They All Fall Down: A Thriller Paperback – April 9, 2019

When the dedication is"For that one English professor who didn’t want me to interpret precious English things as something darker and American."You know this novel has been intricately crafted from a fresh perspective and polished until it gleams.There are life lessons here. Philosophy, theology and hard core English Lit.There's a delicious Beach Read with fruity drinks, great food and quips you'll wish you had said. Also semi-obscure cultural references keep the fun going.And yet this is a straight up Thriller with so many plot twists that I kept using "Search Book" to refresh my memory and check for plot holes. There were no plot holes.I did not guess the end.

Characters who previously escaped justice die one by one on an uninhabited island on which they are trapped. (Sound familiar?) Well written. None of the characters have redeeming qualities so there are few light moments.

I really wanted to like this book. And I suppose I did, but the main character Miriam is the most annoying, self-centered, greedy, selfish, and needy main characters I've ever read! Giving the ending, I hope she was written like this on purpose. I'm so happy with her ending. I couldn't wait to finish this book just to be done with. The twists and suspense were what kept me reading, but they were very mild compared to other authors. If you're looking to buy this book, keep looking...

Plot Summary:Seven strangers have been invited to visit a luxurious house on an isolated island in Mexico. Each was lured to the island under false pretenses, and each has something to hide.When the guests start to die under suspicious circumstances, each stranger is suspicious in their own way. Can they survive the dangers of the island until the next boat comes to their rescue?My Thoughts:Let me start by saying that I love Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Where Christie introduced her characters and slowly revealed the darkness within each character, Howzell Hall just throws the worst of each character out from the beginning.Though this was a familiar story, I had a difficult time becoming engrossed in this book. The goal of the first 160 pages is simply to set up the premise of the story and introduce each of the characters. The problem? The individual characters are each horrible. The more I knew of them, the less sympathetic I became.I believe each was supposed to be haunted by their own “sins”, but they did not seem haunted by their sins as much as they embraced and embodied their sins. When the twists and suspense of the story began, I was not invested in the characters enough to feel any of their fear; I simply did not care enough about any of them.I was looking forward to this more modern take on a classic, but this just fell flat for me.

This is my first time writing a review - I didn't think some of these reviews gave this book enough credit so wanted to throw in my two cents! :)First off, And Then There Were None is my favorite novel. And I thought They All Fall Down was a clever homage to the original. I actually preferred the underlying theme of They All Fall Down moreso than the underlying theme in the original And Then There Were None.I also loved the *feel* of the book. I think the atmosphere in They All Fall Down really gives you the sense that all the characters are in purgatory and are being haunted by their past. A feeling that one could sense the original And Then There Were None was aiming for but fell short of.In terms of characters, I was very invested in what happened to a majority of the characters. They were unique and flawed and I loved it. I will admit the heteronormative males were not very interesting or memorable, I didn't particularly care what happened to any of them. But I was heavily invested in the main character and really felt for her.The only disappointment was that there was no wig snatching in the finale ;). I can only hope that wig snatching was a part of the first draft. Whether intentional or not, I did appreciate the gay pop culture references that are hidden within the book.Looking forward to reading more from this writer! :)

Yeah, books are wordy, but sometimes the author just needs to get to the point, as was the case with this book. It wasn't suspenseful or mysterious, but tedious, wading through the wordiness while waiting for the plot to unfold.

Firstly, any book that pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" is a must read for me. It fascinates me to see how individual authors can take the "group on a deserted island" trope and do something unique with it.

Okay, apologies to the reviewers I doubted. Having finished this, I get it.I still give it 3 stars because it was very entertaining.However...These were some very nasty people! I actually kind of dug our main character - until I found out what she had done and realized how completely unrepentant she really was. And I did not love the ending.I still enjoy the author - I just enjoyed her other books much better.

I absolutely loved this novel - very Agatha Christie with a modern twist and a bold edge. I couldn't put it down, her prose was sharp with a relatable narrative, and I loved how Howzell-Hall was able to develop characters you managed to both love and hate at any given moment. GREAT novel and GREAT AUTHOR! I highly highly recommend giving this book a read.

Just wasn't the book for me, I found the story a bit "rambling" and unclear

Overall I enjoyed the book, but some of the plot was a bit obvious and I was underwhelmed by the ending. I did enjoy the characters and the humour they added. Not my favourite locked room mystery but definitely worth the read.

After a difficult confrontation, Miriam enters a reality show contest to win money, fix her life, and prove to her daughter that she is a mother to be proud of. Except, before she reaches the remote island where the show takes place, but after it's too late to turn back, she learns that there is no reality show. Miriam has been duped into spending the weekend on an island with six other strangers and no way to contact the mainland.Then people start dying.It takes quite a while (about a third of the book) before the first body falls, but once that happens, the book is off to the races. It becomes rapidly obvious that everyone on the island is terrible - living embodiments of the seven deadly sins and they are being punished for the crimes by... someone...I noticed a number of other reviewers struggled with this book and I can see why. There is a dark humour component to the story that doesn't always land, and since everybody is a terrible person, it's hard to root for any of them to survive. The big "twist" also isn't all that difficult to guess.I had to take a step back and turn off my brain to enjoy the ride, but it was a fun read.

After reading the first few pages, I knew I'd made a mistake downloading this book. Unfortunately by the time the characters entered mansion and found the painfully familiar, overused imagery 7 deadly sins carved on a table. I'd waded through countless cliches and limp sentence structure. Ten Little Indians, this is not! I do not recomend this book for anyone over the age of 13.