My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.04 with 1,739 ratings (as of 3/1/2019)

A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.

When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

Christina McDonald weaves a suspenseful and heartwrenching tale of hidden relationships, devastating lies, and the power of a mother’s love. With flashbacks of Olivia’s own resolve to uncover family secrets, this taut and emotional novel asks: how well do you know your children? And how well do they know you?

200 Word Review

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald could have just been a typical “mom seeks the truth about what happened to her daughter” book except it was not. Christina McDonald’s writing makes you connect with the characters, root for Abi, a single mom whose entire life revolved around her daughter, Olivia, and makes it a “cannot put down” book.

Abi wakes in the middle of the night to hear every mother worst fear – her studious, sensible daughter had an accident. At the hospital she learns Olivia fell off a bridge, is braindead, and, oh yeah, she is pregnant. Abi’s word turns upside down and she will not stop at anything to find out what happened that night on the bridge.

Using flashbacks McDonald flips back and forth between the present and the months leading up to Olivia’s fall. This technique lets us see how in just a few months a person can change by keeping secrets and not letting others in.

I was not sure until the end of the story what really happened to Olivia. This is a suspenseful mystery that sucks you in from the very beginning.

I have added Christina McDonald to my “authors to read” list.

Review published on Philomathinphila.com, Smashbomb, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble on 3/1/19.

Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Mystery
Print Length: 368 pages
ISBN: 9781501184000
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: February 5, 2019

Purchase at Amazon Barnes and Noble