Review of We All Fall Down

I’ve enjoyed this author’s YA thrillers before and was excited to read this. While We All Fall Down offered more quiet menace than heart-stopping thrills, I loved the two POV characters in this. And I definitely recommend Natalie D. Richards as an author to try if you like suspenseful stories! Read on for my review of We All Fall Down!

We All Fall Down by Natalie D. Richards

To be published on October 10, 2017 by Sourcebooks

Synopsis from Goodreads: Theo’s always been impulsive. But telling Paige how he feels? He’s obsessed over that decision. And it’s time. Tonight. At the party on the riverbank, under the old walking bridge, site of so many tales of love and death. Paige has had a crush on Theo since they first met, but she knows her feelings are one-sided. She’s trying to move on, to flirt. A party at the river is just what she needs. Except a fight breaks out, and when Paige tries to intervene–Theo’s fist lands in her face. All Theo and Paige want to do is forget that fateful night. But strange events keep drawing them back to the bridge. Someone, something is determined to make them remember…and pay for what they each did.

Review of We All Fall Down

The story begins with a dramatic encounter on a bridge over a river. Theo has decided to tell Paige about his feelings for her, but things go terribly wrong. Paige shows up with another guy, Theo throws a punch, Paige is injured, and the moment is lost. Time passes and they each try to move on.

But they can’t. Something keeps drawing them back to the bridge, where Theo finds a lock with his initials and Paige’s on it, and Paige finds one of her earrings. Then she’s doing a research project for school near the bridge and thinks she sees something bloody in the water. She’s afraid to tell anyone because she’s struggled with anxiety in the past.

Theo is struggling too, with ADHD and ODD, plus his guilt over what happened on the bridge. He befriends a quirky teenager who tells Theo that a lot of people have seen or heard creepy things there. Is the bridge haunted? Cursed? Or is there a logical explanation?

For me, this story took a while to get going, though the suspense definitely built as the book went on. Not sure if the book wanted me to ship the two of them together, but I liked them more as friends. Or friends with the potential for more.

Try this if you’re looking for a suspenseful October read!