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katdjz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence and Kidnapping
_thelitlibrarian's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
2.75 stars
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TW: Death, Gun Violence, Suicide, Violence, Self Harm
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I would like to say, that I love the author's backstory and will 100% be watching the movie as it comes out as this would make a great action-packed thriller. As I read, I felt like the book was a little bit of a letdown. I read this within one setting because I often was on the edge of my seat; but, it was a little dull (no major plot twists that I didn't see coming), and felt a little rushed. In a thriller where everyone was in danger, I was let down by the amount of actual death happening. Also, this book relies on heavy stereotypes based on certain characters' backgrounds or races.
Bill Hoffman is the pilot on Flight 416 en route to JFK with 149 souls on board. Sounds like a pretty routine flight right? What Bill doesn't know is that his wife and children have been kidnapped and are being held, hostage. Once in the air, Bill realizes that he is faced with a choice: he must choose to crash the plane (killing everyone on board), and if he doesn't, his family will die. Bill knows he can't pick either of those choices and begins a long-heroic act of saving all the souls on board.
I had a hard time connecting emotionally with the characters as I felt they weren't fully developed. When you have so many characters (146 passengers on the plane), it can get hard to ensure that your characters remain memorable in the end. Thinking back to this book, those who only really stand out to me are the flight crew; who is tasked with saving everyone outside of the cockpit). The plot lost me near the end when the plane is hurling towards Dodger stadium during the World Series, and the players keep on playing?!
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TW: Death, Gun Violence, Suicide, Violence, Self Harm
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I would like to say, that I love the author's backstory and will 100% be watching the movie as it comes out as this would make a great action-packed thriller. As I read, I felt like the book was a little bit of a letdown. I read this within one setting because I often was on the edge of my seat; but, it was a little dull (no major plot twists that I didn't see coming), and felt a little rushed. In a thriller where everyone was in danger, I was let down by the amount of actual death happening. Also, this book relies on heavy stereotypes based on certain characters' backgrounds or races.
Bill Hoffman is the pilot on Flight 416 en route to JFK with 149 souls on board. Sounds like a pretty routine flight right? What Bill doesn't know is that his wife and children have been kidnapped and are being held, hostage. Once in the air, Bill realizes that he is faced with a choice: he must choose to crash the plane (killing everyone on board), and if he doesn't, his family will die. Bill knows he can't pick either of those choices and begins a long-heroic act of saving all the souls on board.
I had a hard time connecting emotionally with the characters as I felt they weren't fully developed. When you have so many characters (146 passengers on the plane), it can get hard to ensure that your characters remain memorable in the end. Thinking back to this book, those who only really stand out to me are the flight crew; who is tasked with saving everyone outside of the cockpit). The plot lost me near the end when the plane is hurling towards Dodger stadium during the World Series, and the players keep on playing?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence
gabbyreynolds's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Gun violence and Suicide attempt
marareading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book is a serious thriller. From the first line I was shocked. It carries the suspense throughout. It is one of those books that is plot driven and reads like a movie, so if you enjoy that type of book you would love this. The characters are still very interesting and built out despite how plot focused the book is. This is a quick read, coming in under 300 pages. If you have flight anxiety I would definitely not recommend this for you.
This book has many POVs, but is about a pilot who is given a choice. His family on the ground has been kidnapped. Either crash the plane and kill every aboard, or let his family die. It is definitely gripping watching the entire cast of characters from different positions go through this senario.
Was it perfect? No. It is my favorite book? No. Was it a fun thriller? Yes! Do I recommend it! Absolutely. It is a milkshake read. You want to get through it and find out what happens.
This book has many POVs, but is about a pilot who is given a choice. His family on the ground has been kidnapped. Either crash the plane and kill every aboard, or let his family die. It is definitely gripping watching the entire cast of characters from different positions go through this senario.
Was it perfect? No. It is my favorite book? No. Was it a fun thriller? Yes! Do I recommend it! Absolutely. It is a milkshake read. You want to get through it and find out what happens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War
lumpyspaceprincess's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Blood
pidgepodge's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Self harm
scburhans's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Yeah, this book was not for me. This is for several reasons: the Islamophobia, the Xenophobia, the half-assed and shallow characterization, and (surprisingly) the pacing.
I found it really cheap and frankly disgusting that Newman chose to play into stereotypes and make the bad guys Middle Eastern/Islamic. It's 2022, it's time we stop demonizing an entire ethno-religous group because of the actions of a few men 20 goddamn years ago. There were moments where it felt like Newman was trying to overcome this, but it fell flat and just came off as in bad taste. The whole brown guy = bad guy bullshit is overplayed, overused, and fucking disgusting.
I also didn't care about 90% of the characters. Theo, Jo, and the kids were pretty much the only people I cared about and, not so coincidentally, they were the only ones with complex characteristics! Bill was such a cookie cutter, rah-rah-All-American hero character that I could not care less about. So much of the plot was unoriginal as well. There were whole chapters that were almost scene for scene recreations of a Criminal Minds episode, season 10 episode 3 to be exact.
Worst of all, somehow, I was bored throughout this entire book. I have no idea how she did it, but I could only read a few pages before I would get bored and go do something else for a while. Very rarely have I ever been so incredibly bored by a thriller. Somehow, it was both faced paced and slow as hell. Everything happened quickly, but it wasn't fast enough apparently.
Not my cup of tea, probably won't reccomend it to anyone either.
I found it really cheap and frankly disgusting that Newman chose to play into stereotypes and make the bad guys Middle Eastern/Islamic. It's 2022, it's time we stop demonizing an entire ethno-religous group because of the actions of a few men 20 goddamn years ago. There were moments where it felt like Newman was trying to overcome this, but it fell flat and just came off as in bad taste. The whole brown guy = bad guy bullshit is overplayed, overused, and fucking disgusting.
I also didn't care about 90% of the characters. Theo, Jo, and the kids were pretty much the only people I cared about and, not so coincidentally, they were the only ones with complex characteristics! Bill was such a cookie cutter, rah-rah-All-American hero character that I could not care less about. So much of the plot was unoriginal as well. There were whole chapters that were almost scene for scene recreations of a Criminal Minds episode, season 10 episode 3 to be exact.
Worst of all, somehow, I was bored throughout this entire book. I have no idea how she did it, but I could only read a few pages before I would get bored and go do something else for a while. Very rarely have I ever been so incredibly bored by a thriller. Somehow, it was both faced paced and slow as hell. Everything happened quickly, but it wasn't fast enough apparently.
Not my cup of tea, probably won't reccomend it to anyone either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Car accident
Minor: Vomit
nerdglasses08's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide and Gun violence
Minor: Cursing
riella_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
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
This was such a wild ride. Fast paced and action packed, but I saw the "twist" from the very beginning.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
hazelgirl21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Blood and Death of parent