Falling into Green

Ecopsychology? I had not heard of that field before but then it turns out this is the vocation of the author as well as her fictional protagonist, the aptly named Dr Esmerelda Green. That puts it in the genre of crime fiction where the character does the same job as the author and gets involved in investigating the crime, using their unique skills to crack the case. Here sympathy with nature, musings on how phenomena such as earthquakes affect the human psyche and empathy with animals assist Dr Green in unravelling a mystery that turns out to be very closely linked with people from her own past.

Fischer has made the unusual choice of writing in the first person and the present tense. I suppose this could be said to fit Dr Green’s “stay in the moment” approach to life. Along with a multitude of short chapters and a few cliff-hangers (some of them approaching the literal), I appreciate that this could well prove to be a popular novel. In truth though, I wasn’t left feeling eager to read more, even though the title clearly hints at plans for sequels. I don’t regret having taken the time to read it but it isn’t a good sign when the style grabs you more than the story so I will only give this book 3/5.