, who obstinately and perhaps foolishly are determined to learn what is going on. They refuse to quit their amateur sleuthing although each step especially false leads they take opens up additional cans of worms and exponentially increases the danger to them. Simon Wood provides a dynamite suspense story as the audience is beguiled into anticipating what next.

Harriet Klausner

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Fast Read But Too Neatly Wrapped Up, June 20, 2010

By 

William M Miller (Bronxville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)

Simon Wood is a new horror/thriller author for me, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The reviews of his books seemed quite complimentary, so I decided to give him a shot. I'm happy to say, for the most part, the praise Mr. Wood has been getting is genuinely earned.

Wood has a very interesting premise here and a no-mercy attitude when it comes to killing off characters - which I love. But I would say his real strength is the characters and fast pacing of the story. In the first half of the book, Wood writes with just enough unpredictability that you find yourself reading a few more chapters before bed than you had expected to read.

One of my criticisms is that sometimes characters make decisions that are not quite consistent with that person's motives. For instance, a character Rebecca decides it is incredibly important to visit a farmhouse, and after going through a lot of trouble to get there, gets spooked and turns around empty handed. Huh? This doesn't make any sense from her point of view, but I do understand it bridges the scene after it involving the farmhouse with another character. Still, I think it could have been more thought out and came off as a bit lazy by the author. I also thought the "terrorist" attack wasn't very realistic when the FBI let the suspects walk out the door. In reality, especially in post 9/11, a hundred-person team would be investigating the incident and everyone involved, not simply releasing suspects on the whim of a lowly detective.

The ending wraps up neatly, if a bit too conveniently. I also had a problem with our main character not taking advantage of beating the living daylights out of someone when he had a chance at the end - especially when he had nothing to lose. It would have been cathartic, if even just for us, the reader, to see that happen. So in closing, the secret revelations the book promised ended up being pretty standard and predictable, but it was a fast enough read to garner a mild recommendation.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting page-turner of a thriller, November 19, 2009

By 

Sheila L. Beaumont (South Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: We All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)

Simon Wood's WE ALL FALL DOWN is a true thriller, a suspenseful, fast-paced, action-filled tale with earthshaking consequences at stake. The story involves a young man, Hayden Duke, who has hired on as a contractor for a government project at Marin Design Engineering; some mysterious apparent suicides of employees of the firm; a disastrous, fatal arson fire at MDE headquarters; and the efforts of Hayden and Rebecca, sister of one of the purported suicides, to find out exactly what's behind all these deaths and to thwart whatever possibly world-endangering scientific deviltry is going on.

Hayden and Rebecca are sympathetic, rather naive characters that I cared about. They did have quite a few TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) and NTB (Not Too Bright) moments, enough to make me fear for their lives. But all this certainly did make for an enthralling, entertaining read and a really thrilling climax. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good thriller with a strong, complex plot, plenty of twists and turns, and excellent characters, good and bad. This is the first book by this author I've read, but definitely not the last. I'm now looking forward to reading his earlier book PAYING THE PIPER.