The Fallout

by Rebecca Thornton

We’ve all been there. Feeling tired and harassed, we’ve turned our backs on our children or left them unattended for a short while and then something happens. And the fallout can be immense.

Lisa and Sarah are best friends. They’ve been friends for years, supporting each other through the tough times and enjoying the good times. They are both experiencing recent personal difficulties but continue to support each other as best they can, using their friendship and humour to get them through. 

Lisa and Sarah join an exclusive health club where there are many sporting facilities but also a café, playground and facilities for the children. Lisa is tired. She’s having a tough time and is sitting with her friend in the café whilst feeding her young daughter. Her son, Jack is in the playground. As Sarah goes to get them a drink, Lisa asks her to check on Jack and make sure that he is ok. She feels guilty asking but is in dire need of just a few moments of calm. 

Whilst walking to the café and to check on Jack, Sarah spots the mysterious Ella, a member of their birthing group. Ella is glamorous, together, sophisticated and everything Sarah feels she is not. After getting to know her whilst waiting for their babies to be born, Ella disappeared off the radar and nobody knew why. There is something about her that brings out a spark of jealousy, envy and a yearning desire to be her friend, in Sarah.

In that moment, Sarah’s priorities change. She wants Ella to notice her. She wants to be acknowledged and for a few minutes, Jack is forgotten. And then it happens. There is a lot of noise, scuffling, people hurrying and it suddenly dawns on Sarah that something dreadful has happened and the realisation that the little body lying crumpled on the ground is her friend's son, hits her hard.

The story is told in alternating chapters, detailing Lisa’s thoughts and experiences and then Sarah’s.  The reader gets both points of views and is clearly able to understand what is happening to each woman.  There are also lots of WhatsApp snippets and interviews with people in the health club at the time of the accident which provides an interesting slant into how social media can stir up controversy, cause bad feeling and can ultimately ruin someone’s character.

The rumour mill goes into overdrive: Why was nobody watching the child? Where was the mother?  Was he neglected?  Who is at fault?  Who is to blame? In the aftermath, Ella tells Lisa that Sarah had checked on Jack and he was safe at that time and after a moment’s hesitation, Sarah agreed that that was what had happened. But the truth was, she hadn’t, and that one little lie spirals until Sarah feels she is out of control. That one lie leads to events that nobody could have predicted. One small distraction has led to disaster and could end up breaking numerous friendships.

It is an interesting premise that many of us may recognise. Does Sarah own up, tell the truth and risk losing her best friend?  Or does she go along with the  lie, do what she can to make amends and keep her friend close. As the story builds, the aftershock from the accident leads to various events and consequences that increase the deception and there is always the fear that the truth will eventually come out.

There are so many different facets to this story: guilt, friendships, the consequences of lying, jealousy, betrayal, anger and love. All three main characters have secrets and make judgements on each other, something we all do, without having the full facts, all of which are revealed at the end of the story. What is interesting is that this book also shows the effects on Lisa and Sarah’s husbands,  how they struggle with what is going on and ultimately how they lose out too.

The dual narration allows us to see the different characters - their flaws and complexities,  but ultimately how two women are trying to cope with their lives and do their best. What I found really interesting was how the book clearly shows how social media can quickly whip up events and send them out of control. Accusations, finger pointing and the vilifying of an exhausted harassed mother are all present, as is the two-faced nature of many female friendships. The ongoing messages highlight the damage that secrets, lies, gossip and assumptions can wreak on an innocent person’s life –  something that has been quite prevalent in the press recently, with innocent people being named incorrectly as being associated with horrendous events.

I’m not sure I particularly liked any of the main characters but I did empathise with them and their situation and recognised how quickly events can descend into chaos. I’ve come across many a keyboard warrior who likes to comment on the failings and inabilities of others and have felt that we as women, are often very hard on other women and particularly mothers. That can’t be good. I liked the dilemma: do I tell the truth or not and the dynamics between the three women and particularly enjoyed the way it demonstrated how social media can affect our lives.

In the end, this book is about an ordinary day that swiftly and horrifically, turns into an ongoing nightmare through one small lie - a lie that creates a huge life changing event.

Have a read yourself and think how you would have reacted. Would you have told the truth instantly, risking the loss of your best friend? Would you have got involved with all the ongoing media chat? And would you have felt guilty that in looking after one child, you had neglected the other? It’s an interesting premise that many of us  have faced at one time in our lives.

What appears to have come out of the book for me was:  we should not make assumptions about other people’s lives when we don’t have all the facts; we should consider why we are acting in a particular way or doing what we are doing; and we should always follow our instincts and do what we think is right.

What do you think?  Let me know!