The Next One to Fall

December 12, 2011
Davidson’s exciting follow-up to her debut, 2010’s The Damage Done, takes travel journalist Lily Moore, who’s still reeling from her sister’s death in The Damage Done, to Peru. Soon after Lily and her photographer best friend, Jesse Robb, overhear an argument between a couple while exploring the ruins of Machu Picchu, they discover a woman of about 30 lying at the bottom of a steep staircase. The fatally injured woman, who says her name is Trista, claims her boyfriend, Len, made her drink some sort of drug, then pushed her down the stairs. When the police dismiss the death as an accidental fall, Lily resolves to get justice for Trista. Len, Lily soon learns, is a rich boy gone bad with a past riddled with missing women. The rich history and geography of Peru add depth to an engrossing mystery that constantly keeps the reader guessing. Agent: Judith Weber.

Trying to recover from her sister's death of a heroin overdose, Lily, a travel writer, and her best friend Jesse, a travel photographer, head to Machu Picchu. While on the mountain, Lily sees a woman fall and a man run away. The woman's last words convince Lily that she was pushed. Hilary Huber is the overwrought Lily as danger, death, and mystery follow her across the Peruvian Andes. Huber deftly handles the many characters: the self-destructive son and heir of a billionaire, the brutal bodyguards who will do anything to protect him, the very pregnant sister who may have ulterior motives, and the billionaire himself. Huber avoids stereotypes and keeps the occasionally melodramatic sequences under control. Huber's performance makes an exciting mystery even better. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine