Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
‘When I last saw Ashleigh, she was lying in a pool of blood . . . Her eyes were open, staring sightlessly into the sky. I’d like to think she saw the stars before she died; that in her last moments she flew, soaring on serotonin, dreamy with dopamine. I’d like to think she didn’t suffer . . .’
A beautiful young law student dies on the concrete below her third-storey window in chilly Dunedin. It’s clear enough how she died. What isn’t is why — or who’s involved.
Plenty of people had a reason to hate Ashleigh, with her straight As and perfect looks. She’s fallen out with her flatmates, and her boyfriend Xander is having second thoughts about their future together. And then there are the weird messages.
A beautiful young law student is dead. Falling from her third-storey window onto concrete below in chilly Dunedin, the house is a shared with other university students. The question is did she fall (suicide), was she pushed (murder), coerced (equally murder) or is this staged (suicide with complications). And is her being the beautiful one, with straight A's, a long term devoted boyfriend, and a future all mapped out something to do with all of this or a distraction.
A psychological thriller more than anything else, THE NIGHT SHE FELL isn't action based, rather it's an investigation into young adulthood tensions, trauma, changes and difference. It's a very successful attempt at much of that, and I was particularly engaged by the catalyst motif, although I can't for a moment pretend that there weren't some aspects of it that weren't quite so gripping.
Building on a what feels like a convenient set up of the rich beautiful pain in the neck girl, with a poor but seemingly devoted boyfriend Xander, who is tight with her family, and grateful for the largesse that comes his way, add in the quiet, nowhere near as dazzling or life of the party flatmate Ronnie, and create a love triangle for the ages, and this could all feel a bit contrived. And it does at points, also a bit on the circular side as Ronnie and Xander sneak about and Ashleigh behaves like a spoilt brat, and the rest of the household get to actively dislike her, and suddenly you realise you're not short of suspects, although there's always something a bit brittle, stagey or showy about Ashleigh and the reader can't help but wonder would she throw herself out of a window in the ultimate of "grand gestures".
It's very teenage angst meets rich bitch, girl who will wait, the boy who can't decide, and it's all a bit breathless in a weirdly engaging way for large parts of the novel. Whilst also getting creepy, with some really good moments, and then some things that were a bit cringeworthy (who knew apples could tighten people's groins...).
Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a regular judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders adn Australians on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.
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