I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl
In acclaimed author Julia Dahl’s new standalone, the death of a young mother triggers an avalanche of secrets in a small Hudson Valley town.
Roman Grady is the sole reporter for the local newspaper in a tiny Hudson Valley town – a town so small that every store opening and DUI is considered newsworthy. But when Roman’s longtime girlfriend, Ashley, the mother of his four-year-old son, is found dead, he realizes he had no idea what was really going on in her life.
And when he starts asking questions, he’s not prepared for the answers.
What was Ashley doing at the cliffside home of her troubled ex-girlfriend? How did no one in a house full of people see what happened to her? And why does it seem like everyone in town suddenly has something to hide? As Roman and his mother dig into Ashley’s last few months, the truths they uncover threaten to expose painful secrets. The kind of secrets that can get you killed.
A gripping thriller and a moving portrait of a family struggling through tragedy, I Dreamed of Falling showcases Julia Dahl’s talent for using crime fiction to tell an immersive and unforgettable story. Dahl’s unflinching novel asks hard questions about love, regret, inequality, and the possibilities and the perils of forgiveness.
Review:
I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
I love a good mystery with believable characters you grow to care about. I’ve found that a lot of mystery thrillers these days rely heavily on ridiculous twists, but that was not the case with this book. This novel is both a mystery and a deep and emotional exploration of love, loss, and the messy complexities of human relationships. If you’re in the mood for a gripping mystery that will also tug at your heartstrings, this is the book for you.
Set in a small Hudson Valley town, the story focuses primarily on Roman Grady and his mother, Tara, as they navigate the aftermath of Roman’s girlfriend/partner Ashley’s tragic death. The two have been together since high school. They love each other deeply but have always had an open relationship because that worked for them. The two even share a four-year-old son together, a son that Tara has treated as her own since the day he was born.
When Roman comes home to find that Ashley has been missing since the night before, he soon learns that her body was discovered at the base of a cliff. Was she pushed? Was she high and fell? At first, all signs point to the latter, but the more Roman and the police dig, the more they realize someone may have killed her, and the deeper Roman digs, the more he learns not only about Ashley and her friends but several others in his small town as well. As Roman and his mother delve deeper into Ashley’s life, they uncover painful truths that also force them to confront their own missteps in life.
I was completely engrossed in this book from the very first page and was captivated until the very end. One of the most compelling aspects of this book was the relatable characters that Dahl crafted. They are richly drawn and flawed in all the best ways, making them feel like real people you might meet in your everyday life. Roman, in particular, is a haunted and compelling protagonist whose quest for the truth is as much about unraveling his own past as it is about finding justice for Ashley. I was so deeply invested in this family that I often had to remind myself that it was just a book.
While the book is primarily a murder mystery, it’s also a complex family drama with a sense of hope and redemption that runs throughout the novel. The scenes with Roman and Ashley’s son dealing with the fact that his mother will never come home had me all kinds of teary. I also loved watching Tara and Roman confront their pasts and work out their long-held animosity while searching for the truth behind Ashley’s death. And let me tell you, that ending? I did not see it coming at all!
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful blend of crime fiction and family drama that drew me in from the very first page. If you love a good murder mystery with complex family dynamics, I would highly recommend this one. This is a must-read for anyone who loves a good mystery with profound emotional depth that keeps you engaged until the very end.
