A billionaire family’s gated homes including a showpiece coastal estate on the Mid North Coast may seem among the safest and most secure places in Australia, but that doesn’t prove to be the case in Auckland lawyer-turned-author Rachel Paris’s impressive debut thriller.
‘Succession meets Sharp Objects’ was how Paris described her tale in late 2023 when her unpublished tale won the Phoenix Prize for a high quality manuscript with commercial potential. See How They Fall certainly ticks those boxes: it’s a riveting, pacy tale kick-started by a twin poisoning among heirs to the Turner fortune that pleasingly goes beyond over-saturated domestic noir tropes by melding internecine family drama, secrets, and threat with police-centred crime thriller and some larger real-life issues.
Paris lures readers into an unpredictable journey via alternating perspectives of two fascinating women dealing with past secrets and reeling from recent events: Skye, an artist who married into the powerful Turner dynasty and whose daughter, Tiffy, has suffered arsenic poisoning; and embattled Sydney detective Mei O’Connor. While the wider cast isn’t as nuanced, sometimes stereotyped, overall See How They Fall is an impressive debut from Paris, overflowing with hidden truths and hidden evils. A one-or two-sitting read that shows plenty of promise. I’m looking forward to what’s next.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Paris won the Phoenix Prize for the best manuscript in her Masters at Auckland University. She came to writing after a highly successful 20-year law career, specialising in fintech. She gained her Masters in Law at Harvard University. See How They Fall is her debut novel.
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