They All Fall Down

In Tammy Cohen's latest book we have a story from the viewpoint of several women protagonists. The book revolves around Hannah's incarceration in a psychiatric clinic after what initially is an unknown incident. Hannah's chapters are in the first person and so her role as an unreliable narrator is set. Her mother, Corinne, and one of the therapists at the clinic, Laura, are the other two main characters, both of which we read about in the third person. I did start to get an idea of what led Hannah to be a client (as they are referred to) at the clinic before it was revealed and I thought it was a very clever idea.

Hannah's friends in the clinic are dying. Two of them have committed suicide and you may think that's not unusual given where show more they are but Hannah thinks differently and that these women were in a more positive state of mind. She starts to think that maybe the clinic is not that safe a place to be.

I thought They All Fall Down was an excellent psychological thriller. As a reader I had no idea whether there was going to be something sinister about the deaths or whether Hannah was paranoid. The setting of a mental institution is a fascinating one and I found all the 'clients' so interesting and complex. As Corinne starts to delve deeper to try and work out whether the clinic is safe for Hannah we learn more about the background of the man in charge of the clinic and also about Hannah's marriage. I really liked Corinne for her intense love for her daughter and her desire for the truth and she was probably my favourite character.

I enjoyed the ups and downs, the twists and turns of this book. And there was a twist or two near the end which took me by surprise. Tammy Cohen is skilled at weaving a tangled web of a story and I had no idea as to how it would end until actually I read it. Such a talented writer and this book was a pleasure to read. show less

Hannah is a new patient in a women’s low-security psychiatric facility called The Meadows outside London, the result of an incident Cohen takes some time to reveal. In the several weeks before this psychological thriller opens, two of the facility’s dozen or so patients have committed suicide. In fact, the first line is, “Charlie cut her wrists last week with a shard of caramelized sugar.” Hannah doesn’t believe Charlie killed herself. She believes both of the so-called suicides were murder. But who will believe her?
Most of the short chapters are told in either Hannah’s first-person point of view or that of her mother Corinne, in third-person. Corinne isn’t sure what to make of Hannah’s accusations. She wants to believe show more her daughter, but Hannah’s done some strange things lately that weaken her credibility.
At the same time, Corinne is desperate to believe her daughter is safe at The Meadows. And the director, Dr. Oliver Roberts, and the art therapist, the supportive Laura, as well as most of the other staff seem capable and conscientious, don’t they? Are these people who they say they are? Their contention that their patients are high-risk, with histories of suicide attempts, never quite reassures her.
Author Cohen has assembled an interesting group of patients: Odelle, thin as a stick with serious eating disorders; Stella, whose otherworldly appearance results from too many cosmetic surgeries, including removal of a rib to achieve a smaller waistline; and Judith, who says she’s just being “honest” when she makes her intentionally cruel remarks. As events unfold and confidences are shared, these patients form a kind of lamenting Greek chorus.
The characters are mostly well developed; however, it was jarring when the patients’ ages would be mentioned. They were in their mid-thirties or so (Hannah is 32), but they came across like teenagers. Perhaps this is because they are highly dependent, vulnerable personalities.
Throw into the mix a lurking filmmaker and his cameraman working on a “fly-on-the-wall” documentary. The filmmakers were a nice touch (with the director Justin “doused in self-absorption like cheap cologne”), since an underlying theme of the book is perception. What does the “neutral” eye of the camera perceive? What do each of the characters perceive about each other, and do they trust each others’ perceptions—they certainly share doubts about Hannah’s—and does she even trust her own?
In general, the writing style is effective and the pace is good and varied. Cohen uses cliffhangers to keep you reading “one more chapter”—mysterious items and messages turn up in the hospital, a red baby hat on Corinne’s doorstep. Eventually these are all explained, but the repeated technique begins to feel artificial. On the whole, an intriguing psychological thriller. show less

They All Fall Down by Tammy Cohen is a highly recommended psychological thriller set in a high-risk psychiatric institute.

Hannah is currently receiving help at the Meadows, a private psychiatric clinic in the country. She has done something that results in her being admitted, but we don't know quite what. She is married, although her marriage is in trouble and was before her admittance. She was pregnant, and we know she lost her baby, Emily, although we don't know how. What we do know is that two patients have died since she's been admitted, including Charlie, one of her closest friends at the Meadows. While it is a high-risk unit, Hannah knows that Charlie would not have killed herself. She firmly believes that someone is killing show more patients and making their deaths look like suicides. But who is going to believe her?

Corinne, Hannah's mother, knows that her daughter needs help and wants to support her to help in her recovery. The question is how can she help her daughter get better? At first she is reluctant to believe Hannah's conviction that a killer is loose, but to alleviate her daughter's concerns Corinne begins to look into the background of the clinic's founder, Dr. Oliver Roberts. As she uncovers secrets and discrepancies from the doctor's past, she also begins to look into the woman with whom Hannah's husband had an affair. As she begins to find numerous irregularities that are disconcerting, Corinne's belief in Hannah increases.

This was an interesting, compelling thriller. The narrative alternates mainly between the voices of Hannah and Corinne, and occasionally with Laura (the art therapist). Placing Hannah in a psychiatric institute automatically means that she is an unreliable narrator and we can't necessarily trust her character. Could her beliefs be a manifestation of her illness? On the other hand, she is a great character and you get a sense that although she is fragile, she can be rational on some levels. Corinne is an equally great character, smart, insightful, and resourceful. She wants to support her daughter and does what she can to help her. The supporting characters are equally interesting.

The quality of the writing in They All Fall Down is quite good. Cohen does an exceptional job with the pacing and we get twisty little reveals of more information, along with additional suspects being added, as the novel progresses. The tension keeps increasing as the sense that something terrible is going to happen looms larger. Why Hannah was admitted is revealed before the ending, which gives an added dimension to the plot. This is a suspenseful story that should hold your attention throughout the whole novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Pegasus Books.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/03/they-all-fall-down.html show less

I could not contain my excitement when I received a copy of Tammy Cohen's new book, They All Fall Down. I have been a fan of Tammy Cohen's writing since reading The War of the Wives many years ago so this book literally dropped onto the doormat and into my hands without even making a brief visit to the TBR pile.

I knew I was going to love it from the start as the first page reminded me of Alice in Wonderland's 'we're all mad here' and as it's set in a psychiatric institution I did find this rather amusing. Amusing as Hannah is a lot more sane than she realises and I was desperate to learn why she had been incarcerated. As my mind kept asking the same question: 'What happened to her baby, Emily?' Such a fine hook from Ms Cohen as I show more greedily took the bait and raced through the story, uncovering more than I ever expected.

Not only do we have Hannah's story to unravel, but suddenly patients appear to commit suicide. Hannah is sure that something untoward is happening, but who will believe her - she's mad, isn't she? Part of me wondered if it was all in Hannah's head but the storyline is SO much better than that. It went in directions I never even saw coming and then suddenly Hannah is next on the kill list. Will her family get there in time to save her? Eeeeeek!

What a great storyline - it's like a study of the human mind that plays with your mind. I could have quite easily questioned my sanity at times, as Tammy Cohen continued to surprise me. You're always guaranteed a good read with one of Tammy Cohen's books and They All Fall Down is no exception. This is surely set to rocket up the charts - you'd be mad not to read it.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less

This was an odd one. A quick and easy read, but disappointing. All the characters seemed flat and there were too many of them and none particularly fleshed out. The author kept trying to trick us into falling for various twists in the story so she could then do a big reveal, but it all felt forced and fake. I resented how long it took us to find out what it was that landed Hannah in the psychiatric clinic. It felt like the author kept a secret and made it clear that she was keeping a secret and kept talking about how she was keeping a secret, and by the time you are sick of hearing about it, she finally tells you what the secret was and it's total bullshit so you just feel annoyed and cheated.