Excellent thriller. What happens when a plane is hijacked and the pilot is given a choice, crash the plane or your family will be killed. The twist, the highjacker is on the ground and an unknown accomplice is on the plane.

I enjoyed this one. From the action in the cockpit, the crew trying to anticipate what to do, and the action on the ground, it was suspenseful and entertaining. I look forward to reading more from T.J. Newman.

Bill Hoffman is a pilot at the top of his game. He has been a pilot for many years now and except for his wife, son and baby daughter, he loves his job more than anything in his life. Today's journey should be easy. He is flying from Los Angeles to New York and his favorite flight attendant is working the flight. He doesn't know his co-pilot Ben very well but he has liked what he's seen.

But today's flight will be different. Bill finds out his family has been kidnapped. The kidnapper gives him a choice: Bill can crash the plane with all its passengers or they will give his family. He must make the decision. Readers may well have to put the book down occasionally as the tenseness of the situation is almost more than one can handle.

T.J. Newman is a former flight attendant and it's obvious she knows about flights and the relationship between a pilot and his crew after they have flown together numerous times. The tension in this one starts out right at the beginning and is ratcheted up again and again until the reader's pulse is racing. The book debuted at number two on the New York Times bestselling list and her subsequent novels are doing as well. This novel has already been commissioned to become a television series in the near future and is recommended for thriller readers.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, I wasn't sure how it was going to end. The twists were good. I kept asking myself "Could this really happen?" I recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This. Was. Intense. I l9ved the alternating points of view, the characters, the plot. You can tell the author has experience flying as a crew member. I can definitely picture this as a movie or TV series (along the lines of 24). I can't wait to read more from T. J. Newman.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This review is my voluntary and unbiased opinion.

This is a fast-paced novel that takes you on a thrill ride filled with on the edge of your seat suspense. The author having worked as a flight attendant adds to the reality of the events. Unfortunately, it begins with terrorists looking for justice by holding the pilot hostage. They give him the unspeakable choice of saving his family or the passengers on his flight. They torture the pilot and his family by Facetiming with them. The experienced flight attendant, Jo, becomes an integral part of the story by trying to keep the passengers calm and in control amid the chaos. You will find yourself rooting for Jo and the brave team as they try to survive. You may not want to take a plane ride immediately after reading but you won't need one as you'll feel like you were just on a trip of your life.


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A heart-stopping thriller that catapults readers into the tumultuous world of Bill Henderson, an airline pilot whose ordinary workday takes a nightmarish turn when he discovers his wife and children have been taken hostage. The chilling ultimatum handed to Bill by a ruthless terrorist sets the stage for a harrowing journey filled with high-stakes choices and heart-pounding tension.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster and author T. J. Newman for the opportunity to review the advance copy of this book.

A tense action packed thriller, great for fans of James Patterson. Falling reads a lot like a great airplane novel, interestingly enough. The sort of book you pick up in an airport bookstore and ravenously tear through on a long flight. Ironic considering the material. Tense, gripping, and very involving, this thriller will keep even the most seasoned thriller fans on the edge of their seat.

As someone who can find suspense/thriller books a bit same-same, I was pleasantly surprised at how gripping I found this title. A fast-paced page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen. However, I thought the character development was lacking a bit. Aside from that, I LOVED the Jo and Daddy characters and I was definitely invested in the story.

Such a propulsive debut, could not stop turning the pages. The characters were well developed and I really was invested in their eventual outcomes.

Wow I can't believe it took me this long to pick this up, non stop from the the very start, had me setting on the edge of my set which each tour of the page ,

I couldn't believe it—I finished this book in just 2 days! It's the fastest I've read in a very long time. From the very first page, I was completely hooked. The story is incredibly thrilling, and you can't help but be desperate to know what will happen to these characters.
As someone who has always been fascinated by aviation and the flight crew, I have to say they are truly amazing at what they do. Their skills and dedication are inspiring.
What's even more impressive is that this is TJ Newman's first novel, and she is also a flight attendant herself! How cool is that? Her writing is exceptionally well done, and the story itself is nothing short of amazing. If you're stuck in a book slump, I highly recommend picking up this page-turner—it's guaranteed to get you out of it.

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.

The story was fast and thrilling enough, but I felt no connection to any of the characters. There was enough going on to keep me interested, but it was fairly predictable.

I agree with other reviewers that this book was a bit too unbelievable but I loved every second of it and the book was perfectly written it was like I was watching a movie unfold

Falling reads like an action packed summer blockbuster on the big screen. Settle in with your popcorn and strap in for this crazy ride. Think Speed but instead of a runaway bus we have an airplane headed towards New York City.

Intense & unputdownable. Definitely the type of book you read in one sitting. Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press/ Simon & Schuster for this ARC. 4 stars.

This is one gut punch of a book! What would do you if you had to crash the plane you were flying or else terrorists would kill your family? A little bit unbelievable, but totally entertaining. I'd try this author again.

This is a fantastic debut thriller, with just the right amount of action, tempered with some humor and some clever twists. The story alternates between the goings on in the cockpit, the flight crew and passengers outside in the cabin, and the kidnapped Hoffman family. I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley

Loved this book, it is a fast read and kept me engaged. Some parts seemed a bit far fetched to me but all in all it was definitely entertaining. I am not sure what I would do or how I would react if I was a pilot and was given such an impossible decision (crash the plane or his family will be killed). Bill (the pilot) had to make that decision and yet he refused to let either happen. It feels like such a personal attack on Bill but Sam (the kidnapper and tormenter of Bill) made it quite clear that it actually had nothing to do with him and everything to do with the how the United States treated his country and his people.

Thank you for my gifted copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for a candid review!

Tone deaf. Just utterly tone deaf. I was excited to read this one, and got lucky by getting an ARC. Prepare for minor spoilers.

This book has been hyped to the moon and the premise just shocked me. Imagine releasing a book in 2021 where the villains are Middle Eastern immigrants who hijack a plane with the intent of crashing it to cause mass death. This book might have made more sense if it was released in 2002, but it just doesn't seem the author took into consideration the implications of who her villains were.

The author is a former flight attendant and the attention to detail is clear, every meticulous action on the plane feels legit. It because of her background that this ends up feeling like a 9/11 revenge fantasy. Which given everything going on in the world, it feels exploitative to make her villains Middle Eastern with personal gripes against the US.

Aside from that, it's fine. It moves, there's tension, there's preposterous action sequences. The characters are sort of archetypal. It might have been entertaining but it's just hard to jump the hurdle of the messy politics.