I’ve been a big fan of Kerry Wilkinson for a long time, and I was excited to see that The One Who Fell is the first in a new series. It was a little more mystery/suspense than what I usually read from him, but that’s okay – change is good.
In this case, we get Millie who has a mysterious past. She volunteers at a local nursing home, but we don’t learn much else about her for quite a while. Part of the mystery of the book is figuring out Millie as much as the actual mystery itself.
And therein is my sole issue with this book.
It’s the first in a series. We know how those go. There’s a lot of groundwork to put down, character personalities to build, other characters to introduce, and relationships to establish. In short, there’s just a lot going on.
And I found that to be very confusing. Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention. But the entire plot seemed to move very slowly. I’m thinking that the author knew it would be at least a trilogy and figured that the first book could be all setup.
That’s fine, but it made for a long slog.
I did enjoy trying to figure out the mystery (about someone who fell – obviously. No spoilers here). And how Millie’s background plays into everything does eventually become clear. The author even saves a few twists for the end, which I took as cliffhangers moving into the second book.
Overall, I did enjoy The One Who Fell, although I wish it had moved a little bit faster and really gripped me. As it is, it interested me. And that’s enough to see what happens next.