Reviews

The Fallen Architect by Charles Belfoure

catbrigand's review against another edition

2.0

Impeccably researched, but the mystery was not compelling, and the reveal was badly executed. The characters felt flat, and I didn’t care about any of them.

janetval's review against another edition

mysterious

3.25

spacepenguin22's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

jodiesackettbrown's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

littletaiko's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting premise - an English architect has built a grand theater in 1900. When it collapses on opening night and several people are killed, he is found guilty of murder and sentenced to five years in prison. The story starts when he gets out of prison.

He knows that his design wasn’t flawed but has no way to prove it. The story is part mystery as he tries to figure out what really happened, part rebuilding of a life and family, and a whole of variety theater details since he gets a job painting cloths for a leading variety show producer.

Not sure the book ever felt like it knew what type of book it wanted to be, but I enjoyed it overall and was a bit surprised by the end.

eweltzer's review against another edition

3.0

A little slow but has an interesting twist at the end. Interesting depiction of the British theatre circuit and upper class British society, not sure how historically accurate it is, but fascinating nonetheless.

kketelaar's review against another edition

2.0

Kudos to the author on his research and I enjoyed the idea of architectural and engineering principles leading to the solving of a mystery, but the book seemed more about variety theatre than architecture. This would have been fine if the writing had been more interesting. Unfortunately, I spent pretty much the entire book feeling as if I was reading a story written for a fourth-grade reading level. Because of that, many of the side-stories and chapters felt distracting and a bit ridiculous rather than contributing to the overall plot or character development.

direton1's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

cjeanne99's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A London architect is imprisoned for five years after the balcony in a music hall that he designed collapsed during a performance, killing 14 people and injuring others. He is dubbed “the Butcher of the West End”  with many thinking he should have been hung instead of imprisoned for five years. Upon his release, he reinvents himself with a new name and a new career - scene painter for entertainers in the variety theatre. His backdrops are well loved, he makes friends with artists, and makes a gruesome discovery in not one but two buildings - murdered bodes; one of them he realizes is his former assistant - whose wedding ring was still on his finger. Layton begins to understand that he was framed - that someone had deliberately meddled with the construction in order to cause the collapse. As he investigates - he runs into many possible answers, is threatened by survivors of the accident, reconnects with his son, secures help from a childhood friend and an architectural colleague, and eventually - solves the case. 

nbranca628's review against another edition

2.0

I’m not sure what genre to place this book in. It’s part who-dunnit, part historical fiction, part commentary on British social classes. As for the mystery aspect, I felt it was wrapped up too fast.

Spoiler

After chapters of discussing different potential suspects, someone new is revealed and taken care of all in one chapter.

I had a hard time remembering who certain characters were. I also don’t understand why the architect would be blamed over the builder? I would blame the builder if a structure collapsed. If you take a shot every time the word architect or architecture is used, you’ll be drunk by the first couple of chapters! My favorite part was the different acts of the music hall.