Only one will fall by Ruth Bainbridge.
The Nick Cross Mysteries Book 1.
Murder just got personal.
Detective Nick Cross is hard at work repairing burnt bridges incurred during a stormy first marriage when a murder happens.
“Only One Will Fall” is the cryptic message sent to the victim’s husband moments before the slaying, but nobody thinks much of it until an identical message is sent to the relative of a second victim. To Nick, it means one thing: Mount Pleasant has a serial killer on their hands.
With no motive and no connection found between the victims, the police are helpless to prevent the rampage from continuing. It doesn’t help that the Field Agent sent by the FBI clashes with Nick’s style in handling the investigation. But Nick isn’t done. He decides to take matters into his own hands, unwittingly setting himself up as the next target for a ruthless killer who can’t be stopped.
A very good first read in a new series. I did enjoy it. 4*.

Only One Will Fall is the first book in the Nick Cross Mysteries series written by author Ruth Bainbridge. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I could not get into this novel so I am going to abandon ship.

The title of this book sounded interesting and I decided to give it a try.
It had some exciting parts to the story, but there were other parts that kind of dragged on.
I did struggle to finish it but I may consider reading it again.

This story seemed to b a bit overly long and lost my interest for awhile just before the last murder. But the internal conversation of the main character were interesting specially when he began to free lance.

I would recommend this book but not generally. I think the story requires a patient reader. I usually finish a book that I start but the story got long for me.

3 stars

Detective Nick Cross and his partner Mitchell Parker respond to a call of a woman murdered in her home. She was stabbed to death by one blow. Mitch suspects the husband, but Nick is not so sure. The truth is that the husband was elsewhere at the time of the murder receiving a text message that says, “Only one will fall.”

Another murder is committed, this time it was a nine year old girl. When it is discovered that the relatives of both murdered persons received the same text message, the police begin to suspect that they have a serial killer on their hands.

The investigation is on. Nick and Mitch team up with their cohorts and try to investigate and solve the cases. Enter the FBI and the agent’s style does not agree with Nick’s. They get along like oil and water. Nick decides to conduct his own investigation ignoring his teammates.

This is where I began to have problems with the book. In the beginning of the book, he was skeptical that the husband committed the murder. He goes from that to suspecting everyone. He acts like a loose cannon. His relationship with his daughter is overweening and placating. I wanted to scream at her for being such a selfish little b***h. His ex-wife is a harridan. This really detracted from the book for me I am sorry to say.

While the book was overall well written, Ms. Bainbridge seemed to lose the plot when fleshing out her characters. Or perhaps she didn’t want them to be very likeable? The suspense was built nicely, but the asides with the family dramas were a total distraction.

I want to thank Netgalley and Ruth Bainbridge for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.

It was a book that left me guessing till the end . I i recommend it for people who like mysteries. .

I would like to thank Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for a review copy of Only One Will Fall, a police procedural set in Mount Pleasant, USA, featuring Detective Nick Cross.

There is a serial killer on the loose who texts "ONLY ONE WILL FALL" to a family member around the time of the killing. As the body count rises Nick Cross heads up a task force which seems to get nowhere.

It took me a long time to read this novel as I didn't enjoy it. There is no professionalism in the investigation which seems to consist of Nick picking a new suspect after every conversation with a witness. He is a loose cannon with little idea of how to run an investigation and his thought processes do not bear close scrutiny. The novel is equally divided between his investigation and his saccharine relationship with his wife Meghan and their efforts to rebuild a relationship with his teenage daughter from his first marriage. I applaud his efforts but his reasonings made me cringe.

Excellent book. Great main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.