Review | They All Fall Down by Tammy Cohen

Hannah is a patient at The Meadows, and two of her friends at the private clinic had recently died by suicide. She believes they were actually murdered, and confided in her mother. But because of Hannah’s past, her mother has reasons to doubt her story. Is Hannah’s suspicions correct or is this just another delusion?

I know you’re in a rush to get back to your old life, but what you have to ask yourself, Hannah, is whether that old life really exists any more. And if it doesn’t, what are you going to put in its place?

They All Fall Down is a mystery that gets deeper and deeper as it goes on. The book is split into the point of views of Hannah, her mother, Corinne, and a worker at the clinic, Laura. Out of these three, Hannah’s story is the most interesting. She is an unreliable narrator and everything she tells us could be something she makes up in her head. We don’t find out the reason why she ended up in the clinic until about a third of the book in. I thought the reveal is effective in showing why Hannah is the way she is.

Less effective is the circumstances of her situation, where there seems to be miscommunications for no reason. Corinne is left in the dark so she spends a lot of time finding out things that could have been told to her. Laura’s story felt superfluous. Although she plays a part in the end, I just didn’t care about her enough.

Besides Hannah, the book has a cast of characters in the clinic who have different forms of mental illnesses. I thought their stories were handled sensitively, and highlights how the stigma of mental illness overrides everything else when it comes to getting to know a person. I also like how the female friendships are portrayed. That said, this book also deals with cheating spouses, abusive families, secret pasts, medical drama. There’s a even a television documentary! So unfortunately, many threads get lost in the shuffle and it got too convoluted at the end. Read this only if you’re into a slow-burning thriller where nothing is what it seems.

About the author: Tammy Cohen

Photo by Michael Browning