Julia Dahl began her writing career with an excellent and fascinating series of novels that gave crime fiction readers a glimpse into the Hasidic Jewish community in New York City (Invisible City, Run You Down, and Conviction). She followed this success with a hard-hitting standalone crime novel called The Missing Hours. Now with the release of her second standalone—I Dreamed of Falling—Julia Dahl is poised to stake her claim as an author unafraid to write provocative and insightful thrillers that prioritize character over plot, without sacrificing the white-knuckle reading experience.
Regardless of the genre, it is challenging to do something in the realm of writing that is different, but Julia Dahl has managed to do just that with I Dreamed of Falling. Is it crime fiction? Yes! But it’s also a true character study—exquisitely executed despite the fact that the central character barely gets a voice of her own.
I Dreamed of Falling begins with the death of a young mother named Ashley. When her longtime, on-again/off-again boyfriend Roman hears of her death he is confused. Why was the bisexual Ashley at a party with her ex-girlfriend when she should have been home taking care of their young son, Mason? And how could there be a party full of people and yet no one saw what happened to Ashley?
When the police investigation fails to satisfy him, Roman—a journalist at a small-town newspaper—begins asking his own questions. By interviewing those closest to Ashley, Roman quickly begins to realize that he might not have known the woman he loves quite as well as he originally assumed. As in reality, different people know different sides of us and until all those pieces are put into place, it’s virtually impossible to really know someone else.
What emerges is a portrait of a complex relationship across time. Readers are given important insight into the thoughts and feelings of each character throughout their “very modern” relationship. These internal glimpses are also confirmed/balanced/contradicted by those around the couple—including Roman’s mother and the couple’s other romantic partners.
In addition to being a gripping mystery/thriller, I Dreamed of Falling also has important things to say about our humanity. It ruminates on what it means to be a parent, how society places undue pressure on parents to be “perfect,” and how what we see on the outside is not always a true reflection of what is going on internally. A parent herself, Julia Dahl, crafts the scenes with four-year-old Mason so they leap off the page—proving to be utterly authentic and truly unforgettable. Readers will palpably feel this sensitive child’s overwhelming loss and the unbelievable confusion it causes him.
With hypnotic prose and a steady heartbeat of plotting rhythm, Dahl draws the reader in, making us ache with each new development. In this unique work, the slow boil plot serves as a catalyst for deeper exploration of character(s). Readers who invest the time with I Dreamed of Falling will be justly rewarded with a reading experience they won’t soon forget.
BUY LINKS: I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
