The story in FAST FALLS THE NIGHT takes place during 24 hours. It all starts with a young woman overdosing on the floor of a gas station bathroom in Acker's Gap. For the police in the town it is one tragic event, but then they got called to another overdose and then another. Prosecutor Bell Elkins realize that there is a tainted batch of heroin and that someone is behind it. As the hours pass by more and more overdoses occur and Bell and her colleagues, together with the local police, hunt the person who is behind it all. But, there are those that think that the addicts have had it coming and that the resources should be spent on those that deserve the help.

Once again I'm late to the party as FAST FALLS THE NIGHT is book six in the Bell Elkins series and the first book in the series I read. I've been curious about this series and was thrilled when I got this book to read. One aspect that I really enjoyed about this book was that there were a lot of different point of views in the book, from Bell Elkin's to her sisters, different people in the town, and the police officers, etc. This really moved the story forward at a fast-paced tempo and I was engrossed in not only the hunt for the person behind the tainted heroin batch, but everything that was going in the town.

I felt at ease with the story right from the start, despite this being book six and that I had no previous knowledge of the characters in the book. The main characters are likable and I felt that I cared about them. I was especially curious to learn more about Bell and her sister, especially since Bell's sister had a big secret she wanted to tell Bell. The ending of the book was shocking many ways. I was totally blindsided when it came to figuring out who was behind it all and it didn't end there. Let's just say the book ended in a way that really makes me eager to read the next book!

Book Summary

Based on a real-life event, Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Keller’s latest Bell Elkins novel Fast Falls the Night takes place in a single 24-hour period, unfurling against the backdrop of a shattering personal revelation that will change Bell’s life forever.

The first drug overdose comes just after midnight, when a young woman dies on the dirty floor of a gas station bathroom. To the people of the small town of Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, it is just another tragedy. It is sad—but these days, depressingly familiar.

But then there is another overdose. And another. And another.

Prosecutor Bell Elkins soon realizes that her Appalachian hometown is facing its starkest challenge yet: a day of constant heroin overdoses from a batch tainted with a lethal tranquilizer. While the clock ticks and the bodies fall, Bell and her colleagues desperately track the source of the deadly drug—and engage in fierce debates over the wisdom of expending precious resources to save the lives of self-destructive addicts.a