When T.J. Newman was a flight attendant, she liked to pick the brains of her pilot and crew. She would ask them what their biggest fears were or the worst thing that could potentially happen while in the air. She then took some of these ideas and spun them into bestselling novels. One pilot mentioned a plane crashing into a nuclear power plant. Newman thought it wouldn’t be that bad as all nuclear power plants were reinforced following 9/11. The pilot smiled and said, “That’s exactly what they want you to believe.”

This fascinating exchange was the inspiration for WORST CASE SCENARIO, which follows FALLING and DROWNING. I am so impressed by the extensive research that Newman did to depict the inner workings of a nuclear power plant so effectively.

"T.J. Newman has truly elevated WORST CASE SCENARIO to the level of disaster movie peril. Of course I will not outline the resolution here. Just know that it is a real nail-biter that goes far beyond your typical story involving a plane crash."

When the nearly 300-pound pilot has a massive heart attack at 35,000 feet, he crashes forward onto his operating panel, blocking anyone else from getting to the steering device. The first officer is in the restroom, leaving a flight attendant in the cockpit who is unable to move the now-deceased man. With the plane out of control and unbelievable panic filling the entire cabin, the first officer battles his way back to the flight deck but to no avail. The inevitable crash occurs, killing everyone on board.

The plane nosedives directly into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, and the wings that got sheared off scatter throughout the area, causing additional damage and death. One flies over a church, and the other causes a multi-car pileup that takes several lives and closes down the only major thoroughfare in and out of Waketa.

The worst by far is the damage to the plant itself. The manager, Ethan Rosen, evacuates all non-essential employees and retains only those most capable of handling this type of disaster. The International Nuclear Event Scale has been known to go up to Level 7. This situation, if the worst case scenario occurs from it, would be the first Level 8 emergency the planet has ever seen --- even worse than Fukushima and Chernobyl. Joss Vance, a nuclear specialist who happens to be a resident of Waketa, is the best person to assist in this tragic occurrence.

President Dawson gets involved immediately, and his first reaction is to ground all air travel and close the US borders in the same fashion that was seen on 9/11. Once they learn that the crash was not the work of terrorists, Dawson relaxes his orders but still places a 20-mile evacuation decree to all residents of Waketa and the surrounding area. He meets with Joss, who gives him the down-and-dirty details so that he can speak to the rest of the world about this shocking nuclear event.

In the meantime, the employees of the plant are trying to figure out what move to make that will produce the least amount of literal fallout. There is a countdown to zero hour that fronts each chapter and keeps the tension wound tightly. Joss estimates that they have just 16 hours until catastrophe strikes, and we can only read on in between breaths.

T.J. Newman has truly elevated WORST CASE SCENARIO to the level of disaster movie peril. Of course I will not outline the resolution here. Just know that it is a real nail-biter that goes far beyond your typical story involving a plane crash.