I'll give Andrew Mayne this much: he doesn't think small. Before this book is done, American society itself will be teetering on the edge -- driven by our peculiar combination of religion, technology, and other forms of magical thinking. I didn't find the plot believable in the slightest, but it was diverting and fast-paced enough that there just wasn't ROOM for much of the "inside the protagonist's nighttime thoughts" stuff that I feel is the weakest part of this series.

⭐⭐⭐1/2

DNF at 56%. The premise was just too ridiculous so I gave up.

I really liked the first two books in the series, but this one has such a goofy James Bond plot that I could never take it seriously. Also, at least half a dozen plot threads were just abandoned to keep the book moving forward. Meh.

This is by far the best Jessica Blackwood book so far. The story is very interesting and exciting and tags onto a story arc from book one. I am totally obsessed with Jessica as a main character. She's smart and creative and strong. She's really able to provide a lot of insight that other more seasoned FBI agents aren't able to provide. What she and her cohort uncover in this story is deeply intriguing and while the book has a resolution, the unanswered questions moving forward make me desperate for the next book to be released!

Andrew Mayne ups the ante with each Jessica Blackwood book, and the series' third installment -- Black Fall -- is no exception. This novel throws natural disasters, government distrust, conspiracy, and religious cults at the reader, weaving a tale that zigs, zags, and ultimately ties into the previous installments in a satisfying way.

By combining elements of mystery with magic -- Mayne is a magician himself, as is protagonist Jessica -- Mayne is able to do things few others in the genre can. There are no true shocks in this book, but as a result, you will find yourself guessing as the pages turn.

An entire town just disappears. A protester appears to have been murdered my a cop at point-blank range. An old underground government facility appears to have facilitated in stoking public panic. But nothing is ever as it seems, nothing is as it appears. The beauty is that, as smart and capable as Jessica is, she never figures everything out just because. Not once do you feel like she only knows something simply because she's the protagonist. Sometimes, she's as in the dark as you are.

This is a character and a series that grabbed my attention from the get-go, and the third book in this series didn't disappoint. If you're a mystery fan looking for something a little different, this series is for you.

And if you're not? Try it anyway. You might be surprised.

This could have been a good story if only Jessica was not sooooo melodramatic at every step of the way, and the story was not all the time about the bad guy trying to harm her. Any other sane law enforcement agency would have removed her from any involvement. So many implausible situations, it’s annoying. Too bad.

An interesting enough mystery with some magical elements that made it a bit different. The protagonist is a former magician turned FBI agent which is not something I've come across before.

Unfortunately, the protagonist has little in the way of personality. Despite being an FBI agent, there were some bizarrely basic things she didn't know, especially regarding technology. Uh, excuse me?

Also, love (as in hate) that the two female FBI agents had no idea about the inane pop culture conspiracy that Paul McCartney had died in the 60s, but the one dude totally knows about it. What human with access to the internet would not know this?

Then the protagonist, despite years of experience, ties the wrong knot and drops her standard issue phone in a cave. She sounds like the kind of FBI agent a writer create with no knowledge of how law enforcement works.

But worse is that the writer writes his protagonist like what he thinks a woman would be like. So she's clumsy, but super attractive. She cries easily about her job. She can't keep a stable relationship because how can a woman possibly be good at her job and have a life? And she's already worrying that she's missed the boat for having children. How old is she? 30! Are you kidding me??

There were also some weird discussions about police violence which were dangerously close to problematic. What was the point of that?

I like a good mystery as much as anyone else but I'm not going to be reading more of this series.