I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority on this one but I really struggled to get through it. I think mostly because I didn’t relate to the characters and wasn’t really into the plot.

Set in an era before iPhones and basically very little of the technology that we are familiar with, Fall in One Day is the story of Joe who uses a cassette recorder to capture events and his own reactions to them. In a noir setting, the plot unravels as Joe meticulously works out multiple ideas and strategies to solve the mystery and conspiracy, overcoming apparently insurmountable obstacles, a cast of believable and likeable characters, and a good dash of humor – all in a Canadian setting. It was a quick read but not necessarily a satisfying one.

A terrific read. Glad I read across it! YA at it's best.

In the summer of 1973, fifteen-year-old Joe Beck lives in a small Canadian city near the U.S. border where he watches dark-suited politicians lie on TV during something called Watergate. So when his best friend Brian goes missing, Joe has a hard time believing that adults ever tell the truth.

Fall in One Day is a very fascinating story and unique concept. I enjoy how Craig Terlson writes in detail. However, it is kinda slow in the first part but later is in good pace. The twists are okay and character development is good.

This book wasn't for me - I started it and couldn't get very far into it because the writing style isn't what I'm used to. This doesn't mean it's not a good book by any means; I've decided to refrain from writing a review as I don't feel it would do the book justice. Apologies for any convenience.

Rating: 3.75/5 Penguins

Quick Reasons: I seriously thought Joe was younger than he is for, like...this whole read, which was problematic; interesting, suspenseful read; there are some intriguing, if not a little bit confusing, tangents woven throughout; Joe's brain is a mess of confusion and teenager angst and humor

Huge thanks to Craig Terlson, Blue Moon Publishers, and Netgalley for sending me a free digital galley of this read in exchange for a voluntary honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this title.


---I took a deep breath. It still smelled of a cabin fireplace. The blowing snow outside made it seem even more so, like being stuck inside during a blizzard, reading books by the fire. March came in like a lion was what people said.---


I have to start with admitting I went into this read putting emphasis on the wrong words for this title. It wasn't until I stumbled across the title in the text (thankfully not long after starting this read) that I realized the error of my ways...and then totally understood how brilliant this title actually is. Seriously, once the whole emphasis thing was figured out...everything with the title fell into place, and made such better sense for me.

I also have to admit I thought, through the entirety of this read, that Joe was a WHOLE LOT younger than it turns out he is. See, I have this habit of not actually reading a book's blurb--I'll skim over it to see if it sounds like something I'd be interested in, but I pretty much forget everything about the blurb after deciding to pick a book up. Which means that Joe, in this book, came off a whole lot more like 12 or 13...and not the apparent 15 he actually is. Which, in my opinion, is problematic. I'm not sure if it's the way he was written, or if I just stumbled upon this assumption by mistake, but Joe came off a lot more immature than I think a 15 year old actually would--there were moments I found myself wondering if he was actually 10, honestly, and I can't convince myself of the truth now, thinking back on the read.


---"You ever see those movies where they move the camera in close to someone's face and then back it up quickly?" I asked. "And it almost makes you dizzy watching it?"

"I am not sure I've seen those."

"That's how I see that night in my brain. I see myself up on the gym roof, and the camera zooms in on me, and then goes back. If music was playing, it would be screechy violins."---


Regardless of the weird age thing, this was an entertaining and intriguing read. We're given such a complex, confusing glimpse into Joe's head--I felt as if I was actually living in one of the darkest, deepest corners of his mind! To watch him react to and interact with his friend going missing, and the whole "crazy father" thing, was gut-wrenching and nail-bitingly realistic. I did feel he was a bit naive to the world yet...and the fact his friend seemed equally young didn't help. The parents seemed to be babying them, on top of it, which only helped to confuse me further. This is also a pretty "subversive" read--there are a lot of twisty, curvy trails of tangents and plot lines that don't seem to lead anywhere...and yet, somehow, add to the story nonetheless.

Overall, this was an interesting--if not a little confusing--read. While Joe and the rest of the characters his age felt more like 10 year olds than 15, their reactions to the world were entertaining and, at times, humorous. I'd recommend this to lovers of historical fiction, mystery/thrillers, and complexly written characters. Grab your jackets, Penguins; fall is coming.

(NOTE: The same day I published the below review, Craig Terlson contacted me to confirm that, indeed, my e-galley lacked the formatting that is in the published, hard copy version of his book. The font changes! This makes it way less confusing for me. While I still don't like Joe recording parts of his story, being able to tell when he's thinking and talking makes me way more open to the reading further. And maybe I should get over it? Because using tapes is a pretty clever way of replacing the token friend most heroes talk to. If I can get my hands on a physical copy, I would finish it. Also (probably everybody knew this already) the book is based on "actual historical events"!!)
---
Honestly, I didn’t finish Fall in One Day. I read the first 69 pages and then I gave myself permission to stop. The content – the story itself – is good. I would LOVE to read more about how LSD messes up Brian’s dad’s brain, how he was given the drug to treat his alcoholism, and what else may or may not have happened to this man while he was being treated. If the author did his research and we can trust there is fact within in this fiction, it would be a fascinating discussion point about our history and a great novel study for schools (Naomi Klein talks about experiments done in Canada with LSD in The Shock Doctrine. I believe they were related to mind control though, not alcohol). I’d love to hear how Joe finds Brian, what happens to Brian’s dad, and what Joe’s mum is up to.

My problem was not the story. My problem was the writing style chosen. It’s told in the first person by a 15-year-old boy. No problem. Until said boy also tells us he’s going to record parts of his story on a tape. So we get to hear Joe Beck narrate the story, then then hear his recordings about his experiences in the story, and then, when he doesn’t have his recorder with him, we get to read about the story he is narrating. Granted, Joe is explaining things that happened before the opening lines of the book but. Confusing. While first-person is great for conveying some things (like Mrs. Beck’s sneaking around), the author is doubling and tripling up on Joe’s story. Just start earlier in the timeline. Or maybe have a third best friend who’s telling Joe this stuff after Brian disappears.

And I don’t always know when Joe is recording and when he’s telling me what he’s recording. An especially frustrating moment is when he decides that he is going to record everything he knows about Brian and his dad’s disappearance. Chapter 7 begins, “This recording tells what happened on Sunday, September 9…” You assume the whole chapter will be us listening in but, with no break and no change in formatting to tell us Joe has stopped talking and started narrating again, he’s swearing because he really didn’t mean to start talking about his testicles on tape. From then on I have no idea when Joe is talking versus narrating. Maybe this is just a formatting error in the galley I was given (formatting and grammar are everything. EVERYTHING!), in which case, stop reading this now! Because a mistake like that would ruin the whole understanding of the text.

I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if the whole book had been in the recording format (and also make a great audiobook in future) or if the story had been written in 3rd person with Joe’s recordings the only time we hear his perspective. This combination left me frustrated and confused.

A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

Joe, is fifteen years old watching tv and discovering that politicians do lie, at least this time in 1973. It's Watergate. He wonders if any adults can be trusted to tell the truth. His best friend Brian has disappeared. Brian is on the road with his father. Brian occasionally calls Joe telling him where he think he is. Joe with his brother Karl and stoner friend Dennis help him look for Brian. Will they find him?

This is a coming-of-age novel. It discusses who can and can't be trusted. It is also about who does or doesn't tell the truth. Mystery and conspiracy kept me engaged in the novel. I enjoyed reading it.

This is a hard one for me. If you know who I usually read books you’ll know this took me a lot longer than usual to read, and it wasn’t because I was too busy. In fact, I had every intention of finishing the book before the publication day but I just was not holding my interest. Yet it was good enough that I didn’t want to give up on it totally and slide it over to the DNF category.

Some of the things I really liked had to do with regional things. I grew up essentially across the river from Canada (the Detroit area) and, although in this story they’re further west in Canada. I enjoyed a character saying pop instead of soda and the actual description of how the season Fall can happen in one day in the northern regions of the world. But those tidbits (among others) couldn’t keep me engaged in the story. It wasn’t until more than halfway through that I felt the book was becoming hard to put down. Even then, there would be a few chapters I would zoom through and then things would slow waaaaay down. I have to say I did appreciate the shorter chapters in the last half of the book. I felt the first half had super long chapters that dragged.

There are many things in Joe’s life that, as an adult, I could see coming from a mile away. Sometimes that’s okay but sometimes it’s just an annoyance. Unfortunately, it was an annoyance here. The Nixon stuff only made sense (to me at least) for giving Joe the idea to record things. And Karl, Joe’s older brother, was such an awesome character I would have liked the story to have been more about Karl helping Joe than all of the other things thrown in. Somehow, it ended up very disjointed and choppy.

As for the LSD/government experimentation/mental hospital angle…it could have been interesting. I think the author tried to throw too much in that was factual and real while still trying to make it all a mystery for Joe. Which in turn had it come across as dry and boring instead of intriguing.

I seem to be in the minority in my views on this book. If you’re interested in the LSD era and reading about a kid who is basically neglected by his parents (even though he’s 15, it’s pretty ridiculous how seldom he actually sees his parents) and has a great best friend he feels compelled to help, you may enjoy this one. Really, the loyalty Joe has for his friend Brian is one of the greatest things about this story.

This is a really good snapshot of the early 1970s through the eyes of a young boy, Joe. The narrative manages to take in Watergate, kidnapping, alcoholism, divorce, Vietnam and LSD while still feeling like a story about a small town in Canada. The writing is really accessible - we are told the events through Joe's voice and so the tone is conversational. The story is really compelling and the characters are very well drawn. I think that the author has managed to capture the feelings of disassociation caused by mental illness with great skill and nuance, which is to his credit. My one criticism is that I felt Joe, who is 15, seemed to be acting like a much younger boy. To my memory, most 15 year old boys are far more concerned with girls than completing tricks, like tearing a phone book in half. That being said, I found this a really engaging read and felt it dealt with the 70s with the right blend of nostalgia and honesty.

Great Adventure! I was Leary about this book at first but then after reading it, I loved it.

Joe Beck’s best friend, Brian, has disappeared with his father in a mysterious incident. Strangely, in Joe’s small town on the Canadian prairies in 1973 the only thing on the news is the Watergate trials in the states. The news says nothing about fifteen-year-old Brian’s disappearance and there’s little evidence that the adults are actually working to find him. Amid this background of untrustworthy adults, Joe’s uncertain what to do. But when he gets a call from his missing friend, Joe becomes determined to uncover the truth and save him.

Before I began reading Fall in One Day I wondered whether teen readers today would be interested in a book set in the 1970s, but I was quickly drawn into the story and I think many teens would be, too. Terlson weaves historical events: Watergate, LSD use, old movies, into themes that will always strike a chord with teenagers as Joe questions the trustworthiness of adults, one’s responsibility toward one’s friends, and the complications of becoming an individual within a larger society. Joe is a sympathetic character whose loyalty and intelligence lead him to investigate and solve the mystery of his friend’s disappearance.

I received an electronic advance reader copy of Fall in One Day from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is probably the most non-conforming coming of age book I have ever read. Sure Joe had to deal with drugs and alcohol, but it was the adults around him that were having the problems, not him. Instead of being the one keeping secrets and lying, Joe had to deal with secrets and lies from the politicians (Nixon / Watergate) down to his own parents. Additionally, he had to survive the kidnapping and drugging of his best friend. How Joe handles this all is through a series of recordings made on his tape deck. He spells it out for himself and the reader as we follow him trying to discover why his friend was taken and then to rescue him. Mixing in with this is some of the history of LSD and its use as a legal drug. The story is written in a very simplistic manner, mirroring how an unworldly 15 year-old boy would probably write and speak in the early 1970s.

Fall in one day by Craig Terison.
In the summer of 1973, fifteen-year-old Joe Beck lives in a small Canadian city near the U.S. border where he watches dark-suited politicians lie on TV during something called Watergate. So when his best friend Brian goes missing, Joe has a hard time believing that adults ever tell the truth.

Joe learns that Brian left town with his father after Brian's mother ended up in the hospital. He listens to the news reports for information, but nothing is being said. Eventually, Joe launches his own investigation, using a tape recorder—just like the American president—to help sift through the clues. Feeling that everything is up to him, Joe embarks on a perilous and enlightening journey to decipher a mental institution diary full of secrets about a drug called LSD, and uncover the truth about Brian's father and save his best friend.

A very good read with good characters. A little slow to start with. But then I couldn't put it down. 5*. Netgalley and Digi writing.

Fall in One Day gives an insight on the side effects of the treatment of alcoholism. The Watergate scandal takes centre stage on the news and little else is reported. The story highlights true friendship between two teenage boys at a time of crisis and the complexity of mental health.

Joe is fifteen years old and lives with his parents and his older brother, Karl. Brian is his best friend. Joe suspects that something is not quite right in Brian's household and this is confirmed when Brian is suddenly pulled out of the classroom.

Brian and his father have disappeared and his mother has ended up in hospital. The adults and the police are being very secretive about the whole affair. Having watched enough television, Joe decides on his own investigation by using a tape recorder in the form of a diary. Whilst recording, snippets of his past encounters with Brian's dad trigger his memory and he is convinced that something has gone drastically wrong.

When he receives a cryptic telephone call, he enrols the help of his brother to investigate further. What they find, brings out the severity of the situation. They follow the clues but find that they are always a step behind. They are also convinced that the police isn't putting enough effort in their investigations. Joe is persistent and resourceful. He puts a lot of effort into deciphering the clues that could lead him to Brian. There is a lot of focus on LSD and its psychotic effects. The attitude towards those suffering with mental health problems is very off putting.

I like the relationship between Joe and his brother. His friendship with Brian is quite admirable. He puts himself in danger on more than one occasion to help Brian. The lessons behind the story are to stand by what you believe in. Always tell the truth as lies can be destructive. Be more sympathetic towards those with mental health issues and be aware of the implications of taking drugs.

It's a good story but I found it to be long winded in places. The suspense and drama are good incentives to keep turning the pages. Although, a little unusual, the conclusion appears to have a symbolic meaning.

I received a complimentary eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. The views expressed are my personal opinion.

I thought Fall In One Day was great. Joe’s got a great voice and he narrated the story really well. I really enjoyed the elements of mystery that are woven through the storyline. Why did Brian’s dad take him? Where to? Why did he hurt Brian’s mother? Does Brian really want to be found? Will Joe be able to make something of the meagre clues left behind? I thought Joe’s search for Brian, aided by his brother was really well written. The characters are all well written and really come to life on the page. Brian’s father is a very sympathetic character once it’s clear what’s happened to him to cause his behaviour. Fall In One Day is well written. I loved the descriptions and detail that brought everything so vividly to life. This is an engaging, enjoyable mystery novel and well worth a read.

A short and concise but ambitious YA novel that takes on major historical events from the 20th century, including the bizarre Watergate scandal, Vietnam and 1970s prescribed use of LSD, while also focusing on the investigation by a small-town 15-year-old boy as he searches for clues to the whereabouts of his missing best friend.

Utilising a simple narrative and a well executed pace, Craig Terlson allows us to follow Joe Beck in his quest to find his friend, Brian, who has mysteriously disappeared from their small Canadian town near the U.S. border with his father, following the incarceration of his mother to hospital. In the backdrop of the 70s, when the nightly news is dominated by the Watergate scandal and the radio stations are blaring 70s rock music, Joe is coming to the conclusion that adults cannot be trusted. As a result, Joe begins his own investigation that he believes will separate him from the deceit and the lies. His search for the truth leads him to a mental institution diary that details the use of LSD to treat alcoholism and contains the truth about Brian's father. As we watch through Joe's teenage eye-view, we wonder will he be able to save his friend and find out what really happened to him.

Fall in One Day is suspenseful tale about friendship, heartbreak, drug use, and theology and its relation to mental illness. Although sparse in terms of length and very undemanding in its dialogue, it is a thought-provoking story that will no doubt hold your attention and keep you guessing. While some older readers might find it to be a little too simple or juvenile in its entirety, I found it to be a satisfying read with vivid descriptions, engaging characters and just enough action to keep me hooked. I particularly liked the attention to historical events and the 1970s references, which unfortunately may go over the heads of many young readers. However, for all of its merits, I would recommend this to fans of the YA genre.

I liked this story. It was interesting and well-written. Joe's character is quite engaging. And the hint of mystery right from the beginning made it all the more fun to read. As soon as I started reading I just wanted to know more, where the story would lead, how it would end... But there remained a mystery and that's why I loved it so much. It was totally unpredictable. I think that although it's a YA book but it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Time-Warp! The vivid descriptions that Terlson provides will make a reader feel like they too are living in the 1970's. From dialogue-to fashion the author doesn't miss a chance to work in the subtitles that readers will associate with the decade. The pace was a bit slow of my liking but it wasn't enough to decrease my interest not to finish.

Not really what I expected it, but a nice read. I liked the writing style.