July 2021

FALLING by T. J. Newman is a great ride. I had seen T. J. (Torri) present twice at publisher previews, and both times that I heard her talk about it, I knew this book was going to be something special. The promo copy is so spot on that I am going to share it here: “You just boarded a flight to New York. There are 143 other passengers onboard. What you don’t know is that 30 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.” And from there, the book takes off; it is so well done and lands so beautifully.

T. J., a former flight attendant, got the idea for this standout thriller when she was on a flight and asked the captain, “Hey, what would you do if your family was taken, and you were told that if you didn’t crash the plane, they would be killed?” His reaction, and where her imagination took her next, became FALLING. The book was written on many a cross-country red-eye flight --- often with scribbles on napkins and random notes stuffed into her pockets. The characters are well written --- and for the record, the three flight attendants on the plane are ones that I would want flying with me on any flight. When I interviewed Torri, she said that they came to her fully formed, which is probably why telling the story partially through their eyes works so well.

It's one of my top recommends of the summer, and I can see it gracing many a beach blanket. Oh, and if you see people reading it on a plane --- and keeping an eye on the cockpit --- you will know why. If you are reading it on a plane, be extra nice to your flight attendants. Because you never know what is really going on during the flight. And when you land, you can exhale --- the same way you will when you finish reading FALLING.