I have read a number of books over the last couple of years about mental illness, the genre seems to be quite fashionable. The narrative of The Shock of the Fall is certainly one of the most accurately moving, powerful and compelling. I loved the device of the way Matt "wrote" his story. I found this book profoundly sad and yet Filer doesn't leave his readers there but weaves humour and hope into his story subtly and sensitively. A brilliant debut novel.