Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review.

I love books about ballet, especially if those books have a dark twist. Watch Her Fall caught my attention almost immediately but I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the blurb. I actually think the blurb is fairly misleading so I will give you a spoiler-free summary of the plot.

Watch Her Fall is the story of Ava, the top ballet dancer at the intensely strict school run by her father. She has a complicated relationship with her dad as he rules the ballet with an iron fist and hates her displaying any kind of creativity. As they begin a production of Swan Lake, Ava becomes increasingly paranoid about her father replacing her with another dancer. When that dancer becomes injured however, she realises she is ill-equipped for the real world and begins to plot how to take over Ava's life.

This is not a thriller about someone being messed with by a mysterious figure, at least not past the 20% mark. What this is is a thriller driven by characters and a plot which goes in a very different direction than you would expect it to. I wouldn't say I was ever surprised by this book which some people might see as a negative, but I was genuinely enthralled and the lack of twists didn't stop me enjoying the story one bit.

The main negative of this book is that it does a lot of 'flashback' narrative. That is, an event will happen and then it will switch POV to another character and take us back in time for a bit to see the events leading up to the thing we just read about. Sometimes this is welcome, sometimes I was uninterested. It definitely slowed the pace down which isn't a positive in a thriller. Still, I did appreciate the depth we got to know the characters to and it does build a really complete and complex story. I can see how it might build suspense for some readers if you don't think the surprises are obvious.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Kelly is clearly very talented at crafting thrillers with a unique setting and interesting characters. Having read/experienced a fair amount of 'dark ballet' media, I was pleased to see this book had new things to offer still. I think this book is definitely worth a read if you're looking for a compelling thriller, and I am eager to try Kelly's other work now I've seen her writing skills.

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