Freefall:
A Novel – Jessica Barry (Harper)
Thrillers, by their very nature, need to bait the hook,
tease the reader into biting on the story and then set the hook and keep them
locked in for the full ride. Great thrillers feature sympathetic, yet tough as
nails characters and a story line that is relatable and that you care enough
about that you want to see what happens to them in the end. It helps if the
author can parcel out the story in a way that keeps readers guessing and
thinking that they can discern where
things are going before they actually get there.
Jessica Barry’s debut, Freefall, checks all of the boxes, with a story line that runs on a
dual track. Allison carpenter miraculously survives when her fiance’s private
plane crashed into a mountain side in the Rockies. Thousands of miles away in Maine,
Allison’s Mom, Maggie – estranged from her daughter, upon hearing the news,
tries to piece together her daughter’s life, all the while doubting the reports
of her death. Both women fully live up to the sympathetic yet tough as nails
standard.
Allison’s harrowing trek out of the mountains and
toward a new life, free of the almost stereotypical, bad guy, big pharma CEO fiancé
driving her forward. While there are a number of brushes and near misses with
folks who seem hell bent on stopping her from blowing the whistle on her fiance’s
wrongdoing. Along the way it becomes apparent that her beau was not at the
stick when the plane went down and that a race for survival was on between the
pair.
There is an equally relatable crustiness to Maggie’s
character; if you have a cranky parent or grandparent you can hear the old
school, familiar disdain, with little to no patience for new people and new
things. The slam bang finish is satisfying and sets the table for Jessica Barry
to be an ongoing thriller talent to be reckoned with.
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