If I Fall, If I Die

by Michael Christie

                Christie’s debut novel focuses on a woman, Diane with agoraphobia raising her young son Will completely within the bounds of their house. Will can’t remember ever leaving their house to go Outside. His entire world consists of the rooms of his house, the Inside, and his mother Diane. Then one day, Will does the unthinkable and ventures Outside. As Will stands Outside, he waits to stop breathing, for his hair to catch fire, for all manner of calamity to consume him. Nothing happens and Will is emboldened to venture further Outside. What follows is Will’s experience with the Outside world, for which he is wholly unprepared.

                This started off as a terrific novel. Christie does an admirable job of making the novel believable and letting the reader discover the Outside from Will’s perspective.

                Unfortunately, about half way through the novel, Christie does a complete 180, and the story crashes and burns a fiery death. It seemed that Christie took the novel to a certain point, and then had no idea where to go next, so he introduced a mystery and plot points that went far beyond stretching credibility. It’s unfortunate, since If I Fall, If I Die was a wonderful novel until this point.

                I’ll look forward to Christie’s next novel, since he shows promise. But this one needs work.     

   

Borrow this book from your library and read the first half which is very, very good. Then if you have an extreme desire to punish yourself, read the rest of it.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.