Falling

• Author: T.J. Newman
• Genre: Thriller
• Publication Date: July 6, 2021
• Publisher: Simon Schuster Audio

Thank you to libro.fm for providing me with an ALC of this audiobook. I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.

CONTENT WARNING: detailed description of a plane crash, gore, blood, mention of pedophilia, mention of death of a child, chemical attack

You just boarded a flight to New York.

There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.

I have to admit that after reading this I will probably never be able to just casually walk onto a plane and feel safe ever again. If you aren’t comfortable flying, this isn’t a book for you.

While this isn’t a typical story that is full of gasp-inducing plot twists, it is a story that held my attention and kept it, poised on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what is going to happen. Bill Hoffman is a pilot who typically has a good home life, although he gets into a little argument with his wife before leaving for a flight from LAX to JFK that he is covering for someone else. Normally, he’d touch base with her before taking off, but she doesn’t pick up. 

Once his flight is up in the air, he gets an e-mail from her, showing that someone is holding her and his two children hostage. And all Bill has to do to ensure their safety is to kill everyone on the flight. What is he going to choose? 

It sounds like such a basic premise, but the author managed to weave an incredibly compelling story with realistic characters that I couldn’t help but become attached to. It was tense, well-written, emotional, and full of action. The characters shift around a bit, giving us a little view of everything. We get to see things through Bill’s POV, as well as one of the flight attendants, Bill’s wife, the FBI agent who draws attention to this entire situation, and even a few other characters, making this a multidimensional story. 

All in all, it was a well-crafted story that kept me listening late into the night just to find out what happened next. It’s not just gratuitous violence, though, which is what kept me intrigued the most. It had an underlying point that truly made me think about how we view the world and what happens outside of our little bubble, and the message of this book is one that is going to stick with me long after finishing this … along with feeling a little less comfortable stepping on a plane. 

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit.

Gasp Factor: 5