Customer Reviews

We All Fall Down

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Simon Wood has written several books in which the protagonist or protagonists are ordinary people in a situation that is far from ordinary! This book is no exception! We All Fall Down is about a guy that takes a job doing some engineering design work for a company that his old school buddy works for. Short term job, easy money, no problem....wrong! Things just don't go right with any part of it. People start dying that are associated with this company and it just gets worse. The suspense and excitement never let up, and tossed in is a romance between this guy and his old school buddy's sister. Great story, keeps you interested and never lets up until the exciting conclusion. Highly recommended!

153 pages to keep a reader entertained, involved and engaged.

Although I read this a while back the plot has stuck with me, being both credible and plausible. Anything too far fetched is a real turn off for me.

The story reads well and pulls the reader along at a cracking pace, I was hooked by the first page.

Many of the twists are unexpected and it's a challenge to figure out who are the bad guys.

Without giving away a spoiler, the novel reaches a satisfying and thrilling finale.

Simon Wood's "We All Fall Down" is a lightning-paced thriller with unexpected twists on what seems like every page. A very entertaining read. With most books I read these days, I find myself almost longing for the end - but I wished this one was longer.

Wood is an excellent wordsmith with great promise, and I'm going to buy his other books as well.

From the moment you find yourself in a stolen BMW with Vee8 gunning behind the wheel, you can't stop reading the high-powered thriller, "We All Fall Down." Simon Wood takes us on a literary thrill ride, with plotting as tight as the twisting turns of California's Highway 1.

Suicide (or is it murder?), runs rampant at the secretive engineering firm where Hayden Duke has been hired as a short term contractor. As employee deaths begin to mount, Hayden is given key evidence, and finds himself embroiled in a dangerous game of "road rage." He also finds himelf falling in love with a victim's sister, Rebecca. But with cold, calculated assassins on his tail, will Hayden survive long enough to fullfill his contract--and his dreams of love?

If you want a fast-paced read that makes you think, "We All Fall Down" will take you there.

i have been a fan of simon wood's books since day one, so i was very excited to get my hands on this one. his first two were great, but i have to say that 'we all fall down' is my favorite so far. his style of writing captivates the reader from page one and it is hard to put it down once you start reading! i felt i was almost rude to those around me because i couldn't tear myself away from the book--i had to know what happened next.

i don't want to give away the ending of the book, but what i particularly like about this book is that the mystery part is very straightforward. the storyline is intriguing, but not too messy and complicated as some writers tend to make them. it had all of the right twists and turns, and it resolved in a way that left me satisfied and wanting more. simon also does a really good job of explaining things without going over the reader's head. in particular those parts about molecular biology, which i know nothing about, were explained just enough that i understood their importance without feeling dumbed down or being lost in the terminology.

i highly reccomend this book to anyone who likes a good murder mystery/thriller. i can't wait for the next simon wood book.

Though I do like the book, the typos are harrowing. Will that ever stop? Almost every kindle edition has typos and other errors.

After reading the positive reviews I looked forward to an entertaining read. My expectations were dashed. I've gotten half way through the book and don't want to waste any more time.

The protagonist has to mentally be the slowest human on the planet. He behaves in ways that defy belief and the author struggles to make his behavior flow into a credible story line. The author fails miserably.

The writing is very uneven with a few patches that were readable. By and large the story requires a total suspension of disbelief.

Even .99 seems an excessive price.