Obviously, Swan Lake plays a big part in ‘Watch Her Fall’. It’s not just due to the performance the London Russian Ballet Company is preparing itself for. There is a rather more subtle thread about this coveted ballet that runs throughout the entire story but I’m going to leave that for you to discover on your own. It is incredibly well done, though. Truly impressive. Glitters with dark brilliance and portrays the complex, painful world of ballet with great authenticity. I loved it! - Kate Rhodes Watch Her Fall dances with artistic passion and intrigue, beauty and pain; the plot pirouettes in ways that leave you breathless. More than an exciting read - it is a dazzling performance. Brava, Erin Kelly! - Rachel Edwards Welcome to London Russian Ballet Theater with its perfectionist, strict director, founder of Nikolai Kirilov, such an ambitious, dedicated soul who performed nearly 60 years and he’s still directing the phenomenal Swan Lake, even though he’s dealing with his health issues, walking with a cane.

Watch Her Fall takes the reader deep into the world of classical ballet, a mostly alien territory, for me. I’ve always admired the strength and talent of ballet dancers, alas I was moved to the Morris Dancing class as considered to tall and clumsy for the finer discipline that is associated with this genre! Watch her fall" is partly set in the ruthless world of ballet, and I say partly cause contrary to what the synopsis implies, there's a large portion of the story that has almost nothing to do with it and, honestly, I found that a bit disappointing. I’m not spilling any beans! I have no intention to ruin your reading experience! But i’m telling you my friends, don’t you ever dare to add this book to your tbr to get lost in the crowd! Just grab it and start reading and send me thank you notes ( I also accept Magnolia bakery banana pudding or Sprinkles cupcakes as well) Ava Kirilova has reached the very top of her profession. After years and years of hard graft, pain and sacrifice as part of the London Russian Ballet Company, allowing nothing else to distract her, she is finally the poster girl for Swan Lake. Even Mr K—her father, and the intense, terrifying director of the company—can find no fault. Ava has pushed herself ahead of countless other talented, hardworking girls, and they are all watching her now. Immerse yourself in the claustrophobic, competitive world of ballet. Beautifully dark and complex. So good! - Jane Fallon

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The blurb is, I think, a little misleading as only about half of this book is set against the ballet company - though the themes of doubling and identities which appear in Swan Lake are duplicated in the plot, even when the narrative is looking elsewhere. It's interesting, too, the focus on Rothbart and the consequent father/daughter dynamic which has echoes in the story.

What they didn't understand - what nobody understood - was that the higher you flew, the farther you had to fall.' Ava’s relationship with her rival dancer, Juliet, was interesting to learn about. How they both react to the upcoming tour of Swan Lake and the pressures and disappointments it will create. This story and the wonderful twirls and intricate steps form the pace and the structure of the plot. It makes for a great reading experience being literally lead a dance…….towards an unexpected yet rewarding ending. A dancer dies twice - once when they stop dancing and this first death is the more painful.” Martha Graham. While this book is full of surprising twists and turns, it moves very slowly. Each chapter is a character study. The reader is inside the character’s heads, experiencing the events through their eyes only.The writing here is simply superb, an immersive, descriptive joy to read that sets you in a place like no other. It is part mystery, part character study, all drama, an extremely complex and intelligent tale that subtly dances in the mind much like a ballet itself. Kelly is already known as one of the best, most original writers of psychological fiction. I have read all of her previous novels and enjoyed every one of them. This novel, Watch Her Fall, catapults her to the next level, it is a thrilling and cinematic story of control, deceit and passion. It's a story that the reader must invest heavily in, filled to the brim with layers of intrigue, told with a precision that is quite stunning and populated by characters who are never quite who they seem to be.

I could have never predicted where this book would go or how it would end. There are several WTF moments; however, to get there, you will have to make it through part I, which is a character study told through the eyes of the main character Ava Kirilova. Most ambitious and captivating book to date . . . so thrilling and unexpected that it made my head spin’ LISA JEWELLThe book does play with the double identity of Swan Lake and our main characters. However the story was more based on a really slow paced exploration of characters than anything else. I did not find this book thrilling, intense or engaging. For a book advertised as a thriller it had no tension and no real mystery that you would expect of such a book. This story is not just set on stage. The author intricately weaves another thread into this tale. That of the dangers faced by those people who are forced to live undercover. Those who have left everything that they love to find a new life, but have only discovered more pain and heartache.

I've read several thrillers that involve ballet this year, and I always find myself both intrigued and disgusted by the world of ballet and its cutthroat competitiveness and its odd sexual undertones. This book is no different, but I must say that is my favorite of the ballet thrillers that I have read to date. Kelly perfectly captured the toxic air that seems to surround ballet while constructing a multi-layered, twisty plot with more than a few surprises! There's a glamour and intrigue about the arts, not just ballet, but theatre, cinema, music and writing, all have a glossy exterior and seem to be filled with beautiful people creating wonderful imagery with graceful ease. In Watch Her Fall, Erin Kelly uncovers the reality of life for a dancer. The cult-like standing of Mr K, his controlling behaviour, the bitterness, the jealousy. The anguish of being passed over for a part, the bleeding feet, the constant rehearsal, and in the case of the London Russian Ballet members, the total control over their lives. No phones, no bank accounts, no take out food, no friends from outside .... no life, other than ballet. However, her controlling father stifles any individual artistic expression in favor of the Russian way - his way. It’s his vision and his company, and he’s masterful with psychological maneuvers to control his dancers. Including Ava. And as we slowly witness Ava’s inner fears about getting old, being lonely at the top, to be replaced by younger and more talented version of herself, we start to think maybe she’s self sabotaging herself because of too much pressure she’s dealing with and she may envy the new second ballet who will Odette for a few moments gives her shark vibe who smells her blood. But there’s something more ominous lurking around those competitive corridors of theaters. Let’s not forget how Ava’s father plays narcissistic mind games like a puppeteer with his students by pulling their strings!What they didn’t understand – what nobody understood – was that the higher you flew, the farther you had to fall.” Kelly’s depiction of this claustrophobic and ambitious world is brutally convincing … You don’t have to be a dance expert to enjoy it’ Daily Mail Excuse me but we’re talking about one of the brilliant authors of Broadchurch ( of course I also enjoyed series: they casted freaking brilliant Tennant and Colman as duo) But this book is something so different, so complex, so enigmatic, so clever than my latest thriller readings. This is something refreshing, thrilling, mind bending, extra intelligent! The tone grows darker and even more intense as the ‘Swans’ behave more like Vultures as they plot to get the upper hand- ready to effortlessly step into Ana’s position. But it seems as though someone has decided to take the competition to a whole new, and deadly level…