August 2024

T.J. Newman has written three thrillers that I would not recommend you bring on a plane: FALLING, DROWNING and her latest, WORST CASE SCENARIO. In the first two books, the action happened on the plane or part of the plane (I am not giving anything away here). In her latest effort, we truly learn the worst case scenario when a commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant. For those of us who think that these facilities are safer after 9/11, T.J. sends out a wake-up call that they are not. And she stresses that even if the nuclear reactor is offline, there is still a lot to worry about. Add that to things I never pondered!

As always, T.J. gets right to the point. The plane has something wrong --- and the situation is dire and immediate. Okay, I will give something away. The plane crashes very early on. The problem here happens on the ground. Besides the nuclear power plant, which conjures up its own kind of nightmare, let’s have this happen in a small town where there are limited resources. Then let’s ramp it up more as the plane breaks into pieces that land in various places and cause damage. If that’s not enough, let’s think about flammable jet fuel and how that can combust. You see what I mean here? We are talking lots of emotion.

T.J. brings the best of humanity to her work. The people in this small town step up, risking their own lives to save those around them. You cheer for them, especially when you realize that the risks they are taking may kill them --- and it breaks your heart. At a time when we are used to lots of quick action on the screen, T.J. brings the same energy to her writing.

The Epilogue is special and gives you a chance to see who ended up where. I found myself thinking about the nonfiction book THE DAY THE WORLD CAME TO TOWN by Jim DeFede, which is the story of the town of Gander, Newfoundland, and what happened on 9/11 as a group of international flights were grounded there when US airspace closed down. The townspeople came together to ensure that their guests were treated well. In WORST CASE SCENARIO, you see a fictional town rally the same way for their own.

For more on how T.J. conducted her research and pulled together the idea for this story, as well as how she went about writing it, please watch or listen to my “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with her.