How can you not be interested in Paris during the 1940s?

The author does a good job in keeping me interested throughout the story. Interesting characters and as I mentioned, the location is just right. Hope to read more by this author in the future.

I've had this on my Kindle for far too long, determined to get round to reading it eventually. Unfortunately, the wait wasn't worth it, despite me loving the idea of a heist in Paris during WWII - the very reason why I added it to my TBR list in the first place.
If I'm honest, I couldn't get into it, so many characters (with multiple identities that made it hard to keep track of them) yet so little plot movement.

Author Eric Serrell (https://ericserrell.com/) published the novel “Fall Rotten” in 2019. Mr. Serrell has published two novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’. The story is set in France in the months just before and after Germany invades in 1940.

An international group of thieves comes together to pull off a big caper. Their target is a very wealthy Frenchman who turns out to be pro-Nazi. They go through one challenge after another to get away with their loot.

Complicating things is the approaching end to the Phoney War. The Gestapo appears to have taken a keen interest in some of the gang. So too has a French policeman. He knows many of the gang members and seems to have an interest in them. Can they find their loot, escape detection, and make it out of Europe ahead of the invading Germans?

I enjoyed the 10+ hours I spent reading this 428-page WWII era mystery. The story was a little slow at times, but overall I liked it. I am not a fan of the selected cover art. I give this novel a 3.8 (Rounded up to a 4) out of 5.

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This is meant to be a witty adventure about stealing from the Nazis, but unfortunately it's slow and talky and the talk isn't really that clever or witty or even interesting, and the plot drags like a child who hates school on a snowy morning, I'm sure others will enjoy it, but I didn't, and wished it was both better-written and heavily edited.

This book was very well written. Nice and easy to read and flowed well. Had me on the edge of my seat. Wondering which way it was going to go. Great mystery can’t beat it.

Thank you so ju has to NetGalley for a free advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The idea for this novel was fantastic and had me very intrigued. A heist job in the 1940’s? Yes please!

Unfortunately, I found this book very hard to read and in the end had to bail and not finish it. The language was entertaining, but hard to follow. Each character went by 2-3 different names with almost no pattern to it. I had a hard time figuring out who was where at what time.

The quirky language and fast pace of the conversations was both welcome and horrifying. I found myself having to reread many portions of the pages in order to vaguely comprehend what was going on.

I will endeavour to finish this book at a later date, but for now, it’s a “did not finish”, much to my dismay.

Fall Rotten is a little bit "The Italian Job", a little bit "Inglorious Basterds", and an awful lot of fun. In 1940 France, everyone is waiting for the Germans to start invading in earnest. This includes a small, multi-national group of attractive, eccentric con artists known as le Boot Hill Gang, or les Boots. Les Boots have heard about a French fascist with a large vault full of gold, and they'd like to get into it while everyone is distracted and unsettled. The shares of the vault start getting smaller and les Boots' apartment starts getting more crowded as they recruit help.

The first quarter of the novel drags a little bit with exposition and introduction. However, this is necessary. Once the action starts, it really starts! The stakes are high in Fall Rotten as the threat posed by the Germans--and French fascist sympathizers--becomes more serious. However, Serrell laces it heavily with sex, wit, and black humor.

Eric Serrell makes it easy to root for les Boots. They seem to be having more fun than anyone else at this difficult time, they genuinely love each other, and at least they aren't fascists. Irish Maggie, French-Irish Luc, and American "cowboy" Expat have survived many a scrape together, preferring to use their looks, courage, and intelligence on schemes than legitimate work. Each member of their ragtag band of recruits has a talent and a reason to join in on the fun. Serrell does a fantastic job of sketching other characters and describing the world they live and work in.

I can easily envision Fall Rotten as a movie. In fact, I began to cast it in my head. Read it and feel a little smug when the trailer comes out. Hmmm, can Christina Hendricks do an Irish accent...?

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a preview copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance digital copy in exchange for a honest review.
While I love the concept of a Paris heist during WW2, this book was a “can’t finish” for me. After 10 days of struggling, and forcing myself to pick it back up, got about 30% through it, and just couldn’t bring myself to care what happened and finish.

On the plus side, the 1940s dialogue and wry humor were fun to read- like a Kathryn Hepburn and Cary Grant movie:
Example: “Glad to see people haven’t given up completely on Christmas.” Her mid-Atlantic accent was tinged with only the vaguest hint of her native brogue. “Well, they invited everyone to the war, but no one showed up.”
“I don’t know what to get you.”
“You just gave me the one thing I was hoping for.”
“How sweet. That’s just what you said after I ordained you your manhood.”
“I also wanted skates. Never got those, though.”

However, the language does get tiring, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of and because of their “profession” (scam artists), they often use false identities, ( example one of them is pretending to be Zelda Fitzgerald, also called Maggie and Red, and another one is called Expat, Patrick and Pat alternately. ) These name changes make the story confusing to follow.

Entertaining heist novel with a healthy dash of comedy and black humor mixed in to spice things up. Recommended