Falling-T J Newman

Book: Falling
Author: T J Newman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

What is the one experience of flying that you remember vividly?

Falling by T J Newman traces the journey of Flight 416 to New York with almost 150 souls on board. Imagine you being on that flight. You can see that there are 143 other passengers taking the flight. What you don’t know is the fact that the Pilot’s family was kidnapped 30 minutes before the flight. The demands are simple: for the family to survive, everyone onboard has to die. The question is what would the captain’s choice be? Save his family and crash the plane, or make sure that the plan lands safely and he loses his family.

The crux of a thriller is its ability to surprise the reader, and keep the readers guessing till the last moment. Newman achieves that with ease. Falling as a story holds very well throughout the 300+ pages and there is never a dull moment. The storyline is robust and despite the fact that almost a half of it takes place onboard an aircraft, it uses its strength to move around. Another thing that I loved about was the book was the fact that it paid attention to detail, and with due credit to Newman who used familiar territory to set her story in which gave it the extra push to be detailed and exact. The storytelling is excellent and keeps the reader on the edge of their seats till the last page. The language is simple, easy to understand which helps the reader keep their focus on the plot. I loved how the twists are introduced just at the right moment as the guess of the reader becomes a bit stronger. While disclosing the one I connected with could be a possible spoiler, it was a moment that somehow elevated the thrill in the story to an entirely new level. The climax is well written and provides a wonderful closure to the plot.

The characters in the story are a revelation in themselves. Bill Hoffman as the pilot literally pilots the story from the first page to the last and I love how his character has been crafted. He is shown to be a professional, following the ethics of the profession, yet Newman manages to showcase his softer side, the human side at certain points. While he maintains the statement that he would not do what the captors want, and also save his family, there are moments where I thought that he would take a leap of faith. Jo as a character impressed me with the grit and determination that oozed out of her character throughout the story. Carrie was another part of the story who came across as a surprise and I was amazed by the way her character arc turned out. Overall, the characters are given their due space and time to grow and develop so much that the story moves on Autopilot after a certain point of time.

Falling is a complete package that has excellent writing and a set of well-created characters that make it a definite recommendation. The book scores a 4.88/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book from Amazon India here.