Colin McAdam, Fall

Fall

Colin McAdam

Riverhead, Jun 1 2010, $15.00

ISBN: 9781594484643

At affluent prestigious St. Ebury School in Sutton, Canada, the son of an American diplomat extroverted athletic Julius and the lovely Fallon are an entry. All the guys at school want Fall as their girlfriend, but the most envious is Julius' roommate the intellectual reticent loner Noel. Still in spite of his coveting Fall, Noel and Julius become buddies.

The administration punishes Julius for a typical teenage stunt; his punishment is confinement to his room. Unable to see Fall, he asks his friend to visit her. Noel's fixation for Fall intensifies as he has the opportunity to spend time alone with the object of his adulation even if it is only as a surrogate. Soon after he begins seeing Fall, she vanishes.

Told in rotation by the two male roommates, Fall is a profound psychological suspense tale. The audience gets to know the obsessions of both male teens and through their respective reflective lenses somewhat the female each cherishes in their own way. Part of the insight is how different Julius and Noel are in their behavior especially their relationships with others; but ironically how similar they are when it comes to Fall. Readers who appreciate a character psychoanalytical profile will relish Fall as the action including what happened to the girl takes a back seat to the astute look at the rivals who desire her

Harriet Klausner