Very cinematic. An adrenaline rush of a novel but with heart, deep characterization, and smooth writing. This is sure to be one of the hits of the summer. I’m looking to reading what TJ Newman has in store next.

One of the best books ever. Could not put it down. I loved the characters and how they interacted. Very sospenful.

Falling has edge-of-your-seat action that was just made for the movies. It's hard to put it down until you find out how it ends. Every time you think it's about to wind down, one more challenge appears.

Thank you to NetGalleyy for ARC. Whoa, this thriller is SO GOOD! Bill was called in to cover for another pilot. Little did he know he was taking part in a terrorist plot against his family and everyone on board the commercial flight. He receives an email telling him that he needs to crash the plane with 151 souls on board or his family will be killed. To make matters worse, there was another terrorist on board to make sure he followed the commands. I read this book so fast because I had to know what happened next!!!! It was well written and kept me on the edge of my seat! #falling #tjnewman #july2021

A plane. The family of the pilot kidnapped by terrorists and a crew willing to do anything to save the "souls" that travel in the plane.
With this premise, the author writes an action-packed thriller with a story that hooks up to the end. Great material for a movie. Definitely recommended.

An experienced pilot, a hundred and thirty passengers on his plane and a straightforward flight to New York. The passengers settle in for the flight little knowing that the pilot's wife and two children have been kidnapped and the pilot has been told that if he wants to see his family again, then he must crash the plane!
This is a great read and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
I thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I haven’t said this often but I wish I could give 10 stars to this book because it deserves them. I will follow this author, in the hope that she will do another book. The emotions that I felt while reading it were some of the most powerful that I have ever felt while reading any novel.Good job!

Very much a version of the movie Speed only on a plane. The book opens with airplane pilot Bill leaving to captain an unexpected flight. His boss asked him directly so he didn’t feel he can say no. About 20 minutes into his flight he enters a nightmare. He gets a video call on his tablet. A man is holding his wife and son hostage. Both wearing vests of explosives. Bill gets a chilling instruction. Crash the plane, or his family dies. The remainder of the novel goes on with Bill trying to figure out how he can save his family and all the passengers on board. Enlisting the assistance of the flight attendants on board, he does his best to keep his subterfuge secret so as not to rouse the suspicion of the man who is threatening his family’s life.

I can’t say that this book does anything brand new or supremely exciting, but it was enjoyable and has some good action and some interesting characters. Definitely a good one when you consider that it’s a debut. I think if you enjoy shows like 24 then you may enjoy this book too. Better than a 3-star but not quite a 4-star so I’m splitting the difference at 3.5.

Releases July 6, 2021

Received from Avid Reader Press via Netgalley

I enjoyed this novel. The plot was well conceived. The prose was just average, but it's a plot-driven story so that's fine.

I truly enjoyed this book and I'm so glad someone finally took a chance on this new author. The book was well written and kept up at a good pace. The characters were likeable and there was just enough guess work to keep you on your toes. It is frightening to think that a situation like this could actually happen but it's also encouraging to know there are many options in place that us land lovers would never know about. I highly recommend this book.

A fantastic thrill ride as pilot Ben’s family is kidnapped and he’s faced with the choice of sacrificing his family or Flight 416 from LAX to JFK. Resolute in his determination that neither will happen, his cabin crew proves as strong as he is.

Reading Falling was like reading an action movie. The way T.J. Newman tells the story makes your heart race from the first word. It was hard to put down because you just had to know how it all ended.

Captain Bill Hoffman’s family is kidnapped and he has the difficult choice of saving his family or the 149 souls on board the flight.

But can Bill save everyone even though there is a mole on board who also wants to see the plane crash to get their message told to the whole world.

Throughout the fast pace story, that will leave you on the edge of your seat and cause your heart to race the story alternates between the actions being taken on and off the plane to thwart the plane from crashing or the Hoffman family being murdered.

The only complaint I had was one of the characters nicknames was Big Daddy and he was always called Daddy which was weird to me but didn’t take away from the actual story

Thanks to Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Terrorists kidnap a pilot’s family and force him to make a choice - crash the plane he’s flying, or his family dies. That’s the premise of Falling, written by a flight attendant, and the subject of a lot of positive chatter. Unfortunately, don’t believe the hype on this one. Stereotypical characters, implausible situations and cliches fill this book, which reads more like a comic book than a thriller. While a certain amount of literary license is expected in this type of novel, this one stretches those boundaries to the point where it’s just plain ridiculous (when you read the baseball scene, you’ll understand). If you’re looking for a mindless, almost slapstick-type action story, you’re in luck. As for a suspenseful thriller, it was a disappointment. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Falling by T. j. Newman
Rating: 5 stars

Summary: A pilot and his family are taken hostage and kidnapped to facilitate a crash of a jetliner into a unknown target. A group of three dedicated airline stewardess on board must help the pilot save and land the aircraft with a 144 souls on board.

Comments: Certainly a fresh take on the thriller genre with a rip roaring pulse bender of a novel. It’s a rather short novel but gets right to the point of a thrill ride, literally. This thriller should make a great summer read, and just in time.

A Pilot’s Nightmare Become Reality

Ben has reluctantly accepted piloting a flight when he should have been at his son’s little league game. He leaves home with his wife angry at him and isn’t able to contact her before his flight leaves the airport. When in flight, he receives a message from home but is dumbfounded with what he sees. His wife is wearing an explosive vest, she and their son are bound and gagged, and the man holding them hostage has one message for him. You will crash your plane or I will kill your family. If you tell anyone else, your family dies.
Ben’s reply, I’m not going to crash this plane and you’re not going to kill my family. Somehow, Ben must figure out how to make that possible.

Falling didn’t quite live up to the hype from the noted authors. Although the premise of the story is good, the actions by some of the characters were too unrealistic. The story started with a shock, dwindled for a while in the middle, arriving in a tense, if overacted, conclusion. Ben’s character was well developed, as was Jo, the lead flight attendant on the plane. The kidnapper and Jo’s uncle Theo were unrealistic. The teamwork of the flight attendants lent a heroic atmosphere to the story, but the impossible scenarios were numerous as well. With that said, I did enjoy the story, and the tension buildup at the end was real, even if the storyline was overworked.

Thank you Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and T. J. Newman for an ARC cop of Falling.

I absolutely LOVED this book. What a compelling thriller. Grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let you down until it’s finished. Honestly I would love a sequel with another adventure. This book starts out innocently enough with a typical American family. The cable is out and the repairman is there working as the family prepares to face another day. The father a pilot has picked up a flight and is out the door not realizing that the cable repairman is not who he seems. As soon as he boards his flight and takes off the story begins. A terrorist has kidnapped his family demanding a trade. Either crash the plane or he will kill his family. I could not wait to see what would happen in this thriller. I found out later that this is the authors first book and I eagerly await more, I’m definitely a fan

This book was just what I needed to get out of my reading slump. Suspenseful, fast paced and full of heart! Would definitely recommend.

This book had a very interesting storyline and great writing for both character development and being able to follow the events in it. Despite the quality of the writing, the book read like watching a bad, very predictable, movie. Theo’s actions were so ridiculous, the car scene just a total disregard for any sanity in his actions or consideration of the results of it. The flight attendants were likeable, but also a bit cliché, poor Kellie being played to have no brain. I think the story could have been written with Theo actually working with his team and leaving out the theatrics of the president being cut off mid-sentence. At least the ending didn’t disappoint. That being said, I think there are many that will enjoy this book, because they do like the action scenes and the quick thinking of the characters, as the clock is ticking.

This book took off running right from the first page and did not stop until the end.

Pilot Bill Hoffman has a dream that the plane he is flying is about to crash and then wakes up with a jolt and we learn that this is not the first time Bill has had this dream. His morning then starts out normally, even having a rift with his wife, Carrie about him missing his sons baseball game. Bill then leaves his house for the airport at the same time a technician comes to the house to fix the internet.

From there it is a whirlwind of a novel. The buildup was quick, but you didn't feel like you missed anything. Once you thought the threat might be handled it just got worse and then worse again, and the needing to know what happened next kept you glued to the pages. Bill has to chose between his family and a flight full of innocent people. Will he crash the plane? Can he trust everyone on board? Will his wife and kids make it? I literally could not put the book down until I knew these answers.

This is a phenomenal debut for T.J. Newman and I can't wait to see what they do next.

*Falling Is One Of The Worst Books I’ve Read In 60 Years Of Being An Avid Reader!

I’m very aggravated with myself for being taken in by all the prepublication hype for Falling. I let the praise from some respected authors — such as Don Winslow who described the book as “stunning and relentless...a JAWS at 35,000 feet”...outweigh my hesitancy about reading it stemming from the fact that 41 consecutive previous literary agents rejected it. Please don’t let my mistake become yours when you start seeing and hearing the promotional efforts by the publisher who will be trying to convince you that Falling is going to be this summer’s blockbuster bestseller when it is published on July 6th. It may very well turn out that way but being forewarned is being forearmed.

I’ll leave it to you to check the description of Falling (along with some of the hype) on Amazon or Goodreads. The remainder of my review will tell you just some of my reasons for having such an unusually strong negative opinion of it:

...First-time author T.J. Newman’s writing style is clumsy, choppy and, sad to say, amateurish;
...The book is virtually devoid of any meaningful character development, and what there is is one-dimensional at best. For me, the characters too often came across as comic book figures rather than “real life” people;
...The plot (which I had high hopes for prior to starting Falling), the dialog and the various actions taken by the “good” and “bad” characters was so implausible for me that instead of considering them to be exciting/suspenseful/attention-holding, I had a hard time keeping my eyes from rolling around in my head. This continued to the point that by the time I got to the last 50-60 pages — which were intended to be the most dramatic part of the book — I found myself skimming through them in order to get to the only real exciting part of the book for me, which was to come to THE END.

And, if the above reasons aren’t enough for you, while I can’t cite specifics about the political motivations for the “bad guys” without providing spoilers, I’ll just say they were unoriginal and preachy.

#Falling #Net Galley