I was completely engrossed with this book from beginning to end and finished it in one day.

It reminded me of a more fictionalized and sensational version of the book Nuclear War by Annie Jacobson but was easier and more fun to read.

I have enjoyed all the books by the author and was pleasantly surprised that she stepped away from the claustrophobic thrillers that we are used to. I went into this expecting the book to be about stopping the tragedy while on the plane. It starts with the tragedy already having happened, and dives right into the aftermath.

This book had less of a Lifetime movie feel than the author's past work, but was still reminiscent of it, especially towards the end.

Overall, I thought it was a great read.

4.5⭐️

T.J. Newman does it again! She has quickly become an auto-read author for me, so I was ecstatic when I was approved for an #arc via @netgalley. Thank you @littlebrown!

To set the scene, you live in small town Waketa, MN and a commercial airline’s plane crashes into the nuclear power plant… What now and how can a Chernobyl level disaster be avoided.

Without giving a lot away, the story that unfolds is high-stakes, action packed, and emotion filled. While Newman’s books are intense thrillers that read like a movie, she always brings in the element of family and human emotion through her characters which is what gets me every time. I’m not a cryer and her books get me a little choked up sometimes! There are a few different relationships/family dynamics you see in the book, but Steve and his son Matt 🥹🖤

I highly recommend giving this one a shot! Just to add, it’s not as aviation heavy if you’re not into that type of plot and had prevented you from picking up her last two books.

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman—This upcoming novel (releasing 8/13) is like a disaster movie in book form. All you need to know is that it is about a plane crashing into a nuclear power plant and the potential disaster that could ensue from the crash. It is a real page-turner and I pictured The Rock possibly playing one of the characters in a movie version. It is best to just set aside all of the events of the book being 100% realistic and just enjoy the action. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance digital copy.

Newman’s previous 2 novels are set inflight while the plane is in turmoil, so I expected much of the same given the author and the cover art. Instead, said plane has already crashed by the first few chapters. This story focuses on those on the ground where sections of the plane are headed - which also happens to be a town housing a nuclear power plant. Panic ensues.

I am still not sure how I feel about this one, but perhaps Newman was sick of writing about plane disasters - which she is brilliant at! Instead, we follow various groups having to make quick decisions to save the town. The book is full of selfless acts and gut wrenching losses. Portions force the reader to take a hard, ugly look at mortality and question what a fulfilled life really means.

I love this writer and how she is able to create nail biting scenarios, but this one didn’t hit the same way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Hatchette Audio for the gifted advanced copies. I have read both of Newman’s previous books and knew I had to get this one! She writes edge of your seat thrillers that can spike your heart rate like nobody else! I listened to this one in a day and just wanted to sit and binge it. Worst Case Scenario is unlike her previous two books, while this does involve a plane, it’s more about what happens on the ground following a plane crash. I really enjoyed immersing myself in this book and living through these characters while they faced such terrifying moments! It’s one of those books that make you stop and think what you would do in each situation and I love that! It had me going through the emotions! I would say this is my favorite of Newman’s so far and I’m excited to see what she comes out with next!

This book was quite an experience. On the one hand, it is full of technical explanations and language about the workings of a powerplant. This was somewhat of an issue for me because my eyes started to glaze over during parts of the HOWEVER, the development of the plots and characters far surpassed my expectations and made the little bit of “work” totally worth it. My heart fell, spirits lifted, mind boggled, and surprise rankled throughout the book. This book addresses a pilot’s worse nightmare: What happens if a plane crashes into a nuclear powerplant? (new fear unlocked.) Devastation does not begin to answer this. However, the book does so in such a terrifying way. Not for the feint of heart. Thank you to Little and Brown andNetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Little Brown Company and Netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I mostly listened to the audiobook version of this book but did read individual chapters of the digital copy.

Wow, T.J. Newman can do no wrong. I was worried that this book would be similar to her others since the covers all look incredibly similar. I couldn't be farther from the truth. This book reads like a movie. The narrator did an incredible job of making you feel the tension and angst between the characters. I was hooked on each plot line up until the end. I got teary-eyed at points and couldn't imagine people making such life-changing decisions.

I cannot wait to see what T.J. Newman comes up with after this great release.

Posted to my Goodreads page:
Hold on to your seats TJ Newman has done it again! Although this book does involve a plane, it does not involve the rescue of the plane’s passengers. Instead it asks the question what happens if a plane crashes at a nuclear power plant?
While still a nail biter, this book isn’t quite as action packed as her last two. There is more stream of conscious thought and philosophical questions, and I found it dragged in those places. It is still a quick, solid read and I finished it in a few days while on vacation.
There is also a secondary plot involving the rescue of a vehicle stuck at a bridge. I spent a lot of time wondering how it connected and although it was explained at the end, I thought it lacked overall relevance to the main plot and could’ve been edited better by tying into another set of characters’ storyline.
Make sure you bring your tissues for this one, I cried in several places, which doesn’t happen often.
Without providing spoilers, this may be a tough one for anyone with triggers regarding children.
Definitely recommend this for an end of summer read and I’m excited to see what Newman has planed next for her readers.

Disclaimer - I was provided an e@arc by the publisher for an honest review.

“Worst Case Scenario” by T. J. Newman is a heart pounding, suspense filled thriller that is impossible to put down. The story takes place in a small town close to Minneapolis when a commercial airplane pilot has a medical emergency and the plane crashes into a nuclear power plant.

Immediately, a nonstop race against the clock to prevent a local, national and world wide catastrophe ensues. It is impossible not to become involved with the characters who are facing danger at every turn for themselves their families and their community. Their heroic actions are an important reminder of how people come together in times of great tragedy.

I recommend clearing your calendar to read this book because once you start reading you wont stop!

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tragedy in the air. A pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet. The commercial plane has a full flight of passengers as it crashes into a nuclear power plant. Emergency responders, power plant employees, neighbors, friends, families, teachers and brave ordinary people are all affected. If you cannot image the domino effect of this tragic event, it is laid out within the pages of a new thriller titled Worst Case Scenario.

One of the stages of copyediting that I offer to clients is whether the material is appropriate for the intended audience. Readers should not feel confused or the need to look up every other word/phrase. Authors should not dumb down content and risk insulting the reader. In this book, thank goodness for the "dumb firefighter questions" because I would have been lost with all the jargon.

There is a thin line between experience/knowledge and talking above the average person's understanding. It is more than apparent that Newman has a background in aviation. This serves her well in writing gripping stories. But make it understandable for those of us with no idea of the logistics behind a plane crash or nuclear events.

Unlike Newman's other novels that I categorize as hits, Worst Case Scenario was a miss. I was lost because of the language. I grew bored because of too many details. And I couldn't keep track of the many characters. If you are new to T.J. Newman, do NOT read Worst Case Scenario first as it might turn you off. I recommend her other novels.

Happy Early Pub Day, T.J. Newman! Worst Case Scenario will be available Tuesday, August 13.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

Thriller novelist T.J. Newman has repeatedly captured lightning in a bottle. She was formerly a flight attendant until her first novel, Falling, became a bestseller and landed a movie deal. Her second novel, Drowning, did the same. Her third novel, Worst Case Scenario, will likely repeat the trick as this is a highly cinematic read that puts its foot on the gas pedal from the get-go and doesn’t let up. And, yes, this has “bestseller material” written right over it. Worst Case Scenario might not only be the best thriller I’ve read in a long time, but it also shows a deep maturity in Newman’s writing style since her Falling days. This novel’s scope is broader, and the threat is even more significant. And, to wit, this book isn’t afraid to do the taboo thing of putting children in peril. Or worse, killing them off entirely. Worst Case Scenario is one of those high-octane thrillers you often read about that you should go ahead and just read instead. It’s damn near perfect, even if its characters sometimes speak in monologues, and American jingoism is occasionally present.

The set-up is this: A pilot on a packed commercial aircraft suffers a fatal heart attack at 35,000 feet, and his backup is incapacitated. The jet crashes almost directly into a nuclear power plant in the small village of Waketa, Minnesota. The debris field is large, and a clipped wing has pinned a young five-year-old boy in a family minivan on a bridge across the Mississippi. Possibly more alarmingly, while the nuclear reactor has not taken a precise hit, its cooling pools where spent fuel rods are resting has. The control room staff of the plant has less than 16 hours to figure out a way to stop water from leaking out of the pool, and that’s not before other problems start to crop up. Meanwhile, the town’s lone fire truck personnel have to make the heart-wrenching decision to either save the young boy on the bridge or assist at the nuclear plant. The implications of the disaster are such that if the power plant goes into meltdown, the impact on the environment would be worse than Chernobyl or Fukushima — possibly escaping the two nuclear disasters combined and threatening to turn the human race into what happened to the dinosaurs.

A book like Worst Case Scenario shouldn’t work. Its premise is cheesy and based on some whoppers of “what ifs.” However, the fact that it does work is contingent on giving readers a wide-scale disaster to work with and focusing on the first responders. Anyone who poured over old newspaper clippings reading about various plane crashes and accidents will know the feeling a read such as this provides. It’s a dark look into the grit of human behavior and what it takes to be a real hero in the face of the world falling apart. Worst Case Scenario works as a popcorn read, with the narrative only slowing down for brief character development before readers are whisked away like a tornado onto the next problem that characters must solve. In a way, this novel reads a lot like those Irwin Allen disaster films of the ’70s. And, yes, I know there’s a television film called Atomic Twister about a tornado hitting a nuclear power plant. So, the idea presented by Newman may not be the most original on the planet.

The only thing slowing down the pace of this riveting thriller are those moments of character development that don’t add much to the story. This type of novel works best when the action goes nonstop, offering cliffhanger after cliffhanger. Thankfully, it doesn’t go out on coffee breaks often, leaving readers to marvel at this actioner’s frantic and furious pace. Ultimately, Worst Case Scenario is the type of book I’d like to see on the big screen. This book has all the elements to be a blockbuster summer movie — it even manages to shoehorn in just a little bit of romance (but not too much to make the whole story soppy). Thus, this is the type of book (and I may have said this before in other reviews) that you’ll want to grab some popcorn, pop, and potato chips to sit down and enjoy. There’s nothing literary about this read: it’s just a fun and frantic page-turner, but I’ll bet this one won’t be easy to forget. Thank God that Newman recognized her calling and is no longer a flight attendant because the world could use escapist fare like this now and then. Worse Case Scenario is a firecracker of a book that threatens to go nuclear in both literal and figurative fashions. If that sounds like something you would enjoy, I can’t be more effusive in saying that you should pick this one up.

Worst Case Scenario is equally terrifying and utterly heartbreaking. It will gut you to your core. Grab the tissues before you start it. Newman hits the ground running with this one and has a chokehold til the very end. I forced myself to take breaks while reading it to allow my heart rate to come down, but at 84%, I was sobbing so hard. I thought I was prepared to be wrecked. I thought I was prepared to have my heart pulled from my chest. I was not.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was super excited to be chosen to read and review T. J. Newman's latest book. I actually was going to read it on a recent flight but chose not to! Great story but I was very disappointed in the extremely brief airplane aspect of the story. The book was actually about a nuclear power plant that the plane hit. I did enjoy the characters but felt the book was quite technical focused on the nuclear plant. Perhaps I should have read the synopsis more carefully -I was expecting an airplane crash thriller and this fell short in that aspect. I love her writing style and have enjoyed her 3 books. This was definitely my least favorite but still a great book! Thank you to NetGalley, Little Brown and Company and T.J. Newman for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Wow! Thank you NetGalley for an arc of Worst Case Scenario. T.J. Newman does not miss with her books. She knows how to write fast paced, high stressed plots that keep you on your toes. After a plane crashes into a nuclear power plant and a cast of characters risk their lives to save their country. Such a thrilling ride and will always recommend this author! 4.5 Stars!

Thank you @tj_author @hachetteaudio @littlebrown for the E-ARC & ALC!

Literally another heart pounding, engrossing read from T.J. Newman. I really enjoyed her other two books and this one most definitely did not disappoint. I felt like the suspense had me the entire time. The action never stopped. We got to see the insight from several characters and it flowed so well seeing all their accounts of the situation. On top of that the way she describes the scenes is just phenomenal. I felt like I was watching a movie play out before me. I absolutely loved it and paired with the audio is was such an experience! Highly recommend her books! You can't go wrong.

I couldn't put this book down. From the start, it grabbed my attention, and as the story unfolded, I found myself even more captivated. I wasn't well-versed in the technical details, but it was clear that a lot of research went into creating a realistic portrayal of a catastrophic event.

The book was intense, showing a disaster that felt both terrifying and plausible. It wasn’t just about the catastrophe itself, but also about the people caught in it. The solidarity among characters and their quick, brave actions were truly inspiring. Each character felt real and fully developed, adding depth and emotional weight to the story.

What really stayed with me was how the book explored the idea of coming together in the face of disaster. It wasn’t just about surviving; it was about the human spirit and the strength found in unity. This book isn’t just a thrilling read—it’s a powerful reminder of what people can achieve when they work together.

This book is so not my typical genre, but I’m glad I took a chance on it. It’s an action-packed page-turner, for sure. But, the author brilliantly included nuggets of wisdom and truth throughout the book that are applicable to all our lives, and they flowed naturally out of the story, never feeling forced or melodramatic. The pacing of the story was done well, bringing the intensity level up and up until you almost feel you can’t take anymore and then giving you relief in a moment of levity or a change of setting. I never would’ve thought that I would find nuclear power all that interesting, but I was never bored with the explanations that were included (and necessary for the story to make sense). The characters and their relationships were well-fleshed out, especially considering the book is not overly long. It’s important for me, when I’m reading a book, that I care about the characters and want to root for them, and that was definitely the case in this book. In the first part of the book I did feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters, but it pretty quickly becomes clear which are the most important to the story. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 - Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Company for the advanced copy of Worst Case Scenario!
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T.J. Newman's books have quickly become some of my favorite summer reads. I really enjoy the heart-pounding, impossible scenarios that she creates for her characters, and I love seeing how they get out of them. Man vs Nature to the extreme!
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I liked and I didn't like Worst Case Scenario. While the plot had me flipping the pages as fast as I could to find out what happens next, the characters did not resonate with me in the same manner as her first two novels. I was always aware that they were just "characters"; they didn't feel real to me, so I didn't empathize with them as deeply. The book felt as if it were written for a screen, so rather than get sucked into the story, I felt like I was reading the book like I would read a potential script. (Not that I often read potential scripts ha! but you know what I mean :)).
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There was a lot of sad in this story. That's expected from the kind of novel Newman writes, but there was not enough "happy ending" to account for the sad, and the book just felt like a downer. That being said, there were some moments that I enjoyed that had me in tears... just not enough.
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I rec this book if:
- You want something suspenseful
- You enjoy T.J. Newman

A plane filled with 295 lives crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota after the pilot suffers a medical emergency. Faced with the potential catastrophic devastation to not only the small town but the entire country, a resourceful group of people must come together to avert a global disaster. Although the premise of this thriller terrified me, I could not stop reading this book. The community of people who come together despite all their potential differences to face the problem head on and find a solution was truly extraordinary. The well written cast of characters took my emotions on a roller coaster ride in this fast-paced thriller that kept me riveted from page one. Prepare for a late night/early morning when you start this astonishing book!

Let me start off by saying this was my first T.J. Newman book thank you NetGalley for the ARC and while it definitely gets 5 stars I am not sure if I can read anymore of them.

This is a difficult book to review, it gets 5 stars for sure. I got wrapped up in the characters, I was scared for my own life and I am not even there! This woman knows how to write a thriller!! I was sobbing all day yesterday!!! For hours!!! The first 25% of the book I was ready to DNF. I was very confused I was having trouble visualizing what was happening. I honestly did not feel smart enough to understand what was happening. The more you read, the easier it got to understand as they explained it. But right when I was ready to DNF, she brought in my boy Connor. I am the mother of 2 boys and children being in danger kills me inside and she would not let me know what happens until the last 2 chapters!! There are multiple POV, from teachers, firefighters, people at the plant and the U.S. president. This is a book of constant peril and terror. My heart was breaking over and over again during this book. I have never had such puffy eyes…ever!!! I had to stay up to finish the book because I knew I would have nightmares of what could happen if I didn’t finish it. This book was AMAZING! But my little heart was being torn every direction, I woke up the next morning and my eyes were still puffy from crying. T.J. You have a special talent!!