I could not put this down. Jensen blends genres expertly, maintaining mystery and intrigue throughout. A great suggestion for fans of sci-fi or thrillers who want to branch out into the other genre. Thank you to the publisher for providing a free copy of the book.

Godfall manages to blend two genres, sci-fi and crime thriller here, yet the result is a story much more focused on the characters and the setting than either of the tropes of those genres. I was expecting a thriller story with constant action, but I was pleasantly surprised by the care which is given to the development of the world within. The giant landing at the centre isn't a setup for a big battle or an alien invasion, it's a metaphor for sudden change and connectivity in the modern world and Jensen does a great job exploring that through the lens of a crime thriller.

I am not entirely certain how to describe Godfall, as there’s quite a lot going on in this utterly bonkers, genre defying thriller. An enormous dead alien drops out of the sky, impaled by a weapon even larger, just outside of Little Springs, a small, red-state farming town lost to modernity and the outside world. Hop forward in time, and the Sheriff of Little Springs, a hard working fellow called David Blunt, is dealing with a population explosion, underfunding, a lot of very unhappy residents, an alien worshipping cult, various mysterious government agencies, drug cartels, oh, and a seemingly unstoppable serial killer who’s victims suffer increasingly violent and peculiar fates. This novel is a rush, a masterpiece in small town crime fiction whilst also nailing the science fiction element as theory, after theory is explored relating to the enormous alien corpse that has mysteriously settled on the outskirts of town. In addition to this incredible blend, the characters are so compelling that you will feel your heart breaking as the death count mounts up and the events of Godfall tear apart and rebuild friendships and communities in entirely unexpected ways. Thrilling, emotional and brilliant. I was pleasantly surprised by Godfall, and loved every pulse pounding minute of it.

This is very much a detective novel first and foremost, to the extent I’d still recommend this book to those with no interest in Science Fiction! Godfall is told from the perspective of the sheriff of a small backwater town in Midwest America, which has the misfortune to become the landing site of the body of a colossal alien being. Overnight the town of Little Springs swells to the size of a huge city as people come to study the new arrival, and the sheriff is left to tackle the tension and fallout between the new arrivals and the locals who feel robbed of their sleepy town and quiet lives. In a sense, Godfall still captures what I love about classic Sci-Fi, where an otherworldly premise is used as a tool to look at humanity and how we react to change. I thought that David’s character was well drawn, and I enjoyed watching how he juggles all his responsibilities post-landing; he’s ultimately a good person put in an impossible position, who’s trying his best but doesn’t get every decision right. He was the perfect character to follow in this story, both to follow the serial killer storyline, and get a before-and-after snapshot of life in the town. I wouldn’t say it’s a story to read if you want answers about the alien being, but it’s all about the price people pay if they are locals to huge incidents outside their control. Whilst I enjoyed the detective plotline, I don’t feel it was perfect, and I thought it was a little too reliant on coincidences and convenient clues popping up at the right times for the plot to advance. I do feel the story resolved very quickly at the end in a way that gave closure to the case, but I ultimately didn’t find overly satisfying sadly. I’d still recommend Godfall to fans of a good serial killer mystery, particularly if you’re willing to go along with a science fiction premise to prompt an unusual story.

A small remote Nebraskan farm town became a magnet for an influx of scientists, soldiers, conspiracy theorists, criminals and government officials when a supposed asteroid turns out to be a deceased 3-mile-high alien life form (the Giant) and the town becomes the site of a top-secret research base. The story then develops into a murder mystery as the local sheriff, David Blunt, investigates a series of murders that seem to be linked to the Giant. I loved the way the author evokes the feelings of small-town life and the intimate relationships that entails, but in very special circumstance. There is a large cast of characters, but you feel like you really get to know what makes each tick. The pace is brisk with a number of inventive plot twists as the sheriff pays a cat and mouse game with the killer. I must say that it is interesting to blend science fiction with crime genre, in this story , it was heavy on the crime side. Still I throughly enjoyed the suspense element and logic leading up the conclusion. A rip roaring read, enjoy it !