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holmstead's review against another edition
5.0
This was a seriously good book. The past and the present collided effortlessly and the story itself grabbed me. The characters were developed so well that I had equal feelings of hate, anger, and disgust for the bad ones as I had sympathy and concern for the good ones. This book lets you feel it all. I think the story and what I felt throughout this book were more important to me than the actual outcome. But nothing here gave me any sense of disappointment. A couple times, I almost thought bile was going to rise out of my throat. The character of Nick was written with great thought, along with the others. It all tied in so well, and I easily built the images and scenes in my mind. Evil poured off these pages, as well as courage, horror, revulsion, and survival.
If Jenny Milchman's books are always going to grab me like this, SIGN ME UP!!
If Jenny Milchman's books are always going to grab me like this, SIGN ME UP!!
judithdcollins's review against another edition
4.0
A special thank you to Random House- Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Jenny Milchman returns following Ruin Falls and Cover of Snow with another psychological suspense thriller AS NIGHT FALLS a prison break, a psychologist, a past, hidden family secrets, and a family home invasion, with twists and turns you do not see coming.
Sandy Tremont, has a successful career as a psychotherapist, at Wedeskyull community Hospital. She has a nice home, husband-Ben who loves the great outdoors, and not so nice teenage daughter-Ivy, and dog, Mac. When her grandfather died he left her a healthy inheritance and her husband built them a dreams home, in a remote area which offered privacy and seclusion.
Located near an old Adirondack camp, Sandy was fine with the isolation, as she worked part time; however, when she was home she could put problems to bed, and enjoy the solitude and beautiful surroundings. Ivy the teenage daughter had been engaging in the typical teens stuff lately with her usual drama.
Sandy has a dark secret. This was not her childhood name. This all changed after the age of fifteen. A secret which her family is unaware of, until the night she has to face her worst nightmare.
One snowy winter night, two escaped convicts invade their home, wanting supplies and directions to Canada. It is snowing and the intruders are trapped with Sandy and her family. The worst possible, thing happens, when Sandy recognizes Nick, the sociopath, her brother!
Of course, Ben and Ivy know nothing about her past; however, Nick is not stable and it takes all Sandy’s training to deal with the unstable personality in order to protect her own life and family.
Flashing back and forth, we learn of Nick’s childhood to adulthood, and his twenty-four years of incarceration. There hadn’t been a successful prison break since 1961, but Nick had a plan. He and Harlan had been cell mates and he slowly worked on a plan.
The suspense builds slowly as we learn about Sandy’s past, a mother, a father, a brother, why Nick was sent to prison and how the two connect for a chilling tale (with some torture, horror, and good twists). Nick is one evil guy, a psycho-nut and the mother; well you will have to read it. Even though it had some interesting parts, keeping you on the edge; however, not a cast of really likable, or strong characters.
JDCMustReadBooks
Jenny Milchman returns following Ruin Falls and Cover of Snow with another psychological suspense thriller AS NIGHT FALLS a prison break, a psychologist, a past, hidden family secrets, and a family home invasion, with twists and turns you do not see coming.
Sandy Tremont, has a successful career as a psychotherapist, at Wedeskyull community Hospital. She has a nice home, husband-Ben who loves the great outdoors, and not so nice teenage daughter-Ivy, and dog, Mac. When her grandfather died he left her a healthy inheritance and her husband built them a dreams home, in a remote area which offered privacy and seclusion.
Located near an old Adirondack camp, Sandy was fine with the isolation, as she worked part time; however, when she was home she could put problems to bed, and enjoy the solitude and beautiful surroundings. Ivy the teenage daughter had been engaging in the typical teens stuff lately with her usual drama.
Sandy has a dark secret. This was not her childhood name. This all changed after the age of fifteen. A secret which her family is unaware of, until the night she has to face her worst nightmare.
One snowy winter night, two escaped convicts invade their home, wanting supplies and directions to Canada. It is snowing and the intruders are trapped with Sandy and her family. The worst possible, thing happens, when Sandy recognizes Nick, the sociopath, her brother!
Of course, Ben and Ivy know nothing about her past; however, Nick is not stable and it takes all Sandy’s training to deal with the unstable personality in order to protect her own life and family.
Flashing back and forth, we learn of Nick’s childhood to adulthood, and his twenty-four years of incarceration. There hadn’t been a successful prison break since 1961, but Nick had a plan. He and Harlan had been cell mates and he slowly worked on a plan.
The suspense builds slowly as we learn about Sandy’s past, a mother, a father, a brother, why Nick was sent to prison and how the two connect for a chilling tale (with some torture, horror, and good twists). Nick is one evil guy, a psycho-nut and the mother; well you will have to read it. Even though it had some interesting parts, keeping you on the edge; however, not a cast of really likable, or strong characters.
JDCMustReadBooks
mellabella's review against another edition
3.0
I don't remember exactly when I started this book. It starts off being told by Nick the convicts pov. It seemed tedious. So I put it down. I read probably about 3 or 4 other books in the meantime. Then, picked it back up. It got better. Not, suspenseful or thrilling. But better. The parts I liked the most were the flashbacks.
Two convicts (Harlan and Nick) escape prison. They carjack a woman, stabbing her and leaving her to die. They come to a secluded house. We find out later that Nick knew exactly who lived in that house all along.
The characters weren't that great. The most fleshed out one is Nick. You see exactly how he came to be a psychopath.
You want to slap him and Sandra's mom.
You want to slap Ivy (Sandra's daughter) and sometimes Sandra.
Honestly, the only characters I liked were Ben (the little I saw of him) and the dog.
Why do all dogs in books like this have to be geriatric? I'm surprised this one lived,
The ending was perplexing. Did Barbara watch Sandra because Nick was no longer around? Wanting to feel "accepted"?
She didn't care about her when Nick was locked up. But I guess him being gone means all of a sudden she wants to be closer to her daughter?
What happened to the third convict?
Again the flashbacks in which we learn how (delusional) Barbara favored, coddled, spoiled and made her entitled son feel like everything he did was great... Even as all his abusive psychopathic behavior escalated were the best part for me.
Two convicts (Harlan and Nick) escape prison. They carjack a woman, stabbing her and leaving her to die. They come to a secluded house. We find out later that Nick knew exactly who lived in that house all along.
The characters weren't that great. The most fleshed out one is Nick. You see exactly how he came to be a psychopath.
You want to slap him and Sandra's mom.
You want to slap Ivy (Sandra's daughter) and sometimes Sandra.
Honestly, the only characters I liked were Ben (the little I saw of him) and the dog.
Why do all dogs in books like this have to be geriatric? I'm surprised this one lived,
The ending was perplexing. Did Barbara watch Sandra because Nick was no longer around? Wanting to feel "accepted"?
She didn't care about her when Nick was locked up. But I guess him being gone means all of a sudden she wants to be closer to her daughter?
What happened to the third convict?
Again the flashbacks in which we learn how (delusional) Barbara favored, coddled, spoiled and made her entitled son feel like everything he did was great... Even as all his abusive psychopathic behavior escalated were the best part for me.
edgyirishcupcake's review against another edition
3.0
Decent story. A bit repetitive and long winded at some parts, but overall not bad.
susanthebookbag's review against another edition
5.0
Oh man, what a wonderfully intense, dark, captivating story! As Night Falls kept me on the edge of my seat. Seriously, how can someone be so utterly evil? There are some really messed up characters in this story. And secrets. Lots of secrets.
'"I don't know when or why or what you're lying about, Mom." Ivy took in a breath deep enough to make her chest swell. "I just know that you are."'
Just when I thought things might start looking up for Sandy and her family and everything was going to be okay, the author threw in more evil. It just took my breath away. This is 'psychological thriller' at it's best!
'"I don't know when or why or what you're lying about, Mom." Ivy took in a breath deep enough to make her chest swell. "I just know that you are."'
Just when I thought things might start looking up for Sandy and her family and everything was going to be okay, the author threw in more evil. It just took my breath away. This is 'psychological thriller' at it's best!
ashley_meredith19's review against another edition
5.0
This book was a little hard to keep up with at first with swapping characters but once you got the hang of it, I couldn’t put it down!
melkel05's review against another edition
4.0
This was a good read, kept my attention throughout. I ended up staying up much later than I planned on two nights in a row to see what happened.
There wasn't anything too surprising in the plot line, which was a bit disappointing. Despite the lack of surprises, the quick moving action kept my attention, and I enjoyed it. And, I'm not going to lie, I was happy there wasn't any rape in the story, and that the dog didn't die. I hate it when the dog dies.
There wasn't anything too surprising in the plot line, which was a bit disappointing. Despite the lack of surprises, the quick moving action kept my attention, and I enjoyed it. And, I'm not going to lie, I was happy there wasn't any rape in the story, and that the dog didn't die. I hate it when the dog dies.
shelfdetermined's review against another edition
2.0
*I won a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.*
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
readhikerepeat's review against another edition
5.0
This book holds a special place in my heart because not only do I consider Jenny a friend (she helped start #30Authors), but she thanked me and a few other bloggers in the acknowledgements section of this book, which still amazes me. That said, I tried very hard to review this independently of my personal feelings and I loved her style before we became friends. So, on to the book!
Two convicts escape from prison and head toward the Canadian border, only to have things work out differently from what they expected. Sound familiar? It should, because something very similar happened in real life not that long ago. Fortunately for Jenny Milchman, the publicity surrounding the event made for the perfect (and free) advertisement for her new book, As Night Falls, because the premise is very similar. Of course, she wrote the book before the escape, so the similarities end there, but it’s still an interesting turn of events.
As for the book, it stands on its own even without the real-life comparisons. At first blush, As Night Falls seems pretty straightforward: A regular family meets an unfortunate situation involving two escapees and bad things happen. There’s Sandy, therapist and mom to your run-of-the-mill surly teenage daughter, Ivy, and Ben, husband extraordinaire. What makes it interesting is that Ivy knows that her mom is hiding something even if she doesn’t know what it is and Ben is so in love with his wife that he never questioned her refusal to discuss her past, which is exactly what comes back to haunt them. Why? Because the two men who show up on her doorstep do know, and it’s this knowledge that puts the Tremont family in danger, forcing Sandy to face her demons and fight for her future. As Night Falls is about this struggle, both physical and emotional, and chronicles one horrific night with devastating and permanent consequences.
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
Two convicts escape from prison and head toward the Canadian border, only to have things work out differently from what they expected. Sound familiar? It should, because something very similar happened in real life not that long ago. Fortunately for Jenny Milchman, the publicity surrounding the event made for the perfect (and free) advertisement for her new book, As Night Falls, because the premise is very similar. Of course, she wrote the book before the escape, so the similarities end there, but it’s still an interesting turn of events.
As for the book, it stands on its own even without the real-life comparisons. At first blush, As Night Falls seems pretty straightforward: A regular family meets an unfortunate situation involving two escapees and bad things happen. There’s Sandy, therapist and mom to your run-of-the-mill surly teenage daughter, Ivy, and Ben, husband extraordinaire. What makes it interesting is that Ivy knows that her mom is hiding something even if she doesn’t know what it is and Ben is so in love with his wife that he never questioned her refusal to discuss her past, which is exactly what comes back to haunt them. Why? Because the two men who show up on her doorstep do know, and it’s this knowledge that puts the Tremont family in danger, forcing Sandy to face her demons and fight for her future. As Night Falls is about this struggle, both physical and emotional, and chronicles one horrific night with devastating and permanent consequences.
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.