The Long Fall

By Julia Crouch

My Rating: 4/5

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Finished on: 14th Dec, 2020

I'm writing this review almost 2 months after having finished this one. So here's hoping I really do enough justice to it while recalling what all happened in the story, and how I felt about it.

Really hoping that.

This book was bit of a challenge while picking up, as my sister read few chapters & vowed never to pick it up again.

That got me curious, of course. What really happened that my sister now wishes to never read a book again?

I don't blame her. Once I started, I did get her point.

But, trust me. As I kept going on, I really got hooked to the story and it was difficult for me to put down

Because I just wanted to know what even happened?

____________________________________________________

The book was divided into 3 parts.

The first had stories of two timelines, one based in 1980 and the other 33 years later, 2013.

The second part was entirely based on the past - 1980.

And the last part entirely the present - 2013.

So it doesn't take much to guess that the first part would be a basic introductory story-line, with the second part telling us about what happened in the past, and definitely ending with a cliffhanger which would be a "secret" which one of the characters carry even after 33 years. And then the last part would be the actual story.

So the beginning starts with a fisherman's perspective, in 1980.

He's rowing a boat on the sea, searching for some fish, a moment later he notices some movement at the edge of the cliff at the top.

He can't make out much, except that he understands there are 3 figures, and they seemed to be arguing with each other. Before he can understand anything else, horrifyingly he witnessed someone pushing another at the edge, and we see how the figure slips and falls, all the way down from the cliff.

It was "The Long Fall".

Fast forward to few pages. It's the present. 2013.

The main protagonist is Kate. Kate Barratt.

She meets her husband (Mark Barratt) at the age of 21 (oh let's make a note of this? 👀)

She's currently a woman in her forties? Also has a daughter named Tilly. We don't come to know much, except that Kate holds herself responsible for the death of her another daughter Martha.

Whom she dearly misses. And in whose memory she has even set up a foundation, Martha's Foundation, which will be bringing smiles to faces of the needy people.

For a moment, while reading I almost thought whether her daughter's death was also part of the mystery of this book, but nah.

It wasn't that. This was merely an indication of how much, as a mother, she sincerely and dearly misses her daughter every single day. 

On the other hand, the other main protagonist from the past, 1980, is Emma James. She's 18, and has set out for a solo vacation because this girl thought she should be fully utilizing the freedom she got when she turned 18.

Now listen to her story.

Her first stop is France, and while touring France a very, very unfortunate incident happens to her.

She gets raped.

Yes.

The incident was brutal enough, but what happens later is what had pissed my sister off that she decided to pause the book right there.

Now tell me, upon knowing now that she gets raped, what does one think would happen next?

She running back to her parents because solo vacation is not her cup of tea anymore?

She running back to wherever she lives in France and seek help?

She running to the police station to give a complaint of what happened to her? And seek their help in finding the culprit and put him to justice?

Even better, single-handedly teach that monster a lesson for what he did to her?

Any other guesses? Anyone?

Well, let me tell you.

None of that happened.

She doesn't return home because that would just 'prove' how right her parents were over their concern for her travelling alone for a vacation. She can't have them telling "Oh Darlin', we told you so". She came here for a vacation, and she decided she'll have it.

She doesn't even run to her place and seeks help. Doesn't confide in with anyone because.. she just didn't want to?

She thought they'd pity her or something?

I have no idea what went on in her mind, but I did want to dive inside the book and slap her.

If not anything, you could have AT LEAST made sure the monster gets paid! Who knows whose life is he ruining next?

And you just let him go because you didn't want anyone to find out that you got raped?

That's.. idk. Sick.

Personally, my own blood was boiling when I imagined how that monster is still free out there after having ruined her life.

No wonder my sister stopped reading after this point.

Emma was starting to get on my nerves.

So what happens next?

Emma needs a fresh start. She decides to leave the place and travel somewhere else. And it's not like you can go through a traumatic experience in your life and simply move on. She just could not forget the man who ruined her life. She gave him a name whenever she thought about him.

He's "The French Shit."

So it takes some time, but she gets stronger. And she wanted to firmly believe by moving on and not taking a step back, she's winning from the French shit here. And to prove her own point, she decides her next stop.

It's Greece.

Let's switch to the present again. 

(Remember me mentioning the first part of book consists of snippets of both past and present?)

Present story isn't much significant, just that Kate's daughter Tilly, much like Emma, wants to go to a solo vacation.

And of all the places, she's targetting Greece.

So it isn't much difficult to put two and two together and realize that Kate could be Emma herself here. Because the moment Tilly decides this, it's like the floor collapsed under her feet.

She dreads this decision. And tries her best to convince her daughter otherwise. But it wasn't worth the effort because why not?

What could possibly be wrong or bad about their daughter experiencing a little bit of her freedom? Why be so overprotective?

Kate couldn't answer here. Because... She couldn't.

Coming back to my assumption (or realisation?) that Kate could be Emma here. Few questions which pops in our mind.

If both are the same, why has Emma renamed herself? Is she keeping her original identity a secret?

Is she hiding something?

And what happened in Greece that the idea of her daughter visiting there made her break out in a cold sweat?

What even happened?

(nvm, this is just me unnecessarily narrating this way as you and I anyway know I'll be answering that question few scrolls down later)

So there wasn't anything significant in the present time for the first part of the book, so let's dive back into the past and see what had happened.

Part 2 - 1980

Emma reaches Greece. She makes two friends.

Jake (he's 21) and Emma has a crush on him since the first sight.

Then there's Beattie, she looks almost exactly like Emma. And basically she was an uninvited guest, but since Emma was dying to have some friends in Greece, she didn't mind Beattie's company anyway.

And the best part, all three were Americans!

So since they had lots in common (if you consider being Americans and being in Greece and having a solo vacation as 'lots') they become best of friends and move in together.

Three of them have slight issues with each other. And there's a noticeable tension between them.

You ask why?

So since Emma and Jake have a crush on each other, they also want some "privacy" because of it, which is hard to get as long as Beattie is around.

But Emma doesn't want Beattie to go away too. With all the things she has been through, she wouldn't mind a girl company with her in this trip.

I mean, ofc she trusts Jake, but that doesn't mean there's any harm in keeping a girl company.

And not just this. While Emma and Jake at times have issues with Beattie's presence, Emma and Beattie notice some things in Jake which doesn't sit well with them either.

Jake gets too overprotective for Emma. To the point he almost had a fist fight with an Australian guy in a bar. Just because that guy had pushed Emma a lil because of a misunderstanding.

They had to run separate ways after that as cops were on their way, but that had shaken up Emma a little.

The fight was interrupted, but what if it wasn't? Would Jake had gone too far?

She did not like the way Jake looked when he was angry.

He looked really angry.

She starts being wary of Jake, to the point she's at times scared of him. But then there are other times when Jake is tooo sweet to her and she forgets everything and goes back to crushing on him.

This girl, I tell you 🤷🏻‍♀️

So this part 2 is pretty much them and their trips.

At some point they decide to leave their hotel and travel to some other place (sorry, it's been a while and I forgot the name).

On their journey though Emma sees something, the poster of that Australian guy being found dead.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Dead.

Emma is scared and wary again. Is it a coincidence? Is it not? Does Jake have to do with any of this?

Jake doesn't react looking at the poster, almost scoffs and believes that guy called it. And almost pretended he didn't have anything to do with this.

Just to be sure she asks them though, where had they gone after they separated ways? Emma could recall they didn't return until a long time later.

Beattie says they went and stayed at a bar for a while. Tried to cool things off.

Okaaay. Sure. 

But, are you really sure?

Now they two are her friends. She has to trust them.

She doesn't have any other choice.

She decides to forget it and move on.

So during their journey other things happen. Emma had been hiding her scars, given by the french shit, all this time. And in between Beattie gets to see those. Rather than questioning her about anything, she simply hugs her and bathes her. 

That was such a.. sweet bonding between them. I was almost in tears. Emma didn't have to tell anything, but she still felt better that finally now someone knows. They almost know.

This doesn't make Beattie see her in a different way. In fact, this makes her care for Emma even more.

Although Jake still has issues with Beattie around, he decides to tolerate her for Emma's sake.

They do bond in between. They get themselves a tattoo. I think it was a Triskelion. Now with that they considered themselves as officially best friends ever.

But not always though.

So few pages later, we really start seeing the behaviour difference between them. One incident happened which made Emma be scared of Jake even more. He finds the passport of the dead Australian guy in Jake's bag.

Now what is the passport doing in Jake's bag, and why?? 

Does this mean Jake reaaaally was responsible for killing him, all because he hurt Emma a lil bit?

That's taking things too far.

Now, Jake is already upset that they can't really have intimate moments as long as Beattie is around, so when Emma refuses to kiss him back (because she's scared), he loses his cool and gets away for a while in anger.

Beattie was away too.

Neither of them return any time sooner.

And what happens after that, changes the whole story.

Beattie returns to the cave (yeah, at that point they had been residing in a cave). And she's all bruised and shaken up.

And the reason for her condition is another shocking revelation to Emma.

It's Jake.

Jake has assaulted her. 

Jake has raped her.

So she begins to tell how they were simply walking and Jake was angry that Emma won't return him his kisses, so just to vent it out he forces himself on her.

Emma, hearing all this, is super terrified.

Was this the same guy she had fallen for? How?? And why??

Emma confides in Beattie and tells her how she found the passport in his bag. And even Beattie is horrified.

What if Jake really killed the guy? What must we do??

They both thought it's essential that they teach Jake a lesson.

So they hatch a plan.

Emma takes Jake to a nearby cliff while pretending she has no idea where Beattie is. On their way, Jake stops and tells he has something to say regarding Beattie but Emma stops him right there.

She knows the truth. And she doesn't want to hear a fake version of it from his mouth.

Emma shuts him saying she'll hear it later and move on.

At first, when they reach the cliff, Beattie was nowhere to be found.

Emma almost thought Beattie has ditched her. But then she reveals herself coming out from behind a tree. And then they execute their plan.

Which was to trip Jake, blindfold him, tie him up so he shouldn't be able to move his legs.

And not just that, they both even strip him half naked and started beating him up mercilessly.

He thrashed, resisted and tried complaining. But with his hands tied and blindfolded, he could only do so much.

He tries asking what's up. What the hell is going on, what's wrong with them, what did he even do??

They both don't give him a chance in letting him know what he has done.

Let him guess that. Let him suffer.

But at this point, all this wasn't sitting well with me. Though he might fully be deserving of this treatment, but.. it felt so wrong?

We didn't hear his side of story. What if he's innocent?

What if Beattie twisted the original story into something else?

They do tell him what he did though. And he immediately gets into defensive mode and says it was HER who jumped on him, and HER who forced herself onto him.

Before he could utter anything else, Beattie and Emma start hitting him again because ofc, which culprit would ever admit he has committed a crime?

But there came a small gap, where Jake, even after so badly getting beaten up, manages to slip past them, removes the blindfold and stand on his legs.

He turns. He glares.

He has so much anger in his eyes, Emma was sure he'd kill either of them with the chance he gets.

It looked to Emma like he was planning to approach Beattie.

With those murderous glares.

And in the spur of moment, nothing made sense to Emma. Even she didn't realise what she was about to do. But before Jake could lunge towards Beattie, she goes forward pushes him.

She simply meant to push him, that is to push him away from both Beattie and herself.

But little did her mind think that he's right near the edge of the cliff.

He falls backward, tries to find his balance, but unfortunately there wasn't any.

And then they all helplessly looked how Jake was pushed backwards and falls right down into his abyss.

The long fall.

Towards his end.

Beattie and Emma couldn't believe what just happened, but they knew their solo vacation ends right here. Emma is hyperventilating, but Beattie calms her down.

Tells her this is probably the last time they'd be seeing each other.

They have to make sure they don't cross their paths.

They need to go back and pretend this never happened.

They hug each other, turn around and part ways.

And this is how the part two has ended.

Now what had even happened after that?

After all this, Emma couldn't just bring herself to return to her parents. She knew she'd be caught one day. They could be searching for Emma for all we know.

So she DOESN'T return to America.

Goes to London. Changes her name. Has a rich guy fall for her and rest is history.

Her parents in US filed lots of missing reports on their daughter, and they both passed away not ever knowing what happened to their daughter. Not ever knowing that she's actually doing fine, living her life as Kate Barratt.

My heart legit broke for them. And I was angry at Emma/Kate even more for doing this to them.

So this had been her story.

And part 3 is all about how her past comes back to haunt her.

How? Let me tell you that.

Part 3 - 2013

So I had mainly read this part to understand why Kate had changed her name, and what could possibly happen in her present which would make the history repeats itself.

I mean, Jake died, didn't he?

In her new life which she has created for herself, everyone knows her as Kate Barratt.

But one fine day, while she's going through her Martha Foundation mails, she finds one addressed to Emma.

Needless to say, but that stopped her breathe for a moment.

Because she knows, whoever this person is, is someone who had been involved in her past.

In her previous life.

The email was an invitation to a clandestine meeting between just her and the sender.

And when Kate goes to meet the person, it turned out to be Beattie.

Older Beattie.

Although she dreaded this meeting, she also felt slightly better. Because she's that one person who knows exactly what Emma has gone through that time. And how that might have affected her life afterwards.

They exchange pleasantries, ask how they are and how their life had been all these years. And then Beattie reveals a shocking news to Kate, which makes her blood run cold and pass out right there at the restaurant.

Beattie tells her Jake is alive.

And he's set out to make both their lives a very difficult one.

For few pages we don't know the details of this news. As Kate passes out, slightly injures her head, gets admitted to a hospital.

Mark is worried. Here Beattie has an alias too, she calls herself 'Ena' (Or hopefully that, can't remember much at this point 🤷🏻‍♀️)

So even Kate has to hope she gets better so she can get some alone time with Beattie again to know all the details.

And sad to say, the rest of the details didn't make her feel any better.

So apparently Jake survived the fall after all. For few years couldn't quite remember who he is, or what happened to him. Stayed in Greece for a couple of years, before few Americans discovered him stranded there and decide to help him by taking him back to his own country. There he tries to start his life again, but could only do so much having lost a couple of years.

He does have a family, a wife and kids. But slowly as time passed by he started remembering what happened to him.

Tried tracking them down, but couldn't.

Anger took the better of him, and he lashed out at his wife and kids, which resulted in them leaving him. Now having lost his family too, he tries ending his life.

But life couldn't be any kinder to him. He tried attempting suicide by jumping off a bridge, but he survives.

He survives with multiple injuries and now he's a man, a living, breathing man, who's too broken to do anything else in life to survive.

Now he blames his entire situation to Emma and Beattie.

Had it not been for them, he'd never be in this situation, ever.

So he makes good use of his computer skills (which he developed after returning to US), tracks Beattie down first (since she hasn't changed her name like Emma did), and emotionally blackmailed her into doing his bidding. Which is basically financially supporting him for life. That's the least she can do after what was done by her.

But Beattie, apparently, wasn't lucky like Emma/Kate.

She didn't marry a rich guy, in fact her husband passed away, leaving her alone with her kids.

With no idea where Emma is, she spent her entire savings on Jake. But even after giving everything, Jake wants more. He has resorted to physical threats if Jake doesn't receive his financial support anymore. And of course the blackmail is that he'd reveal everything to the police.

Now thanks to Martha's Foundation which made Kate famous. They instantly recognised Emma, track her down, and now Jake is all ready to emotionally blackmail his long lost love, Emma too.

Now when Kate is hearing all this, lots of emotions have been whirling in her head. First and foremost is the realisation that Jake is alive. Alive!

All this time she had been hiding herself, blaming herself for someone's death, when in fact, the person has not died at all.

She's NOT a murderer after all!

She finds all this very amusing, because avoiding returning to US, changing her identity were all so she can hide the Emma Jones who was a murderer. But turns out she's not?

But, but, almost killing someone does count too. And you now have a living witness who'd testify that against you.

This situation isn't any better either.

But hearing Jake's story, which Beattie had scheduled for Kate, and looking at him (all bruised and broken, barely able to breathe, barley able to speak) she agrees to financially supporting him.

Thanks to her and Mark's wealth and thanks to Martha's Foundation, they are quite wealthy, so a small dent in their balance shouldn't have Mark noticing any of it, right?

Right?

But here's a catch. It wasn't just small money he was asking, he wanted a lifetime medical support from her and ALSO he wants her to cover the entire fees for education of his two sons.

Now that, is a lot of money.

No amount of reasoning would work too, as Jake would simply start threatening again.

Now this makes Kate mad. How is this her fault again?

It was Jake who killed the Australian guy!

It was Jake who raped Beattie!

How did he not deserve what was given to him?

Now even this time he thwarts her claims and repeats what he did 33 years ago, that he had been innocent, it was all Beattie blah blah.

But here he almost tells it nonchalantly, as if he has put it all past him, and the false allegations doesn't upset him anymore.

He can't have his normal life back, so he's making sure Beattie and Emma don't have a normal life either.

Now Emma has one Job. To meet Jake's needs without Mark ever knowing what's happening behind his back. And now here Beattie has completely changed too. The Beattie which Emma remembered had been fierce, a rebel, a rule breaker. She was such a thief back then, now the woman Kate is witnessing now is such a timid, soft one. The Jake incident has changed her too. For good. She left her past self behind.

They had all change: she, Beattie and Jake. All in different ways, but all for the same reason.

 The Jake Effect.

So initially the first transaction turns out to be a successful one, in which she had to pay a sum of money and good news is Mark doesn't notice too!

But the second transaction is where the problem starts. The sum requested was much much more than the previously requested one. And for this, even her savings and funds from Martha's Foundation won't be enough. And this time, even Mark would notice.

Amidst all this chaos, though Beattie didn't have a choice, she hated Beattie to have led the trouble towards her.

She was living a peaceful life with Mark, Tilly, her family.

How did things started going wrong?

She wasn't liking Beattie's company much, but things took a slightly worse turn when, on her way to their house for lunch, she was physically attacked by some men.

And she later confesses it was Jake's way of threatening to transfer the sum requested asap.

Now after she was attacked, there was another problem. Wallet and passport of hers got stolen. So basically she can't return to her place.

With no money and nothing, she'll have to stay with them for a while.

Well, okay.

As if this wasn't enough, she was reminded that her daughter Tilly is going to Greece for her own solo vacation. And we are not sure if our dearest Beattie here was present to make things worse or better, apparently she accidentally mentions or rather suggested Tilly to go to the exact place in Greece where they had last stayed at 33 years ago, and that convinced Tilly to go exactly there first.

You can only imagine the expression on Emma/Kate's face after that. I need not write it here :P

It's too late for Kate to do any convincing, Tilly is super excited for her journey now. And nothing is going to stop her.

For once even Kate agrees with this. The farther she is from this mess and Jake, the better.

Right?

All is well. Tilly starts her journey to Greece.

But all is not too well. Emma/Kate, to save her family, goes to bank to transfer as much money as she can at that point.

Which is from her savings, from funds of Martha's foundation, and even her jewelry which she sells it!

She basically goes bankrupt.

And all is not too well as since this transaction had been a huge amount, even Mark is notified.

And Mark is not too happy.

He had been away for some emergency meeting, but he immediately flies home as he couldn't believe this.

Things were already worse, his business isn't doing well and he desperately needed their savings so that he can bounce back and now what has Kate done??? And why??

What is she doing?!

Even the jewelry, most of it which was gifted to him as a form of his love?

What does this mean, she doesn't love him anymore?

Who even is she? Where is she from? What does she really want?!

But Kate could only tell him so much. He wouldn't believe her anyway. Mark is furious. Super angry.

He can't stand the sight of her. He marches out saying he'll live in a hotel and warns her that he wants his every single penny back.

And also that he has decided to leave her.

Now Kate's life is already shattering, what's worse is knowing her daughter is not safe in Greece after all.

Jake knew all along where Tilly is going, and he's exactly there keeping an out on Kate's daughter.

And he's going to use her to get the rest of money back.

Kate can't waste any time. She wants her daughter home. Safe and sound. She can't have history repeating itself.

With nothing in her hand anyway, she chooses to pick one painting from her wall which should be enough to cover the rest of the amount. She books a flight and flies to Greece.

You might be wondering what happened to Beattie?

Let's drop the act and admit honestly that Beattie had been acting strange all this time. So let's get ahead and see how she was involved in all of this.

From Jake, she was asked to meet at the exact same place where they were present last time. The cliff.

And here she didn't find any broken Jake in his wheelchair, but a tall, strong man who is standing on his two legs. And who WASN'T Jake at all. The man looked tired, says he's done with this and wants to leave the place not being associated with any of this which will follow. He leaves.

Before we proceed further let me mention how before coming here Kate meets the fisherman who had served her at his small restaurant 33 years ago. And since those years ago fisherman had a crush on her, we can tell how that was so true and genuine as even after all these years he recognised her at first glance.

And he reveals a shocking news to her.

Since it was him who had seen the body fall 33 years ago, he mentions that Jake, had died from that fall after all.

Jake didn't survive. He isn't alive.

And there is nothing this fisherman would gain by lying to her anyway.

He didn't survive the fall, he died and it was the fisherman who quietly took his body and buried him in his backyard.

What about police? There isn't any.

The fisherman mentioned there usually are many incidents where people accidentally slip and fall from the cliff or how they have found bodies in the sea. But no official investigation ever happens, because it's such a small town.

Nobody ever asks. Nobody comes for them. Fisherman makes sure they have a quiet funeral if he's able.

And that's about it. The end of their story.

Now this made Kate have whirlwind of emotions again.

The guilt of being a murderer had come back, that she HAD killed Jake after all. But more than this, there was this horrifying uncertainty, who the hell is pretending to be Jake and who the hell is with her daughter?!

Only one way to find out.

Now she's at the cliff and like history repeating itself, Beattie had been hiding behind the tree again, but this time she had Tilly with her, having a knife pointed at her throat.

And this is the moment, when EVERYTHING is revealed.

Everything.

Let's start Beattie's story from beginning.

Firstly, Beattie's name isn't Beattie. It's something with L (I guess, I forgot the name 😭)

And Beattie didn't meet Jake that day in Greece, in fact Jake and Beattie had known each other loooong before that. They both were the bad guys,  runaway convicts who had flown to Greece to hide from the law. They were each other's accomplices.

Now their plan was to ditch someone, rob them enough to buy a whole new identity for themselves and lead a new life.

Emma had been perfect for them. Since Emma slightly looked like Beattie too! But things were going wrong as Jake, the guy who was supposed to be on Beattie's side, was falling for Emma.

Reaaally genuinely falling for Emma.

And the tension between Jake and Beattie had been because of this, Beattie did not like it that Jake is falling for their Guinea pig, and Jake started to get defensive, as he didn't want Beattie hurting Emma in any way.

And his defensive, over protective nature whenever someone hurts Emma? That's simply.. his overprotective nature. Since he has history of being a convict, he still had some anger management issues, but that's just it.

He wasn't a person who'd go far to kill someone. He had changed.

It was Beattie who killed Australian guy, and tried framing Jake for it, so that Emma stops trusting Jake and they both fall apart.

It was her way of separating them, so they could smoothly execute the plan.

And the rape act? It hurts me to break it like this but it was all Beattie too. I had been suspecting her since beginning, since she didn't give him a chance to defend himself or have a say while they were beating him up over the false allegations.

It really was Beattie who forced herself on him, and he did try resisting her. She creates those bruises and injuries for herself so that she can beautifully frame Jake for that as well.

Trashy woman just go and burn in hell!! 😭

Beattie had realised, Jake is one step away from calling of their entire plan to ditch Emma, since he can't betray her anymore.

Remember me telling how Jake tries to tell 'something' about Beattie while they were going up the hill that day, but Emma cuts him off assuming it's his way of making up some story of whatever happened?

Well, yeah.

That was the moment Jake wanted to reveal everything about him and Beattie, but unfortunately he didn't get the chance. 

😖

So Beattie's true plan was to kick Jake outta her way. Which successfully gets executed as Emma pushes him off the cliff. Beattie didn't even have to do anything here.

Jake had died. Truly died.

And he was innocent :(

Go away. I'm not crying.

I'm currently trying to reach Daenerys so she can get her dragon to burn down this Beattie witch to ashes.

And that's not it. The entire drama of Beattie having kids, losing husband, losing savings to Jake was all an act too. When they separated ways, while Emma married a rich guy, there Beattie remained a convict, coming in and out of prison her entire life. Now that she was out again, too broke and barely surviving life, she sees Emma on TV from the Martha's Foundation. And couldn't stand it.

Here she was struggling, and there Emma gets to live a cozy rich life? Well not for long.

That's how she hatches this plan to bankrupt Emma, kick her Outta her way and live a nice rich life herself. She hired a guy who'd pretend to be a fake Jake for Beattie. Enough to make a believable story for Emma.

There was no husband, there were no daughters, just a life of bad luck, prison and meanness.

Now that Beattie was done narrating this story, she reveals her final plan. To snatch that painting. Kill Tilly. Kill Kate. Go and live a nice rich life.

Kate, after hearing all this, just cannot let that happen.

She tries to fight with Beattie. While Tilly stood at the side watching, all terrified. Things were almost going wrong, but thanks to our savior of the day, they didn't.

Fisherman came just in time with gun pointed at Beattie's head.

Even after this Beattie tries to have it her way, but Kate is NOT letting that happen. She just cannot let her ruin her or her daughter's life or put her family in danger.

Before Beattie could do anything, Emma/Kate rushes forward and pushes Beattie.

And just like the history repeating itself, they all watched how helplessly Beattie tries balancing herself, fails and then falls towards her eternal doom.

The Long fall.

Beattie is gone.

Kate looks down and observes how with the higher tide, the sea has taken the body of Beattie away.

Unlike Jake, she's not going to have a proper funeral either.

The End.

Not quite, there was slightly more to the story. 

So firstly the entire credit goes to the Fisherman guy who saved lives of both Kate and Tilly.

Kate isn't ready to face Mark yet, so she sends only Tilly back to home so that she can explain Mark everything and calm him down. Meanwhile she stays with Fisherman's family and stays in touch with her daughter.

Tilly forgives her mother. For whatever happened.

In fact, it's now she understands her mother more than ever.

She even understands why her mother was so not ready for her daughter to have a solo vacation, especially in Greece!

So Tilly is making sure by the time her mother returns home, Mark should understand and accept her too.

He should understand why Emma had turned into Kate.

Because no matter how she was as Emma, Tilly was sure of one thing, her mother loves her family, and she could go to anyyyy extent to make sure they stay safe.

Kate even gives her daughter the diary she maintained back then. So Tilly knows exactly what all happened, and what she went through.

Tilly even knows about the French Shit now, and according to her (and yes, according to me too) the entire blame should be going to The French Shit person for whatever happened.

Had it not been for him, Emma would have comparatively been a stronger person. She had completely changed, and Beattie made use of this weakness to frame Jake for what happened to her.

A girl would understand a girl's pain.

Emma thought, she couldn't make the french shit pay, but she can at least make Jake pay for what he did.

The accusation had clouded Emma's sense of judgement.

And that costed the life of an innocent being.  :(

So, Moral of the story?

Keep fighting for justice and neveerrr jump to conclusions without knowing the story from two sides! 

And also try coming clean to your family? No matter what you have done.

If they love you, truuuuly love you, they'd understand why you did, whatever you did. And even if what you did was morally wrong, they'll at least guide you to take the next right step.

But in either cases, they'd stay by your side.

And with this, I finally end my review 😆

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Quote from the book:

Time and cruelty were thieves of everything in the end.

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