A review by ndenitto
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

5.0

A scathing attack on modern news outlets and a tight mystery make this an essential read. When a media billionaires private jet crashes under mysterious circumstances, questions arise as to what caused the crash and how the only adult survivor was a penniless artist that was invited on the flight last minute. In one of the most thrilling openings to a book I've ever read, Scott Burroughs survives a plane crashing into the middle of the ocean, finds the moguls four-year-old son alive in the wreckage, and swims for miles to shore with only one good arm. As numerous agencies try to uncover the truth behind the crash with evidence, author Noah Hawley intersplices chapters dedicated to each passenger on the plane. These chapters provide important backstory that only we get access to, and assist in illuminating the full portrait of the crash. Scott is without a doubt a hero, but antagonizing him is the face of the moguls' news network, Bill Cunningham. Cunningham is a slimy asshole that wire taps peoples phones and invades their emails to find information to back up his sensational opinions. Naturally, he has a massive viewership. He brands the crash a terrorist attack and sets out to place blame on Scott by discrediting him with the most unreliable "evidence" he can find, but saying it confidently so it sounds like it's fact.

This is a remarkable book that is very difficult to put down, especially in the first and final thirds. Because the first third is so intense, you might get a little burned out by the time you hit the middle. It's well worth pushing through that, as Hawley is a master storyteller. Each chapter is it's own story, and it's clear Hawley knows the value of set-ups and pay-offs.