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kelly_e's review
- 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
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."
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing
terrorism, hostage situationtonyaf's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
gwenswoons's review against another edition
- 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
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 against another edition
- 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
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
tlaynejones's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation
biancahartley's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Islamophobia
scburhans's review
- 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
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.
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
lisaw33's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, and Classism
meegreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Graphic: Gore and Racism
thespinystacks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
However, I hold little to no weight in any of that when we’ve gone ahead and played into the most basic, derivative stereotypes.
I found it deeply upsetting.
I want to be clear, I am a white female - I know my privilege, I work hard to be sensitive to the feelings of people who experience the world differently to me.
I don’t think that the white, affluent community did anything positive with this, and I’m so disappointed.
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, and Vomit