A Book A Week

Every month, Amazon sends me an email offering me a free ebook from their First Reads program. And every month, I dutifully browse the selections, choose a title (or two), and download it with genuine enthusiasm. Then, almost immediately, I forget it exists. Instead, it joins the many other well-intentioned downloads quietly haunting my Kindle library.

But that ends today. I’m making a conscious effort to read the books I already own instead of endlessly chasing shiny new releases that demand my attention. So I started with a First Reads pick that’s been languishing on my Kindle for far too long: Into the Fall by Tamara L. Miller.

It had been a peaceful night in the tent, all things considered. But when Sarah wakes the next morning, she can immediately sense that something is wrong. At first, she tries to stay calm. Her husband, Matthew, is an early riser, so it isn’t unusual that he’s not lying beside her. Still, as she replays the night before, Sarah can’t remember him coming to bed at all.

She does remember her daughter slipping into the tent, mumbling something about Daddy—but that could have been a dream. Or at least, she tells herself it was.

When Sarah steps outside and takes in their lakeside campsite, reality begins to settle in. Her two children are there. Matthew is not. Minutes stretch into hours, and as a storm gathers over the lake, Sarah is forced to confront a terrifying truth. Wherever her husband has gone, he may not be coming back.

Into the Fall has the makings of a compelling suspense novel. A missing person, simmering relationship drama, and a remote setting are all perfect ingredients for this kind of story. I breezed through the pages, eager to learn Matthew’s fate.

As I read on, though, a few issues with the execution became harder to ignore. Tamara L. Miller leans heavily on verbose description, which at times stalls the narrative momentum. The novel seems unsure of what it wants to be—literary suspense or straight-ahead thriller—and ends up landing uncomfortably between the two, never fully committing to either.

While I eventually adjusted to the writing style, I had more trouble with how the story’s reveals were handled. Much of the suspense hinges on how much Sarah did—or didn’t—know about Matthew, and the role she may or may not have played in his disappearance. The ending does ultimately answer the novel’s central questions, but it does so in a way that feels more explanatory than suspenseful, laying its cards on the table rather than letting the tension fully unfold. It’s a choice that slightly undercuts what could have been a more powerful payoff. Still, Into the Fall remains an accessible, quick read with an intriguing premise, even if it doesn’t fully capitalize on all the tension it sets up.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2026, 8)