Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Falling by T.J. Newman

26 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Title: Falling
Author: T.J. Newman
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: July 6, 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Bingeable • Tense • Vivid

📖 S Y N O P S I S

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.

💭 T H O U G H T S

T.J. Newman's books have been absolutely everywhere over the past several years, yet I was never inclined to give into the hype and pick one up - until now. With the release of her most recent book, my interest was piqued, but I knew I wanted to start with her debut Falling.

Written in short, easy to digest chapters, and revolving around a kidnapping/hostage situation, this novel is fast-paced and action packed from start to finish. Despite being on the short side, there was a layer of political depth that I wasn't expecting, yet allowed for deeper reflection. Newman leaned heavily on her own personal experience as a flight attendant, which made for more authentic interactions between the characters on-board the flight.

Falling was the ideal vacation read (maybe don't read it before a flight) that didn't require too much thought and was quick to get through. It's one of those stories where it's easy to see what will come next, yet still gets the adrenaline pumping. I certainly get the hype, and look forward to reading more of her books down the road.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• popcorn thrillers
• action movies
• hyped books

⚠️ CW: terrorism, hostage situation, kidnapping, suicide attempt, violence, gun violence, death, blood, injury/injury detail, Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, cursing

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Death always feels personal, Bill. It feels damn fucking personal. But you know what the crazy thing about death is? It's not personal. Everyone dies. No one escapes it. It's the only fair thing in the world. Sometimes you're young, sometimes you're old, sometimes you deserve it, sometimes you don't. But what the fuck is that, anyway? Death doesn't just happen to 'bad' people, death doesn't give a shit." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing

terrorism, hostage situation

shesflippinpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

gwenswoons's review

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Compelling in a certain sense - it’s constructed effectively, I guess. But it’s disappointing that the entire premise and development of the book is based on the most obvious, stereotypical, racist tropes. When you see all the content warnings flagged by users - Islamophobia, racism, et al - that is not content in the book; it IS the book, it is the writer. It’s not good. Had to speed it up to nearly 3x just to slog through it on a long drive, today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lpdx's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Islamophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming and Pedophilia

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

For fans of movies like Speed, In The Line of Fire, Air Force One, Flightplan

A suspenseful, fast-paced page turner. TJ Newman really knows how to keep the reader engaged. While many of the plot points are predictable, or as predictable as they can be in the realm of disaster flights, I enjoyed it for the most part. It had my adrenaline pumping and I genuinely liked a few of the characters, even when their actions were kinda dumb. 

My main problem with this novel was in regard to the way the terrorist situation was written—Why make the bad guys Middle Eastern?? Very much playing into the offensive stereotype, not to mention unoriginal. It would have been far more compelling and truly unpredictable  to have it be some random white dude with a vendetta against the airline or something. Idk. That, and the overdone reasoning behind the hijacking, just felt like a cop out in poor taste.

I definitely preferred Drowning over this one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sophie42's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Torture, and Vomit

jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

My heart was pounding from beginning to end. I was deeply engaged in the story,  which felt like it could happen here and now. We take our safety for granted and trust flight crews, the TSA, the air traffic controllers, ground crews, and the FAA to ensure the human and mechanical parts of air travel work smoothly. With headlines about plane malfunctions,  frequent flight schedule problems,  and combative passengers, it is easy to forget about the darker threats thwarted without the public even knowing about them.
Newman did a great job humanizing the "bad guys" and demonstrating the complex emotions that can paralyze people in crisis.  Her decision to include the aftermath and trauma of survival levels the story up above the typical beach read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sarah_amy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

'WHEN THE SHOE DROPPED INTO her lap, the foot was still in it.'

This is the very first line and it kept me on the edge of my seat from then on! Full of suspense and so much plot-twisty goodness! I've been looking for something like this for ages and hit gold. I would have read it in one go but I needed to take breaks from the tension! Oh and the author has experience in being a flight attendant, so you're completely immersed and believe everything that happens. Deserves so much more hype.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, and Blood

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail