Catch Me When I Fall [Hardcover]

Nicci French (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2006

Holly Krauss lives her life in the fast lane. A successful, happily married businesswoman, she is loved and admired by everyone she meets. But that’s only one side of Holly. The other takes regular walks on the wild side and is making reckless mistakes. When the two sides of Holly’s life collide, her world quickly spirals out of control. She thinks she’s being stalked, that someone is trying to extort money from her, and that threats lurk around every corner. Soon the people closest to her are running out of patience... But are her fears due to paranoia and illness, or is the danger very, very real? And if Holly’s judgment and mental health are not sound, who will catch her when she falls?

--This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Long before the diagnosis is pronounced, readers will recognize that 27-year-old London executive Holly Krauss, the heroine of French's disappointing new novel (after 2004's Secret Smile), is suffering from bipolar disorder, though Holly's manic side is much more pronounced than the depressive. A drinking binge one evening leads to a sordid one-night-stand with disastrous consequences—Rees, the man she sleeps with, begins to threaten her. Meanwhile, Holly's relationship with her business partner and best friend, Meg, is in peril, as is her marriage. During another drunken evening, she loses thousands of pounds in a poker game to a loan shark. Such self-destructive behavior (most notably her poor impulse control) undermines the sense of danger. Of course, a crime lurks at the story's heart (Holly isn't entirely paranoid), but the muddled plot and unsympathetic heroine make this suspense thriller less satisfying than others by French (the pseudonym of journalists Sean French and Nicci Gerrard).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

French has turned out four suspenseful stand-alone thrillers (Secret Smile, 2004), but the latest is a misstep. The previous efforts have featured likable, engaging heroines, but the protagonist this time, Holly Krauss, is a whiny, odd character for whom it's difficult to generate much sympathy. The premise is that Londoner Holly is starting to do crazy things and lose control of her life. Her long-suffering husband, Charlie, seems oblivious to most of it. From having sex with a strange man to losing thousands at poker, Holly has thrown caution to the wind, and her world is about to come crashing down. Is she going crazy, and if so, why? As family and friends try to save her, Holly struggles with herself yet can't seem to stop her path of self--destruction. Readers will easily figure out a couple of plot twists, and the ending fails to deliver the kind of shocking surprise one expects from French. Still, French is a master at generating suspense, and that alone is enough to make this one worth reading, despite the flimsy premise and unlikable star. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1ST edition (January 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446578487
• ISBN-13: 978-0446578486
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,659,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not the usual Nicci French fare, but I enjoyed it thoroughly, January 8, 2006

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catch Me When I Fall (Hardcover)

Seemingly Holly Krauss has everything -- youth, beauty, a successful job, good friends and a loving husband. But there is another side to Holly, a darker side that craves danger and excitement. And one night, when her wild side takes over, Holly commits an incredibly foolish indiscretion, an act that suddenly puts the two separate halves of her life on a collision course, ready for all her secrets to be revealed. As Holly franticly tries to contain the damage and gain back control of her life, she begins to make more and more mistakes, alienating friends and loved ones. Feeling stalked, harassed and all alone, Holly beings to realise that not everyone loves her, or even likes her. Is it too late for Holly to change and salvage her life? and what can she do about the very serious danger she faces from those out to harm her?

I can almost understand why the reception of "Catch Me When I Fall" has been somewhat lukewarm. While well written, compelling and completely engrossing (I read it in one sitting), this novel doesn't really fit in with previous Nicci French novels. Nicci French is well known for writing taut, highly suspenseful reads, and "Catch Me When I Fall" is not all that edge-of-your-seat suspenseful. And fans not ready to for this departure in style may be disappointed. However, I have to wonder, disappointed though one may be, why so much of the plot was revealed in the trade reviews? This was not well done in my opinion.

About two-thirds of the novel is written from Holly's point-of-view, and the author does a fantastic job of conveying Holly's franticness, her anger, her frustrations and her fear -- we're drawn into Holly's messy world and feel sympathetic towards her (well at least I was) even as we're repelled. The sense of mounting urgency, fear and regret that Holly feels about her actions and what they have cost her is masterfully portrayed. The last bit of the novel is seen through Holly's best friend and coworker's eyes, Meg. And it is in this section, as Meg races to save Holly, that the suspense is really felt. All in all, even though "Catch Me As I Fall" is not the usual Nicci French fare, the book was still a good read. So that if you're looking for a well written, urban-London novel that is absorbing and engrossing, you'll definitely enjoy "Catch Me As I Fall."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Falling for French, December 15, 2005

By 

Samantha Madell (Dundas, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catch Me When I Fall (Hardcover)

Unlike the editorial reviewers, I enjoyed "Catch Me When I Fall" immensely, and thought the novel was classic French (I must admit I am a fan of this wonderful husband and wife writing team).

The story follows Holly, a spectacularly irresponsible firestorm of a woman who sweeps through people's lives, charming some, and making dangerous enemies of others. If you have ever cared about someone who suffers from bipolar disorder, I think you will recognize and warm to Holly's infuriating lovability. Perhaps Holly's greatest asset, though, is her long-suffering best friend, Meg, who gets drawn deeper and deeper into Holly's darkest dramas.

Everything that I love about Nicci French's writing is here: the vibrant characters, the mystery, the suspense. Admittedly, the plot was more predictable in "Catch Me When I Fall" than in previous French novels, but I still found this one an absolute page-turner.

As one of the first Amazon reviewers of this book, I've given "Catch Me When I Fall" five stars partly because I'm a French fan, and partly because I was surprised at the harshness of the editorial reviews, but mostly because this is a good, enjoyable read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars slow at first but picks up, January 5, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catch Me When I Fall (Hardcover)

Holly Kraus lives life in the fast lane, taking walks on the wild side and running amuck around London.

Nicci French has a way of describing a hypomaniac in action. Although this is classified as a psychological thriller, the basis of the story is more following a manic-depressive through her daily routine for several weeks or months.

The story moves through Holly's doings (and undoings) of herself. When she falls, she falls hard and fast. Holly writes that she died twice but after all her turmoil, who can she trust to catch her when she does fall?

When reading, I knew the ending of the first time Holly dies but not the second. The second time was unexpected in a way.

Armchair Interviews says: The first one-third of the book is a bit slow but the story does pick up after that and keeps the reader involved