Catch Me When I Fall

Holly Krauss is a brilliant inventor of successful retreat weekends for disengaged employees, a creative whirlwind of ideas, charming everyone who encounters her. But she rides her exuberance like a bicycle without brakes, and it can accelerate until she’s flying right over the top. One bad decision made at the start of the book leads to another. Before long, she owes the wrong people money, her business is in jeopardy, her husband is having an affair, and she keeps losing things: keys, papers, nail clippers - and possibly her mind. Told first from Holly’s unraveling perspective, then from that of her business partner and best friend Meg, who patiently does her best to put things back together, French's storyline, that wobbles show more artfully between farce and tragedy, is a craftily-constructed trompe l’oeil: an author in total control of her material, giving us first-hand experience of life out of control. I enjoyed this novel far more than an earlier one that I tried by this author, which seemed to use sexual obsession as its sole power source. Though the plot itself offers plenty of adrenaline-pounding moments, what’s most thrilling about this book is its sympathetic and genuine depiction of a woman with bipolar disorder and the effect it has on everyone who cares about her. I really thought this was brilliantly done. show less

Book club selection. It's not that it wasn't good, but it just wasn't my thing. Holly is one of those massively energetic life & soul of the party kind of people and appears to be burning the candle at both ends. She has a company with her best friend Meg, who's far more sensible and down to earth and ends up being the one who sorts the mess. Initially, I found Holly a very unappealing character. By the end, after a suicide attempt or two, she's come round a bit, but I found her hard to understand - probably as I'm more a Meg than a Holly. Turns into a strange mixture with psycological elements and some mystery solving. Not badly written, but just not something i would choose to read.

Holly Krauss is beautiful and vivacious. She has a happy marriage and runs a successful company with her friend Meg. It seems that Holly has it all. But there is another side to her - a side that sees her putting herself into danger, and being reckless and thoughtless. Her actions cause problems which just keep mounting and Holly suddenly finds herself in danger. But she finds that she cannot trust her own judgement any longer, and even those she is closest to seem to be losing patience with her. If Holly can't rely on herself, then who can she rely on to catch her when she falls? And just because she is paranoid, does that mean that nobody is really after her?

I have always liked Nicci French's novels, and this one, like the others, is show more an entertaining read, which had me wanting to "just read a few more pages" and then just a few more...

Holly is an interesting if not altogether likeable character. While I sympathised with her and could see how people might be drawn to such a person, I also found myself becoming increasingly exasperated with her actions - particularly when she seemed to be ignorant of the obvious consequences which were bound to result. However, I think that that was probably deliberate on the writers' part.

Through Holly's narrative, we see her world through her eyes, and how things start to fall apart for her. Her loyal friend Meg tries to help and it seems that only she and Charlie - Holly's husband - can pick up the pieces. It is not clear at first whether Holly's increasing paranoia is due to her own state of mind, and like Holly, the reader is not sure who to trust.

This is an undemanding read, despite the subject matter. The action moves along at a rapid pace and did keep me wanting to know what was going to happen. However, I was disappointed by the ending, which seemed to deliver almost as many questions as answers. I actually wondered if there were another couple of pages at the back which I had missed.

All in all though, this is an entertaining psychological thriller, and I would recommend it to fans of the genre. show less

This was a very gripping listening. The first two-thirds was from the view of Holly who is suffering from a bipolar disorder. During her manic stage she was going out with men she didn't no, she bought a sculpture for a little fortune and lost a lot of money in a poker game. Her best friend Mel and her husband Charlie weren't able to stop her nor to help her. They thought that the only way to get her out would be a stay in a mental hospital which Holly refused to go first. When Holly was drifting into the depression she tried to kill herself by a pill overdose.
The last third is narrated by Mel who found out who drove Holly into all the mess and who was trying to kill her.
The outcome of the story let me guess until the very last sentence.

now out in pb, this is another great read from Nicci French, a complex web of a story with an explosive ending. Holly Krauss'life is spinning out of control. Is she being paraniod or is she being stalked, threatened, and is someone trying to destroy her? Who of her nearest and dearest can she trust?

A more than reasonable description of someone who suffers from polar disorder, from someone who is there. Being a Nicci French novel, it had to have a murderer in it, but I think it's one of the better Nicci French novels that I've read. Few people are willing to delve into polar disorder.

As a team I think they work better than each of them seperate, so I was glad they decided to do another Nicci French again.
This one is a nice read, as usual, even though the plot is no real suprise.

Holly Krauss has good looks, youth, friends, loving husband and a sucessfull job. But she suffers from a bipolair disorder. And one day here 'dangerloving side' takes over and she does something foolish that might destroy her live. Like a train rolling downhill the mistakes are piling up and she is losing all she has...