Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Falling

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Falling by T.J. Newman

12 reviews

kelly_e's review

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."

Content Warnings

thatswhatshanread's review

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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!

Content Warnings

sophie42's review

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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

Content Warnings

jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

monicabach's review

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challenging sad 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

3.0

This is my favorite kind of movie so I was excited about this but it kind of fell flat for me. I listened to it so maybe that’s why but it was confusing when it would swap from present day to a memory (didn’t happen a whole lot but still confusing to me). The little twist was not at all surprising and the only character you halfway fall in love with is Jo.

Content: excessive cursing imo. Many F bombs. No sexual content and no graphic violence. His family is threatened but not even descriptive enough to tug on my heart strings.

Content Warnings