Watch Us Fall by Christina Kovac
Simon & Schuster/December 2, 2025
Christina Kovac’s Watch Us Fall is a stellar suspense novel with more layers than a Russian nesting doll. Leading the reader through interconnected puzzles against the well-painted backdrop of Washington, D.C., Kovac’s sophomore novel will appeal to fans of twisty thrillers and complicated characters.
Post-graduation from Georgetown University, Lucy and her three best friends still call themselves roommates, sharing a spacious but decaying house a stone’s throw from their alma matter. Life is good, although the four each have their own struggles as they navigate the real world. But they also have each other, and Lucy turns protective of Addie when she begins dating Josh, a high-profile investigative journalist.
Or maybe Lucy is more protective of how this new love may affect the group’s dynamic. A lonely child, fitting in with “the Sweeties” – as the roommate clique refers to itself – was a dream come true. Stories of them fill the weekly letters Lucy writes to her mother, her only lasting relationship from her pre-Georgetown age. And Addie’s relationship with Josh is intense, consuming. It’s getting serious too quickly, and it isn’t just Lucy who has this opinion.
After Addie splits with Josh, she’s attacked while running in the park. The culprit is, curiously, someone who “looked” like Josh, yet “wasn’t Josh.” Lucy is the one to comfort the confused and traumatized Addie, whose explanation of the attack doesn’t quite make sense.
Days later, when Josh disappears without a trace, the spotlight swings onto the Sweeties and Josh’s very public breakup with Addie which left him devastated. But if he wanted her back so badly, why would he vanish off the map?
Not too far in, Watch Us Fall shifts from exclusively Lucy’s first-person narration to Josh’s third-person perspective, with Josh’s curious nature (and profession as an investigative journalist) propelling the action on his end. Unbeknownst to Lucy and her roommates, Josh is up to his own mystery-solving up until his disappearance; and this creates layers to this well-written suspense novel.
Above all else, Josh’s narration makes him likable. He isn’t some one-dimensional go-getter who would do anything for a story, or narcissistic, or selfish in his relationship with Addie. His love is the stuff of good romance movies; and he is haunted by his own demons. While Lucy comes across as timid and fragile, Josh has the kind of resolve to get the girl and uncover the answers one finds in the best leading man. He makes us turn the pages faster because we want to know where he is and that he’s safe. “The mystery of what happened to Josh” matters more than “the mystery of what Josh discovered.”
Watch Us Fall consists of careful patchwork of several storylines uniting characters that matter to us. Not everyone is blameless, or reliable, but Kovac engages in masterful trickery to prevent us from knowing the truth too soon. It is in plain sight yet completely hidden.
Then there are the relationships. Watch Us Fall is not just a suspense novel with a puzzle to solve, but a thinker that makes us contemplate how far we would–or should–go for the ones we love. Good intentions are not the same thing as good actions.
It should be noted that there are minor pacing issues. The action is full steam up until a major plot point is resolved at approximately the mid-point; and it takes time to wrap up after all pressing questions are answered. But unless a book is Gone Girl, few are perfect. This one has several wonderful elements and strong characters that make it absolutely worth the read.
About the reviewer: A writer of dark comedy thrillers, Sarah Reida is currently seeking representation for her sophomore novel, Murder Boat. Her debut, Neighborhood Watch, received a Kirkus Star and was honored as an Amazon editorial pick as one of the Best Books of the Year So Far 2024. Join Sarah’s elite group of Instagram followers here.
