“Two eighth-graders witness an armed robbery in a sandwich shop. One is taken, the other left behind—making her a very lucky, very troubled girl. …Meredith's nonabduction befalls the Oliver family less than a year after another out-of-the-blue trauma—her brother, a high school baseball star, had his left eye and socket completely crushed by a foul ball. We track the family's attempt to cope with these misfortunes through the alternating perspectives of Meredith and her mother, Claire. Overwhelmed by her parents' solicitousness…Meredith slips further and further away, her concern with Lisa's disappearance becoming obsessional, which Perabo (Why They Run the Way They Do, 2016, etc.) conveys using a daring and suspenseful narrative strategy. Claire Oliver, who shares a dental practice with her good-natured, unfailingly kind husband, Mark, is as fine a fictional character as we have encountered in some time, dark, moody, passionate about her children, keenly self-aware, and very, very funny. …The texture of family life as it unravels, then begins to regenerate, is conveyed with unflinching clarity and redemptive good humor.”——Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Utterly captivating and achingly beautiful, The Fall of Lisa Bellow brilliantly explores the aftermath of a shocking abduction in an idyllic town, moving seamlessly between the rocky terrain of teenage grief and maternal guilt to show the ultimate redemptive power of love. It's a fantastic, thought-provoking novel." —— Kimberly McCreight, New York Times Bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia and The Outliers.
“Breathless as a thriller, this exhilarating novel shatters your heart then pieces it back together chapter by chapter until the last devastating sentence. In masterful and hypnotic prose, Perabo tells an unforgettable story of resilience as a family struggles to reconnect after their perfect world is torn apart by violence and loss. Psychologically insightful and emotionally engrossing, this is a story that will transform you from the inside out.” ——Kim van Alkemade, New York Times bestselling author of Orphan #8