If you’re in need of an emotional and nerve rattling adventure, TJ Newman has just the one for you. Drowning tells the harrowing and deadly story of the soul’s onboard flight fourteen twenty-one who are in for the ride of their lives.

Will Kent and his daughter Shannon are on flight fourteen twenty-one, departing Honolulu headed for San Francisco, when one of the engines on the Airbus A321 disintegrates right after takeoff. Then after one of the scariest things you can imagine on an airplane happens, you’re headed straight for a crash in the ocean. As Will, Shannon, and a bunch of others who survive the landing attempt to deplane, the evacuation faces a serious hurdle that doesn’t bode well for most. As flight fourteen twenty-one slowly graces the depths off the Hawaiian coast, a whole host of emergency teams along with the Navy and Coast Guard gear up for a huge rescue attempt.

Time and time again plans change as the situation in the depths of the ocean grows more perilous and the chance of survival continues to diminish. Plans are made then altered as the plane comes to rest on a cliff edge, as the balancing act of rescue becomes a tight rope walk by the dive teams. Who survives and who perishes may just be a thing of luck.

Newman has clearly found a golden horseshoe as this is another frightening and intrigue-saturated thriller. She smartly uses details as needed to avoid leading readers down unnecessary technical paths. The storyline is delicately balanced between the main thread and the characters that support it. I really enjoyed Drowning and the effort Newman put into her sophomore release, as any person could make a connection with the humanity in her characters. There is a certain grace that she exudes from her writing, that when combined with the fear that she doesn’t hold back on, creates a vivid and wild journey you won’t be able to put down.

Recently estranged from his wife, Will Kent is accompanying his 11-year-old daughter from their Hawaii home to a camp in San Francisco when just after takeoff, the plane gets in serious trouble and has to ditch into the Pacific. Many passengers escape through the emergency exits but 12 passengers and crew including Will and his daughter are stuck in the plane underwater, fortunately in an air bubble. There is chaos outside the plane including those who escaped now facing more dangers. One survivor is able to tell his rescuers about those alive in the sunken plane. To rescue them will be risky but plans are made then aborted as it’s way too dangerous. However there’s one person with an idea—a person who works on ships undersea. That person just happens to be Will’s estranged wife.

First-rate writing along with nail-biting suspense combine for a read that’s unputdownable! I read and loved the author’s first novel Falling and Drowning may even be better. No sophomore slump here! Highly recommended. Five very exuberant stars.

Goodreads review in link. Thank you for the book!

There were some indenting things that were weird, like a character would be talking and there would be a blank line in between. There were also some spacing errors like two spaces instead of one.

Great book, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of those plane movies.

This is a page turner, edge of your seat read! I’m not sure I should have read this a few weeks before a family vacation to Hawaii. I may never want to fly again! I’m definitely going to check out T.J. Newman’s book, Falling, and any future books she writes.

Couldn’t put it down. Read from cover to cover in one sitting. In addition to masterful suspense, the characters and their stories are ones I was invested in from the start. Great read!

Since I loved Falling, I had incredibly high hopes for Drowning, and it didn't disappoint. Over the hours that I binged this book, I went through a range of emotions - fear, excitement, worry - and grew to love the brief glimpses we saw of each character. I hope to see Drowning made into a movie someday, as it's incredibly fast paced and engaging. Absolutely loved it!

If you liked T. J. Newman's first book Falling, then this one will not disappoint. This one was an intense, roller-coaster ride of disaster, humanity, forgiveness, ingenuity, and white-knuckle suspense. While my worse nightmare of ending up in a plane crash that falls to the bottom of the ocean is the subject of this book, I still read it in almost one setting. Highly recommended.

I read this in almost one sitting and finished with my coffee the next morning. I couldn't turn the pages enough. The action starts immediately and races thru the whole book to the very last page. I WILL be recommending this to all my book friends!!

Seriously good. It was one of those books that I couldn't wait to get back to. I finished in only a couple of days and now I'm sad it's over! As much as I loved "Falling," I think I loved this even more! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

WOW! WOW! What a book! I was so excited to start this book! Had me hooked on the very first page and didn’t let up! Read this book in on day-I could not put it down. Loved the characters and the story was great. Awesome book! Thank you to NetGalley, TJ Newman and Avid Reader Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC..⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Not sure if I’ll ever get on a plane again!

4.75 stars rounded up to 5!

One word, WOW! This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time! This book was packed with action from start to finish and I could not put this down. If you liked Falling, you will love this book too.

Minutes after flight 1421 takes off it suffers a catastrophic failure and the plane needs to be ditched in the ocean. People are panicking and trying to get off the plane but Will ends up convincing a few people it is safer to stay inside the plane. Things take a turn for the worse and the plane ends up sinking to the bottom of the ocean with some passengers and crew inside the plane. Their only chance at rescue/survival is an elite team that is headed by Chris, Will's wife. Will they all survive?

I really loved the vivid descriptions and details of the book. T.J. did a lot of great research and it shows. I also really loved each of the characters in the book. They each brought something to the story and I enjoyed reading from everyones POV. This book should be made into a movie, it was that good.

This book hits shelves on May 30th, make sure to get a copy!

Thanks Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very good book It had a lot of action Read it I two days Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher
For the Chance to read this Hopfally this will be a movie too Just like her first Falling already is which will also be good

WOW! This is going to be THE book of summer 2023! It is edge of your seat, gotta read just one more page, can't possibly stop (or eat, or sleep, or...) until you are done kinda good. I loved Falling - this is better! It is not, nor is it meant to be, fine literature - it is a great story by a very talented author. T.J. Newman is a rising star and I don't think she can write a bad book. Read this - you won't be sorry.

TJ Newman is back with another fast paced plane disaster that makes me never want to step foot onto an airplane.

Just six minutes after taking off, Flight 1421 plunges into the Pacific Ocean in a burst of fire. Many of the passengers attempt to escape the plane, but Will, an engineer, tries to convince them to stay put, that it’s safer inside the plane. Only 12 believe him and as the plane sinks to the bottom of the ocean, they aren’t sure they made the right choice. Now, the Will, his 11 year old daughter, and 10 others have only each other and the hope that someone above the water is coming to rescue them. Time is ticking, the water is rising inside the plane, and their oxygen levels are getting dangerously low.

If you liked her first book, Falling, I can’t imagine that you won’t like this one. It’s just as fast paced, it’s just as heart pounding, and it makes you think just as much about what you’d do in this situation. The will to survive is strong with the twelve passengers we’re following, but so are tensions and that makes for an interesting dynamic between them.

One of the rescuers is Chris - Will’s ex-wife, Shannon’s mom - which just adds another layer of heartache to the story, especially as a parent. But you know that she will stop at nothing to save her family, even if it means risking her own life.

I’ll be honest in that I liked this just a touch less than Falling and I think it’s only because there was a lot of language around the plane itself - more technical terms that I had a hard time picturing. Plus, sadly, it’s easier to picture the scene inside of Falling, rather than the one inside Drowning.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and at the beginning of the book it seems like you’ll never get them all straight. But by the end, you’ll find yourself just pleading for all twelve of them to make it out of the plane safely.

I absolutely flew through this book, inhaling every heart pounding minute. Especially toward the end of the book, the last 20% or so, when one thing after another seems to go wrong, this is when it feels as if TJ Newman really shines.

This book will be featured on an upcoming episode of Reading Through Life podcast.

This book was such an edge of your seat suspense! A few minutes after take off, the plane suddenly has a malfunction and the only place to land is the ocean.
I was hooked the whole time reading this. The author went really in depth in research and I did have to google a few things. I also loved that a woman came up with an idea on how to rescue the people still stranded underwater in the plane.
I did like the first novel from the author and this book was just as good!

HOLY WOW. I thought Falling the author’s fist novel had me on the edge of my seat but this one ramped up the tension a thousand fold and I don’t know that I took a breath while it was happening. It was just a wonderful read and I hope to read more from TJ Newman as soon as possible.

I grew up watching every disaster/airplane catastrophe movie so I knew this book would be right up my alley. Another great book by T.J. Newman that will keep you reading through the night. Fast paced and suspenseful with plenty of turns that will keep you guessing.

Having read and enjoyed T.J.Newman’s Falling, I erroneously assumed that her years and experiences as a flight attendant led to the creation of that novel and that there would not be a second book. Boy, was I ever wrong! Drowning is an extremely difficult book to read — unless, of course, you don’t mind reading a book with a constant lump in your throat and tears streaming down your cheeks.
The story begins with a crash of an airplane moments after takeoff and, somehow, it creates the feeling that the reader is actually on the plane. Words like exciting and thrilling do not adequately describe the emotions felt by this reader who quickly became enmeshed in the lives of the characters — both on the plane and those involved in the rescue and recovery process.
If it were possible to give this novel more than 5 stars, I would! I thank NetGalley, Avid Reader Press and Simon & Schuster, Inc. for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication. A special thanks to Ms. Newman with the hope that she has more excitement in store for us.

Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book for me to review.
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The flight attendant turned New York Times bestselling author T. J. Newman—whose first book Falling was an instant #1 national bestseller and the biggest thriller debut of 2021—returns for her second book, an edge-of-your-seat thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean, and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside, and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them.
Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashed into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.
More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives.
Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent—Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife—who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff.
There’s not much time.
There’s even less air.
With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family’s desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them—against impossible odds

This book is gripping and engrossing and will make you question flying almost as much as TJ's previous novel Falling. At least flying over water! The characters and their backstories were lovely and I did do an ugly cry more than once (no spoilers but it's rough after a plane crash when you are trying to survive!)
I will highly recommend this to all friends, family and patrons and anyone I see reading on the train to Montreal and congratulate them for not flying! (I have had some of the best conversations about books on a #viarailcanada train!)
#shortbutsweetreviews

I tore through this book in one night; literally could not put this down. Incredible, thrilling read. I've been hearing about this book for weeks on Bookstagram and Booktok and it did not disappoint. The traumatic set-up, the character development, the backstory - it was all so perfectly crafted. I felt on edge and so tense the entire time, my heart racing, adrenaline pumping. Almost as if I were watching a film. Which, by the way, I cannot wait for this film adaption, and I read the film rights were part of one of the biggest bidding wars of the year! I can't wait to buy this book for friends and family and share. Thank you NetGalley for the early digital copy. I will be thinking about this book for a long time - especially any time I'm on a plane!