Review: See How They Fall, by Rachel Paris

Your six-year-old complains of a tummy ache as you tuck them into bed. Easy enough to blame on an overindulgence of fizzy drinks and treats at a chaotic family gathering, and a pretty common parenting moment, but one that metastasizes into a horrifying nightmare for Skye and Duncan Turner in Aucklander Rachel Paris’s propulsive debut See How They Fall.

The next day, Skye and Duncan wake late at the family’s palatial seaside estate 400km north of Sydney, craving Nurofen to settle hangovers, or perhaps the tensions that erupted between family members the night before. Their beloved daughter Tilly has vomited overnight. Messy clean-up, shower, parental guilt. Snuggle in bed, all recovering. A call to the family GP, just in case: he reassures you it’s likely a stomach bug doing the rounds of Tilly’s primary school.

Then Tilly vomits blood. A 45-minute drive through a storm to the nearest medical centre, barging past a nonplussed receptionist. The doctor’s alarm. Trouble breathing, child and parents both. Lights and sirens on a long ambulance ride back to Sydney. Straight to emergency. Barked orders. Respiratory failure. Convulsions. Skye yelling, helpless.

What seems like almost the worst possible thing is just the beginning for the Turner family, and the readers of Paris’s riveting tale that entwines strands of domestic noir with police-centred crime thriller.

It’s easy to see why the manuscript for See How They Fall won Paris, a Harvard graduate who worked as a fintech lawyer for 20 years in London and Auckland, the inaugural Phoenix Prize in late 2023 during her Masters of Creative Writing under the tutelage of Paula Morris.

It lures readers in quickly and takes us on an unpredictable journey via two fascinating first-person perspectives: Skye, a bohemian artist who’s married into the Turner dynasty; and Mei O’Connor, a Detective Senior Sergeant in Sydney’s Homicide Squad who’s been near-shattered by her own recent emotional 1-2 gut-punch, and must navigate various pressures and powerful interests during a tough investigation involving the powerful Turner clan.

'Arsenic poisoning. It sounded so old-fashioned, like something out of an Agatha Christie novel.'

When Mei is called in by her boss on Easter Sunday, following a mortifying walk of shame and unexpected run-in with her ex-fiancée, the Chief Coroner’s news that two potential heirs to the fortune of recently deceased billionaire Sir Campbell Turner were taken to hospital – and one has died – due to arsenicosis rather than a viral infection, the game is truly afoot.

Paris creates a good deal of narrative drive as her See How They Fall hurtles along through the alternating eyes of Skye and Mei, two women who are reeling in many ways, having to deal with past secrets and trauma alongside current threats and dangers clear and unseen.

'Behind every great fortune there is a great crime.'

Paris begins her debut with the popular Balzac mistranslation that also opened The Godfather, and it’s certainly applicable here, as the Turner family tries to muzzle any investigation, despite the death of one of their own. But is the threat to the family from the outside, given how Sir Campbell may have climbed to the top with his luxury goods business – the Aussie boy done good – or from within? Was Tilly a target, or collateral damage?

While it may have been nice to see some greater nuance to the wider cast, overall See How They Fall is an impressive debut from Paris, overflowing with secrets and hidden evils and the damage they cause. A ripping first effort that portends well for her writing career.

Oh, as Columbo would say, 'Just one more thing':

While See How They Fall was perhaps conceived more as a female-centred domestic noir, akin to a Liane Moriarty, Gillian Flynn, or Rose Carlyle thriller, the way Mei steals the show a bit among the overall story and offers a decent amount of character depth and inherent tension in her work and life situations, means there’s series potential with her as a lead. I for one would certainly be interested to read more DSS Mei O’Connor investigations.

Craig is a lawyer turned writer, editor, and podcast host. Among many hats, he’s the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and editor of the Dark Deeds Down Under crime and thriller anthologies. Craig grew up in Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Māui/The Top of the South, and currently lives in London.