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"Falling" is an excellent fast-paced SF novel, which manages to find some new wrinkles in the tired time travel genre. That in itself is quite an achievement. I was fascinated by the near future world the author gradually built up in a series of vignettes. She develops the idea of being able to travel in one’s own life, working out believable rules, strategies and limits for people with such a gift. Naturally the government are trying to use those powers but it is harder to change the future than you might think. Especially when there are other ‘ReTracers’ to outwit you. It’s full of scenarios which could support stories in themselves, such as the Ferrymen who’ve turned the running of the London Underground into a religion or the colourful Green Urbanites’ festival in The Park. It is a very diverse, human future, a fair mixture of positives and negatives. Debbie Moon has got a great writing style that is full of evocative descriptions of the environment, but which does not become bogged down in unnecessary verbiage that’s just there to impress.
Despite the leaping backward and forwards in time, the plotline remains clear and the conspiracy once it is revealed it big and original enough to justify the mystery. Jude is a brittle but sympathetic heroine and I liked the way her own history is unpeeled in parallel with the thriller plot. Some favourite moments include Jude deciding that our crowded present is beautiful because it is full of life, and the heavily armed Ferryman bouncer, having just thrown off a passenger, suggesting a few moments of shared meditation without a trace of irony.
It’s very assured debut novel which I enjoyed reading a lot and I can recommend it. And yes Will, it would make an excellent movie!

Gaz