Official Review: Fallen by D.P. Conway

Jax14 · Post by **Jax14** » 24 Nov 2019, 08:25

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Fallen" by D.P. Conway.]

3 out of 4 stars

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Fallen by D.P. Conway, is the story of Nikolas Cruz—where he came from, what influenced him to behave the way he did and how he grew up to be a school shooter.

Imagine being the most hated boy on the block. Nikolas certainly was. From the time he was very young, he did things to injure other people and landed up alienating himself entirely. Nikolas could never understand where the voice that told him to do these things came from. But the dark angel watching over him knew exactly what her mission was. Nikolas and his younger brother Zachary were both adopted, and his biological mother claimed that his father was an angel. But as it turns out, not the good kind. As Nikolas moved through his school career, his lack of social understanding hindered his ability to make friends or form relationships. This led him to react impulsively when he thought people were just out to hurt him, whether against them or actual self-harm. As his behaviour spiralled out of control and the authorities were found ill-equipped to handle his actions, Nikolas went on a shooting spree. The consequences of which were devastating.

The interesting concept in this book is that the demons inside Nikolas’s head are real demons. That and the fact that his ancestry is half-bad makes you think a little more about what drives a person to do what they do. The book is a work of fiction based on actual events and the idea that someone could be as motivated to do what they did without forming the actual decisions themselves makes you think. A lot of time in the book is spent on Nikolas’s youth, but it also felt like a lot was missing. Especially when it came to what happened to his brother after the shooting or even how Nikolas’s story turned out. Without giving away a spoiler, his mother’s story and where she landed up could have been elaborated on too. The children were adopted through a religious group called the Order, but why Roger (Nikolas’s adoptive father) is affiliated with it or where the children, in particular, come from is never expanded on. It was also crazy to see how badly the authorities handled the situation and the impact the decisions of so-called responsible leaders had on the loss of lives.

There were a lot of editing mistakes in the book. These ranged from punctuation errors like quotation marks used in the wrong places (direct speech not given quotation marks and vice versa) to incorrect punctuation with action tags, to spelling mistakes, to missing prepositions and plural issues (e.g. five day later). My biggest gripe was the amount of POV jumps within paragraphs and you went from one person’s perspective straight into another’s. While I enjoyed the style of writing, I found the layout of the story bitty. The author has highlighted incidents in Nikolas’s life to show things that influenced him, but in doing so it became almost like a numbered list at times and some parts were extremely short and some extremely long.

The story itself is obviously of a disturbing nature, and the fact that there is some animal abuse, swearing, as well as the shooting violence, could put some people off. What the story does do well though, is advocate inclusion when it comes to the transgender communities in schools, as well as highlights the effect of depression and the ramifications of poor decision-making. I’m taking one star off for the editing but giving Fallen by D.P. Conway three out of four stars as I thought the contents of the story were thought-provoking. I think anybody with an interest in angels and demons or likes to look at the psychological makeup of people would be interested in this.

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Fallen
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Miller56 · Post by **Miller56** » 25 Nov 2019, 12:50

I am not sure this is the book for me. However, thanks for the review. I don't think anyone wakes up one morning and decides to hurt others. I think we all have lessons to learn from these types of books.

Stephanie Elizabeth · Post by **Stephanie Elizabeth** » 25 Nov 2019, 16:42

Wow this sounds like a powerful read. A look into the mind of someone seriously disturbed may not be my kind of book, but you provided an engaging and thought-provoking review!

Post by **kandscreeley** » 25 Nov 2019, 20:10

This definitely seems like a dark book, but it's all too prevalent in this world. This is an interesting take on why he did what he did. I'm just not sure I can handle it. Thanks!

Leyla Ann · Post by **Leyla Ann** » 26 Nov 2019, 14:24

it sounds quite intriguing, I'm looking forward to checking it out, thanks for your review!

La Cabra · Post by **La Cabra** » 27 Nov 2019, 02:00

This is quite thought provoking, but in a story like this, I, personally, would be very interested in the aftermath. But it looks like the author's left that for you to think about. I would also be more interested in why the main character just has this tendency to hurt other right from the start, and again, it looks like the author has left that explanation out of their book.
The idea is very good, but I think the author should tie up some loose ends if they want the book to be read by a larger number of readers.
Thanks for your review!

Falconcrest · Post by **Falconcrest** » 28 Nov 2019, 06:57

It interesting to read how the author incorporated real-life situations to this story. It is always on news headlines we see these school shootings. Then again I have heard some people claim it's the voice in my head that made me do it. The fact remains demons or not 'hate always breeds hate and will never breed love". Thanks for the outstanding review.