If you had the chance to know how and when you die, would you want to know? When I read the premise of this book, I was fascinated: would I want some stranger on an airplane to tell me when I was going to die? Moriarty brings us an entertaining yet thought provoking story about life and death.

The story begins with a vivid account of the craziness that takes place on an airplane, especially when a flight is delayed. Anyone who has flown on a commercial airline can relate to the various characters one encounters on a flight. There’s the stressed-out dad, the pregnant woman, the crying baby, the chatty neighbor, the injured guy, the frazzled mom, the jittery teen. No one notices the lady that eventually creates havoc aboard their flight.

The story switches between Cherry's narration (the Death Lady) and various passengers on the plane. While it was interesting to learn about Cherry's life and what brought her to do what she did, I thought a little too much time was spent on her background and many of the details were not necessary to move the story forward. It took a little too long to get to what Cherry was doing on the plane. Learning about the different passengers and how they were dealing with their “prediction” was interesting, but sometimes it was hard to keep straight which passenger's point of view was being told. I wish a little more depth had been put into the passenger’s lives and a little less was focused on Cherry’s background. Having a title on the chapters with the character’s name would have been helpful.

There are a few twists at the end and overall, I think it was a fascinating theme for a book. I thought all the characters were likable and you could empathize with what they were going through. This would make a great read for a book club as it has a lot of topics that can be easily debated and makes you think about how you would react if you were told when you were going to die. Would you live your life differently or proceed as normal?

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and Liane Moriarty for the complementary digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

My interest throughout this book fluctuated so much and it didn’t help that it was wayyyy too long. I kept waiting for more to happen but I was disappointed plot-wise. I suppose I liked the characters but there were so many of them that it was hard to get attached. I found the writing very witty and I enjoyed that but overall I was a little disappointed in this one :(

Thank you to NetGalley, Crown Publishing and Liane Moriarty for this ARC ebook. Here One Moment will be published September 10, 2024.

If someone could predict how and what age you would die, would you want to know? In this book, a plane full of people are given exactly these ominous predictions, whether they wanted them or not. Will they come true? Who is the death lady that made these proclamations and is she really a psychic? For some of the passengers, this information is terrifying. For others, it encourages life changes and contemplation of what they really want to accomplish before they die.

I was so excited to get this ARC from NetGalley as I’ve been a fan of Liane Moriarity for years. Sadly, I feel as thought her stories are losing their punch. This one reminded me in tone of her last, Apples Never Fall. They still have mystery and puzzles to unravel but less dramatic or thrilling than her earlier books. I understand why she used the format she did (jumping between present and Cherry’s past) to tell the story but I didn’t really love it. I found the passengers sections to be far more interesting than Cherry’s and hers were a big focus. Overall not a bad read, but a bit long and less thrilling than I had hoped for.

As I began reading Here One Moment I was instantly intrigued. A (psychic) woman walking down the aisle of a plane making predictions regarding cause of death and age of death of several passengers? How could I put this one down? Well, I almost did.

The beginning portion of this book dragged for me. But I am so glad I stuck with it because this is definitely a book that should not be missed.

The story takes off when it delves into several different POV’s. At first a little confusing, the characters evolved, were well developed and I felt a strong connection to each one. When the predictions of death begin to come true, the passengers begin to question the trajectory of their lives and whether or not they have the ability to produce a different result.

Cleverly written to evoke both humor and sadness, Moriarty’s writing is vivid and engaging. Along with each character, I found myself contemplating life, destiny and the profound question of whether one can alter their fate. I adored Cherry Lockwood and the way the story came full circle at the end.

Thank you to Crown Publishing, NetGalley and the author for an advanced DRC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC. I’ve read quite a few of Moriarty’s and have loved almost all of them, but this one was not what I was expecting and Is not my favorite. It was rather long, but I did find it interesting enough to keep on going even though I didn’t have much of a connection to any of the characters.

After finishing the book, I’ve seen several comments about that not only is the book long, but that it felt long. I had quite the opposite experience. I read on my kindle and rarely pay attention to the % I’ve read; however, at one point I looked and was at 86% and thought how is this enough time to finish telling me about everyone!!!

As a fan of Liane Moriarty’s work (especially her earlier books), I went in blind and was so shocked at the storyline but I loved it. This will make for a great book club discussion!

4.5

Ultimately, I liked this book. However, it started out really rough for me which is why I gave it 3 stars and not 4. One of the things I love most about Liane Moriarty’s books is her wide array of characters who she continually builds and we get to know throughout a book. But this books took me a while to feel connected to them and was difficult to follow which character we were reading about chapter by chapter until further along in the book. I think what could have been helpful was the characters name as the chapter title so we could mentally switch from one character to the next chapter by chapter. I do love how Moriarty brings the characters together at the end of her books and this was no different.

Here One Moment is another novel by Liane Moriarty who has been very fortunate to have many of her stories turned into TV shows. The writing in this story has the same flair where it would be another great show that is spread to a larger audience. In this story, the author attempts to explore free will and destiny. On a short flight from Hobart to Sydney an older passenger goes down the aisle and tells each person what age they will die and how. Some passengers are predicted to live long and happy lives while others are not as lucky. The beginning of the story goes through the woman’s predictions where a small subset of the characters is focused on and provide their points of view.

The beginning is slower as the woman gives her predictions one by one where the reader does not know which will be significant and which are just included for the sake of completeness. As the story moves forward, the predictions start to come true for some, which adds to the mystery if the woman was telling the truth. The novel itself is lengthy and there are lot of characters to track. Multiple passengers have their individuals’ stories explored and the writing jumps between them. Sometimes I wanted to spend more time with a character before jumping to another. Other readers may enjoy this style of writing, but I needed a little less bouncing around. I did, however, greatly enjoy the mystery as it was difficult to tell how each story would end. Overall, this was an enjoyable story and I look forward to reading a lot more from the author in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Crown, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

And she does it again.
Liane Moriarty is the queen of character development, and she did not disappoint here.
What would you do if a random stranger approached you and told you how you would die and how old you would be when you did?
Would you live differently?
Would you try to prevent your predicted death?
Would you quit your job?
Would you leave your partner?
Passengers on a flight are faced with this strange experience, and are left to handle the aftermath of a perfectly normal woman gifting them this information.
This story is a beautiful peak into the mystery of our humanity.
I completely devoured it from the first few sentences.
Moriarty can truly do no wrong.
Thank you netgalley for the ARC.

3.5 stars

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty is about a group of passengers on a plane. One woman on the flight starts to go down the aisles, and one by one she predicts the age that each person will die along with how they would die. The passengers get off the plane and try to shake off the "crazy" woman's predictions. But then the predictions start coming true.

I'm having a hard time deciding what I think about this book. It was an intriguing premise! Such an interesting idea to start with all of these death predictions and then follow the characters lives after they get off the plane to see what they do differently now that they have this knowledge. I thought about this book a lot while I was reading it...even had some crazy dreams about it!

But also it was really long. And there are a lot of different characters, each with their own story and timeline. Perhaps there was a little too much going on with this one? I think I would have been okay to get less of Cherry's story and more from the passengers on the plane. I don't know why we needed to know so much about Cherry. She was obviously an important part of the story, but I found her parts to be my least favorite.

This is not a thriller at all, but I still had a creepy feeling of suspense throughout much of the story. Who would die next? Would anyone be able to change the prediction? Those questions kept me turning pages.

I was disappointed in the ending. I was just expecting more after all the lead up in this story, and was left thinking "that's it?" I don't really know what I expected from this ending but I thought it fell a little flat.

I do think this is a book that I will remember and that will stick with me for a long time. It was unique, and I think it's worth the time to read.

I was insanely disappointed in this book. Just when I got over the fact that it is essentially a lame version of "The Measure," one of the best books to ever be written, the ending was a total cop out. It was like the author got scared and couldn't follow through with her original vision, so she went with the weak, obvious ending. I'm still mad about it.

Liane Moriarty has a knack for creating huge casts and hanging stories off of them. Most of the time it works, especially when there is a mystery involved. Although I found I enjoyed this book, saw it through to its finish, I found thanks to its structure that it was weak. As others have stated, a woman makes her way down the aisle of a plane midflight, pointing to each fellow passenger and declaiming both the method of each one's death and the age at which they'll die. Normally I would avoid such material, but being Moriarty, decided to give it a chance. The bulk of the book is formed by chapters alternating between the other passengers and Cherry, the "Death Lady" herself. While I found the individual stories compelling, I became bored with Cherry's story and with her. Hence the mediocre rating.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty is a unique and fascinating book. In this novel, we are introduced to several plane passengers. During the flight, several of them will encounter an elderly woman who will tell them the age they will die and from what. While not sure whether to believe the predictions or not, each person begins to rethink their lives. Will they make the necessary changes to avoid the consequences of the predictions or simply think of the elderly lady as a kook, not to be believed? Each person deals with the prediction in their own way, and this makes for many interesting stories. We also meet Cherry, the elderly lady. We learn about her life and what caused her to act as she did during the plane ride. The novel reminds everyone that we cannot avoid and have no control over our futures. A very enjoyable book which I would recommend.

What to expect in this book:

-Themes of grief and death
-Various points of view
-Shorter chapters
-Flawed characters
-Plane setting (partially)

Thoughts

I have read all of this author's books and this one felt so different from her others. I will start off first by saying that this book had no business being over 500 pages. While I enjoyed the storyline and premise, I felt it easily could have been 100-150 pages shorter. The book begins with a flight. Multiple passengers are on this flight--some returning from a honeymoon, others from visiting family, and one passenger being what they refer to as "The Death Lady." As she arrives on the plane, she begins to target specific passengers telling them the exact cause and age of their deaths. The characters all begin to seek to manage this news in various ways, some by denying or refusing to believe, others by changing things in their lives to prevent her predictions.

I enjoyed the variety of characters in this book. However, I will say that due to the various number of characters, this might be a tricky one to due on audio. I loved Cherry's character and found her to be quirky and interesting. The plot line is not linear and flashes back throughout her life, which helps readers to better understand how she got to the point where she did on that day of the flight. This book explores a lot of important themes but notably grief and mental health. Several characters dealt with mental health conditions and I found it interesting to see how these predictions played a role in their character development.

While some might say this is a mystery, I would absolutely categorize this as general fiction or contemporary fiction. The clever tie-ins with various characters was great and I would recommend to fans of the author and to those who love to question fate.

Thank you to #netgalley for the advanced ecopy of this in exchange for an honest review. This book publishes 9/10.

Liane Moriarty is an all-time favorite author of mine and her new book does not disappoint! If you love her as much as I do, mark your calendars, because this book comes out next week! She does such a beautiful job interweaving the characters’ stories and keeping you wanting “just one more chapter”. Very binge worthy. Highly recommend!

At first when I got this book I was a little nervous about how long it was, but once I started reading, I had NOTHING to worry about. Seriously, it's one of those reads where the 500-plus pages just fly by, and you find yourself completely hooked from the absolute very beginning all the way to the surprising epilogue. The premise is so unique: imagine you're on a flight from Hobart to Sydney, and this older lady just starts walking down the aisle, calmly predicting the age and cause of death for random passengers. Crazy, right? But then, people actually start dying the way she said they would, and everyone freaks out, trying to change their fate. It’s a total mind-bender! (And honestly I couldn't stop thinking about Brace and Merida every time they mentioned changing their fate "If you could change your fate, would ya?")

I absolutely loved how the book is told from multiple points of view. While it did feel like too many people at first, I got the hang of who each person was and it just worked. We get deep dives into the lives of five passengers and the elderly lady herself, Cherry. You get to see how her eerie predictions impact not just the people she spoke to, but also everyone around them. The cast is so diverse and each character is incredibly well-developed. You’ve got a workaholic dad missing out on his daughter’s life, a young woman with a tragic prediction who suddenly has to confront her mental health, and even a honeymooner who gets told she’ll be killed by her new husband! The way their stories intertwine is just brilliant, and I felt everything—anxiety, joy, sadness, and hope. I laughed, I cried, I even got scared, all while reading a book about death. It really makes you think about your own life choices and mortality, but don’t worry—it’s also filled with love, joy, and moments of pure happiness.

And Cherry—oh man, she's such a fascinating character. Her backstory, from being the daughter of a famous clairvoyant to potentially having her own psychic powers, is so compelling. She’s quirky, intelligent, and you’re constantly questioning if she’s some kind of charlatan or a guardian angel giving people a second chance. Her story alone makes the book worth it, but combined with all the other characters? It’s a masterpiece.

Every chapter is short and snappy, keeping you hooked on what’s going to happen next. I was totally riveted, just dying (pun intended) to find out if the predictions would actually come true and how each character’s life would unfold. And the ending? It had me in tears. It’s the kind of book that makes you pause and think about life, death, and everything in between.

Honestly, this is one of my favorite reads of the year. If you’re looking for something that's a mix of mystery, drama, philosophy, and a bit of a mind-bender, then this is it. You won't regret picking it up—I promise!

I love the premise of this book…if you knew how and what age you’d die at how would you change your life?

This book was far too long. The chapters of Cherry’s past didn’t seem important. The flash between characters wasn’t clear and I wish chapters had been titled.

Here One Moment is the quickest long read of my summer. Chapters are relatively short, and the characters are many. A woman gets on a plane and goes down the rows handing out cause and age of death predictions like packets of peanuts: efficiently, impersonally. How disturbing! How does she know?! Why would she even share this if she did?! Even the baby?!?!
I made the mistake of starting this book at night before bed and then couldn't stop thinking about it. Would I want to know? Absolutely not. And if a stranger predicted the death of my baby, I might have chosen violence. This novel wraps each story neatly and satisfyingly though, with the perfect amount of emotion. I really enjoyed Allegra and Ethan's respective stories the most. Cherry is the center of the universe here with the only first-person POV, but I think her story slows progression at times, particularly during her party years. Overall this is a reflective, enjoyable emotional read reminiscent of last year's The Measure by Nikki Erlick.
Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for this ARC!

I loved this latest book from Liane Moriarty.

When a flight from Sydney to Hobart is delayed, passengers are getting frustrated. Once the flight takes off, nobody notices an unassuming woman as she walks carefully down the aisle, until she starts to tell every passenger their 'cause of death' and 'age of death'. Some passengers laugh this off, and others are immediately worried.

While most hear that they will live a long time, there are some that get very worrisome news indeed. A child that will drown at an early age, a woman that will die from self harm within the year, a quiet gentle young man who will die in an assault very soon, a bride who will die at her partner's hand...

As time moves on after the flight, some people try to ignore the prediction, while others try and change their lives to avoid the expected outcome. Was this just a joke? Who was the woman?

When the first of the passengers dies as predicted, and then shortly afterwards so does another, the media gets involved and for the passengers, concern notches up.

Moriarty tells the story from the viewpoint of 6 of the passengers, and also Cherry, the woman dubbed "The death lady" by the press. We see snippets of their lives as they wrestle with the ideas of free will and determinism, and we find out Cherry's backstory. We follow as some of the passengers consider making huge life changes in an attempt to ensure that fate will not win out.

With quite a lot of characters involved, this could have been a difficult book to follow, but the writing was good, the characters all unique and very believable, and I enjoyed the way we flitted between them. At over 500 pages, I expected this to be a long read, but I flew through it, fascinated to find out what happened to everyone involved.

I smiled, laughed, cried and had my heart in my mouth at various point in the story, and I just loved the ending.

What a wonderful book.

Liane Moriarty is one of my favorite authors and I was so excited about her new book. To me, she’s kind of a master of putting together a story of random characters and then by the end, we find they’re connected in a seamless, but completely surprising way. This book felt different from her previous ones, but it absolutely had that same magic that she put in the others. I did feel like it was much more character driven than plot (not an issue for me, but definitely for some readers) and I did think it could have been a bit shorter, but I still very much enjoyed it. On a flight to Sydney, an older woman stands up and tells each passenger not only what age they’ll die, but how. From there, we follow a few of the passengers and see how her predictions alters their lives, wondering if the woman is crazy or actually a psychic. I’m an absolute sucker for multiple POVs so I loved that part of the book, especially the older woman’s chapters. Another thing I really loved was the OCD representation and how well it was done. There are a lot of heavy topics in this book, but I thought they were all handled with care and also, the book ends on a very hopeful note. I’d recommend it for fans of Moriarty and also readers who love character driven stories.
CW: death of a parent, death of a spouse, child death, infidelity, injury,

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review