It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.Delighted by a surprise invitation, Miriam Macy sails off to a luxurious private island off the coast of Mexico with six other strangers. Surrounded by miles of open water in the gloriously green Sea of Cortez, Miriam is soon shocked to discover that she and the rest of her companions have been brought to the remote island under false pretenses—and all … pretenses—and all seven strangers harbor a secret.
Danger lurks in the lush forest and in the halls and bedrooms of the lonely mansion. Sporadic cell-phone coverage and miles of ocean keeps the group trapped in paradise. And strange accidents stir suspicions, as one by one . . .
They all fall down
For fans of thrilling contemporary suspense, Rachel Howzell Hall’s brilliant stand-alone novel brings seven sinners to a private island for a reckoning that will leave you breathless.
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An intense, feverish novel, with riveting plot twists. The ending is startling, unexpected, but convincing.
They All Fall Down was the first work by Rachel Howzell Hall that I have read and I really enjoyed it. The novel is a homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and for my taste, I found it more enjoyable. Miriam Macy accepts an invitation to sail to a private island in the middle of the ocean along with six other individuals. Each person harbors a dark secret and the invitation turns out to be a sham. Now, essentially in the middle of nowhere with next to no outward communication, they’re about to pay the price for previous misdeeds. An excellent read!
“They All Fall Down” by Rachel Howzell Hall pays homage to the Agatha Christie classic “And Then There Were None.” This variation starts with a group of reality show contestants heading to a remote island off the coast of Mexico. All have visions of completing in challenges, making alliances, and mostly, winning the million dollar prize. The contestants quickly learn that there is no contest, and that they are there for another reason. Readers know it will not go well.
The story is told as a first person narrative by Miriam Macy. She talks to readers and talks to herself, planning moves, justifying past actions, and agonizing over her current situation. She despairs events in terms of her own inconvenience, and not only does not make friends, but also develops enemies among the island’s inhabitants. At first readers feel a little sorry for Miriam, and her, but as the body count of her fellow companions rises, she becomes more annoying, and it is tempting to hope that she will be the next victim.
The characters have complex backstories that qualified them for the invitation to the island, and they are all equally unpleasant and disagreeable. Readers are not sad to see any of then killed, and eagerly anticipate who will be the next victim.
“And Then There Were None,” is one of Christie’s most adapted stories, some great, some mediocre. The premise of a reality competition makes this version current and fascinating. Little details of the remote island, the luxurious mansion, and even the “game pieces” create interest and reinforce the drama. It is hard to follow in Christie’s footprints, but Rachel Howzell Hall created an enjoyable and interesting adaptation.
Billed as inspired by Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” this story involves a group of people on a remote island…where one of the guests is a killer. As a big Christie fan, this was a no-brainer for me to read and I enjoyed the author’s take on the story.
I think it was well written but I didn’t like the characters. They were all so petty and really didn’t have any redeeming qualities.
Read this book. Read this book. Read this book.
A taut, breath-catching, page-burner that grips you from the first chapter.
Here’s a different take on the isolation mystery. The characters are real. Some really desperate. Some really despicable. Loved it.
Creepy, twisted, and atmospheric, THEY ALL FALL DOWN by Rachel Howzell Hall had me tearing through the pages. It’s got everything to tantalize the reader: a delicious vacation setting, six flawed strangers stuck together on a remote island, and a main character so layered that I was captivated by her right to the last line. It’s a very compelling suspense I could not put down!
To be absolutely fair, I may have liked this book a great deal more if I were not such a fan of Agatha Christie’s classic, And Then There Were None. I did enjoy the modernization of the original and the way the story was updated. I enjoyed how the characters’ back stories were gradually revealed. I enjoyed that I didn’t like a single one of them (I wasn’t supposed to like them). But where the Christie story’s conclusion was elegant and at least 95% believable (I’ve never been convinced that Vera Claythorne would really have taken her own life), this story felt like it was being Forced, and not gently either, to a conclusion it really didn’t want to reach. And credulity was stretched well past the breaking point in the process, which was a terrible shame. But you know the spot where the author first started losing me…. was the muffed reference to The Shining. C’mon now! Jack Torrence did NOT freeze to death. sigh.
A wonderful suspenseful tale of seven people on a private island where they start dying one by one. Totally Agatha Christie-ish.
To write too much about Rachel Howzell Hall’s locked-room (or perhaps, unescapable-island) mystery, would be to spoil the fun that is They All Fall Down. Part Agatha-Christie-whodunnit, part modern-day episode of Survivor, and even part Bridget Jones Diary, Hall deftly dances between thrills and laughs, asking not only why her heroine Miriam Macy has been grouped with six diverse, and not nearly as charming, characters on a private island, but if any of them will leave paradise alive. Plenty of twists, turns, and laughs, They All Fall Down is this year’s beach read.
Rachel Howzell Halls’ writing in They All Fall Down reeled me in immediately and kept me hooked all the way through to the explosive end!
Eight strangers with shady pasts are stranded on a strange isolated tropical island when they are mysteriously murdered one by one. This is an interesting read even though all the characters are generally unappealing. The plot unfolds at a good pace and the ending is wrapped up nicely.
I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel Howzell Hall’s modern take on Agatha Christy’s classic tale. With Miriam, a disgruntled black divorcée with criminally bad judgment, Hall has managed to write a character who is both reprehensible and oddly sympathetic. Miriam’s nosey quest to find the truth and assign the blame drives the story forward even as her pettiness sinks her in a quagmire of envy. She’s a baffling dichotomy, a captivating train wreck, and one of the most interesting modern protagonists I’ve read. Try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her, which, in itself, is a testament to Hall’s masterful storytelling. That Hall also had much to say about modern society through black perspective made They All Fall Down a five-star read for me.
I did not see that coming! Wow – this one was interesting. Several people are lured to a remote island in Mexico, all with different reasons to be there. Miriam is there, thinking that she is going to be on a reality TV show. Miriam is struggling with her relationship with her daughter due to something that happened to one of her daughter’s friends.
Once on the island, communication is cut off to the outside world. The people find out that they were lured to the island under false pretenses. What then unfolds provides lots of red herrings and unique twists. The ending is pretty surprising when you find out who did it and why.
Interesting!
#TheyAllFallDown #RachelHowzellHall
They All Fall Down began well and then it went flat for me. I am a huge Agatha Christie fan so this may have been one of the reasons this book was lacking for me. I found myself comparing it to And Then There Were None and found the newest rendition of the book sadly not up to par with Rachel Howzell Hall’s other books. I am looking forward to more of her books especially those featuring Los Angeles.