Review: WATCH HER FALL, Erin Kelly

• 
  this edition published by Hodder & Stoughton UK 2021
  
• 389 pages
• ISBN 978-1-473-68084-5
• author website: http://erinkelly.co.uk

Synopsis (author website)

Swan Lake is divided into the black acts and the white acts, with one dancer playing both the virginal Odette and the dark, seductive Odile. The faultless ballet technique required to master the steps, and the emotional range needed to perform both parts makes this dual role one of the most challenging and coveted in all ballet.

Dancers would kill for the part.

Ava Kirilova has reached the very top of her profession. After years and years of hard graft, pain and sacrifice as part of the London Russian Ballet Company, allowing nothing else to distract her, she is finally the poster girl for Swan Lake. Even Mr K - her father, and the intense, terrifying director of the company - can find no fault. Ava has pushed herself ahead of countless other talented, hardworking girls, and they are all watching her now.

But there is someone who really wants to see Ava fall . . . 

My Take

A fascinating read. The structure of the novel reflects the structure of a ballet, and the plot of the novel reflects the plot of Swan Lake. In addition sections of the book are told from the point of view of particular characters and we actually see some events from two points of view. The complexity of the book's plot makes the reader work hard.

The plot transports us to a world with which most are not familiar: the world of an elite ballet company.

The master of the London Russian Ballet Company Nikolai Kirilov is confronting the end of his career. The Company is about to go on tour with Swan Lake but Mr K won't be with them for the first time. He is scheduled to have hip surgery.
Mr K gets the best out of his "creatures" by bullying them. They must do exactly as he instructs them or he will reject them, and even replace them. His 30 year old daughter has known nothing else since she was 13, and still she quails in front of his criticism. Ava Kirilova is wondering how much longer her role as the company's prima ballerina can last. 

Others know that her days are numbered. And then the unthinkable happens.

My rating: 4.7

About the author

I was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex. At Warwick University I read English, and began working as a journalist in 1998.

Growing up I read classic suspense: Barbara Vine, Daphne du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith were my idols. I only really became a journalist because I thought it might be a good launch pad for writing fiction. It took me a decade to make the shift, but in 2008 I flipped my usual work routine: treating the novel as my day job and scratching a couple of hours’ journalism in the evening until six months later, I had a book.

I called it The Poison Tree.

My debut was good to me. ITV adapted it for television, it became a Richard & Judy bestseller and was longlisted for the CWA John Creasy Award. On 1 April 2010 I got an email from Stephen King saying 'I wish I’d written it' and was so convinced it was an April Fools' joke that I didn’t say thank you for two days.

Since then, I’ve published seven more psychological thrillers and in 2014 I was chosen to write the novelisation of the BAFTA-winning Broadchurch.

We Know/You Know and He Said/She Said were also Richard and Judy picks, making me one of a select few authors to do a hat-trick. He Said/She Said spent twelve weeks in the Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller lists and was nominated for a clutch of awards. My books have sold over a million copies and been translated into 25 languages.

My new thriller, Watch Her Fall, is a deadly cat-and-mouse game between two elite ballet dancers, set in a London theatre during a production of Swan Lake. It was written in lockdown. Described as Black Swan meets Killing Eve, it contains the most ambitious twist I’ve ever written.

As well as writing fiction I continue to work as a journalist and also teach creative writing. I live in north London with my husband and two daughters, and an ever-growing collection of toy lambs. Trust me, it’s best not to ask.

I’m currently working on my ninth novel, a thriller about bones, buried treasure and family secrets.