Book Summary and Reviews of Falling by T. J. Newman

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JHSiess

A Polished & Terrifying Debut Novel
During a red-eye flight, debut author T.J. Newman, then a flight attendant, looked at the passengers, many of whom were sleeping, and really pondered the fact that passengers' lives are in the pilot's hands. For the first time, she thought about how the pilots have so much power and responsibility that they are vulnerable. She recalls asking a pilot, "'What would you do if you find out that your family has been taken, and you're told that if you don't crash the plane, your family will be killed?' Just based on the look on his face, I knew I had a story. He was terrified. He did not have an answer. There's wasn't a page in the manual for this." She knew she would not be "able to rest until I knew the answer to that question."

Even after Newman completed over thirty drafts of the book, success did not immediately follow. She began querying agents and received forty-one rejections. The agent who finally said "yes" -- lucky number forty-two -- turned out to be "a perfect fit," and helped her secure a publishing deal.

Newman's characters were inspired by the crew members and passengers she encountered over the years. At the heart of the story is Captain Bill Hoffman, the pilot who accepts a flight from Los Angeles to New York because he could not refuse a request from the Chief Pilot. His wife, Carrie, is displeased because Bill promised to attend their ten-year-old son, Scott's, baseball game and team pizza party. Things between them are tense, as Bill heads to the airport where he is happy to see that his friend, Jo, with whom he has flown for twenty years, is heading up the flight crew. She will be assisted by Michael Rodenburg, known to everyone at the airline as Big Daddy, and Kellie, a new flight attendant who has only recently completed her training. He's also happy to find that Ben, with whom he has flown before, will be serving as his First Officer (co-pilot). Bill plans to speak with Carrie before his flight begins in an attempt to smooth things over and assuage his guilt about having left Carrie at home with Scott, Elise, their ten-month-old daughter, . . . and a technician from the local cable company dispatched to repair their internet connection.

Carrie offers the repairman a cup of tea, but turns to find him holding a gun. Shortly thereafter, once the plane is in the air, Bill receives an email on his laptop. There is no message. There is only a photo attached. Bill recognizes his living room, but Carrie and Scott have their arms outstretched in the shape of a cross and black hoods over their heads. Strapped across Carrie's whole torso is a vest with brightly colored wires protruding from small bricks inside pockets. Bill immediately observes that it looks like the vests he has seen in photos of suicide bombers, but he can't "process the sight of something so perverse strapped across his wife's body." Another email arrives that says, "Put on your headphones." A FaceTime call is initiated, and Bill recognizes Sam, the purported cable technician, who is also wearing an explosive-laden vest and holding the detonator. Sam tells Bill, "You will crash your plane or I will kill your family. The choice is yours." Bill knows his cockpit has been breached and the plane is in jeopardy. Bill's response? "I'm not going to crash this plane and you're not going to kill my family."

Stories about kidnappings, airplane hijackings, and terrorist attacks are nothing new. But the way Newman has melded the concepts is new. She has cleverly combined the kidnapping of Bill's family, the fact that Sam is not working alone, and the revelation that he and his accomplice intend for Bill to crash the plane at a specific location for clearly articulated reasons into one terrifying tale.

Newman's characters are convincing. Bill is exactly the kind of pilot that every passenger wants to find in the cockpit of their flight. Competent, dedicated, and fully aware of the massive responsibility he shoulders every time he reports for work. He has never lost sight of what he learned in flight school at the age of just eighteen: why flight plans use the term "souls on board." Right then he had to evaluate his prospects as a pilot. "Could he bear the burden of duty Could he be the man the job demanded?" He reminds himself as he performs the pre-flight checks that he has "souls on board" . . . and after the kidnapper's demand is communicated to him, he is believably horrified that he is being asked to choose between the innocent souls entrusted to his care and his precious family. It is an impossible situation which is, of course, the kidnapper's point. Sam also warns him not to involve the authorities or try to warn the flight crew, further complicating Bill's predicament.

Carrie is a mother placed in a nightmare situation. It is her duty to protect her children. Little Elise is too young to comprehend the danger they are in, of course, but Scott is being traumatized before Carrie's eyes. And, in his father's absence, trying to be very brave. Carrie also knows her husband's character and assures Sam that there is no way Bill will crash the plane. He will never choose Carrie and the children over all of the souls on board his flight. All Carrie can do is remain as calm as possible, comfort the children, watch for an opportunity to take action herself . . . and have faith that Bill will figure out a solution. Because everything is at stake. He has to.

Jo, Big Daddy, and Kellie also play critical roles in the story. Jo is their leader and Newman convincingly portrays the events that unfold in the cabin from her perspective. As Newman explains, "Once the doors shut, that's your cabin." After 9/11, the design of cockpit doors and access procedures were revised. Now the pilot and copilot are literally locked in the cockpit behind a door that cannot be breached, leaving the flight crew on their own to manage whatever happens in the cabin. Jo has dealt with in-flight crises over the years, but nothing like the threat posed by Sam. And like Bill, she knows there is a strong likelihood that there is a co-conspirator onboard, ready to implement the kidnapper's backup plan -- whatever that might be -- if Bill does not comply with Sam's orders. But who might that be? A passenger? Or, worse, a member of the crew?

The book moves at a steady, relentless pace as Bill, Jo, and Jo's nephew, Theo, an FBI agent whose career already hung in the balance before he learned about the drama unfolding on Flight 416, frantically work to out-smart Sam and his co-conspirator. Theo has to convince his superiors that his Aunt Jo is indeed taking care of her cabin and the threat must be taken seriously, even though that means involving officials at the highest levels of government and invoking protocols that leave no margin for error.

Newman's narrative is tautly constructed and, because of her decade of experience in the airline industry, thoroughly, frighteningly believable. She explains why characters take particular actions and why protocols exist (with some dramatic license), enhancing reader's comprehension of the threat. And the kidnapper's motivation, once explained, is infuriating, shocking, and, with the benefit of hindsight, entirely predictable.

Falling is engrossing, entertaining, and a perfect choice for readers who enjoy fast-moving, plausible thrillers. It is a stunningly accomplished and polished effort from a first-time novelist, which bodes well for Newman's next effort, the details of which she has not disclosed. Set aside time to read because the book is un-put-down-able.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.

Becky H

A THRILLING RIDE
FALLING by T J Newman

After you suspend logic, this thriller delivers thrills a minute and then some. The premise is simple. The bad guys have kidnapped a pilot’s family and want hm to crash his plane or they will kill his family. What follows is a relentless thrill ride as we travel along with the crew and innocent passengers. How can our brave pilot save both his family AND his plane. And, of course, why do the bad guys want him to crash the plane anyway.

The crew and bad guys are pretty standard characters. Jo, the head flight attendant, is actually a more well drawn character than the pilot. It is obvious that the writer is extremely familiar with planes, the security systems on board them, and the flight attendants whose real job is to keep the passengers safe not serve them coffee.
You WILL get drawn into the intricacies of the plot. You WILL stay up late reading to discover how this turns out. A good debut for a first-time author (and former flight attendant) who puts her knowledge of flight systems to good use.

4 stars for a thrilling ride.

techeditor

Suspend disbelief
If you can suspend disbelief here and there, you'll really enjoy FALLING. I did, and so did everyone else in my book group. FALLING is a fast read because you won't want to put it down.

Terrorists have given an airline pilot a choice: crash his plane with 140 "souls" onboard and save the lives of his kidnapped family, or land the plane, saving passengers and crew but resulting in his family's deaths. His answer is that neither the people on the plane nor his family are going to die. At that I admit that the book is ultimately predictable, but it was so much fun to read about how everyone--the passengers and crew on the plane, the pilot's wife and two children, the two (yes, just two) terrorists, the FBI, the air traffic controllers, the President of the United States, and even the baseball players and fans at Yankee Stadium--learned about and dealt with this terrorist threat.

My criticism is T.J. Newman's waste of time describing the pilot's dreams. They add nothing of consequence to the story.

Others poke holes in this story and criticize its authenticity. I don't at all. I'd be willing to bet that, once you start FALLING, you'll be willing to suspend disbelief and you won't want to stop.