by Cloggie Downunder (Australia): Girl, Falling is the second novel by award-winning, bestselling Australian author, Hayley Scrivenor. The audio version is narrated by Sophie Loughran. Three young women do a climb in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Only two survive. Experienced parks guide, Finn Young is on a ledge below, ready to belay as the woman she wants to marry, Magdu Fernandes, and her best friend since high school, Daphne Bennett, prepare to step off the cliff at the top of the Kamikaze Koala climb.
Finn’s first-person narrative describes the aftermath of the fall that takes Magdu’s life, interspersed with flashbacks to before, which gradually reveal the genesis and dynamics of the relationships.
Readers will easily recognise manipulative behaviour, gaslighting and control that characterises the narcissist. At a certain point, though, Finn observes: “Daphne wasn’t holding a gun to my head – except for the one I had loaded for her.”
While some of Finn’s decisions stretch the credibility a little, most of what happens requires no suspension of disbelief. There is an excellent twist which will remind readers that everything is told from Finn’s perspective.
Plot, setting, characters and descriptive prose all showcase Scrivenor’s literary talent. Brilliant Australian crime fiction.
