Since We Fell

          The daughter of a domineering psychology book author, reporter Rachel Childs grows up without knowing who her father is. Her quest to unmask his identity following her mother’s death leads her to Brian Delacroix, a Canadian lumber heir moonlighting as a private investigator. Though Brian’s search proves unsuccessful, this is not the last time their paths will cross. Later, a traumatic turn of events in Haiti prompts Rachel to have an on-air breakdown, rendering her jobless, divorced, and a virtual shut-in. Enter Brian, now active in his family’s business, who helps her heal. Though he seems at first like a godsend, over time, Rachel becomes increasingly convinced that Brian is not all that he claims to be. But will uncovering his secrets come at the cost of her sanity?

          Rightly or wrongly, when authors impress us, when they win our appreciation of their craft, we expect them to continue to do so. Dennis Lehane’s Kenzie and Gennaro novels deftly blended snarky narration and urban grit, Mystic River provided a haunting look at child abuse (and inspired one hell of a film adaptation), and The Given Day, the author’s first foray into historical fiction, proved his magnum opus. Since then, Lehane has achieved more recognition thanks to successful film adaptations of his work, but his books have entered a slow decline. The long-awaited sixth Kenzie-Gennaro novel, Moonlight Mile, did not equal the best of its predecessors and the two follow-ups to The Given Day (Live by Night and World Gone By) lacked the first book’s grandeur, offering instead a more personal tale of attempted redemption. In Since We Fell, Lehane tried to revitalize his writing by approaching it through a different lens. Rachel is his first female protagonist and is neither detective nor hoodlum. While this change of pace is commendable, Since We Fell still suffers from a series of missteps that the Lehane of twenty years ago would have known to avoid.

            To his credit, Lehane still has a good ear for dialogue (witness some of Rachel and Brian’s banter in the last third of the book), and he continues to capture New England settings with conviction, even when those settings are Provincetown or swankier Boston rather than blue-collar Dorchester. He also succeeds in creating suspense through paranoia. Though the book’s overall pacing is frustratingly inconsistent, when it finds its rhythm, it makes it difficult for readers to turn away.

            That said, Lehane’s choice of protagonist is a curious one. New for him does not, in this case, mean unfamiliar. A psychologically scarred, unemployed loner named Rachel who becomes suspicious of those around her fits The Girl on the Train as much as it does this book, and at times, the narrative plays like a gender-flipped Gone Girl. In an effort to complicate her characterization, Lehane also puts off delving into the roots of Rachel’s guilt until later in the novel and then ham-handedly wallows in it. His intent – giving a competent and courageous investigative journalist some inner demons to slay – is commendable, but drowning Rachel in recrimination makes her eventual recovery that much harder to take. Indeed, the action-heavy antics of the latter chapters, while breathlessly entertaining, seem at odds with certain aspects of prior characterization.

            Since We Fell also suffers from maddeningly uneven pacing and plotting. Plenty of books start off slowly before gaining momentum; few seem like entirely different novels grafted together. Rachel’s search for her father’s identity, which occupies much of the first few chapters, has little connection to anything later in the book and feels like filler once the pace quickens. Lehane’s decisions of where to begin the story, what to allude to in flashback vs. what to describe in basetime, and what to emphasize all invite second-guessing.

            Flawed as it is, Since We Fell is not an “Abandon ship!” call from Lehane to his longtime readers. There are enough turns and tension to make this book worth a read, and Lehane’s willingness to try something different is a risk that should be rewarded. On the other hand, those who are expecting a return to the rare form of Lehane’s earlier career will be disappointed.

7.5/10