You ready for another T.J. Newman thriller that'll tie your stomach in knots? Worst Case Scenario delivers! Newman, known for her high-stakes airplane thrillers, really found a fresh twist on her signature style this time around.
This book had my heart pounding in my chest the entire time. Just when you think you've figured things out, she pulls the rug out from under you. If you're looking for a read that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, this is absolutely it.

T.J. Newman does it again! Worst Case Scenario is a white-knuckle thriller that grabs you by the throat on page one and doesn’t let go until the very last sentence. Newman, a former flight attendant turned bestselling author, proves once more that she’s the master of high-stakes, high-altitude suspense.

This novel delivers everything readers loved about Falling and Drowning—a fast pace, a race against time, and characters with impossible decisions to make. Newman’s trademark blend of adrenaline-pumping action and human emotion is on full display here, and she raises the bar even higher. The story unfolds like a movie you can’t pause, complete with jaw-dropping twists and emotionally charged moments that stay with you long after the final chapter.

What sets Newman apart is how she writes ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. You don’t just root for the characters—you feel their panic, their courage, and their heartbreak. Her background in aviation brings authenticity to every detail, making the stakes feel all the more real.

If you’re looking for a book you won’t be able to put down—and one that will leave your heart racing—Worst Case Scenario is it. T.J. Newman has officially solidified her place as one of the top thriller writers of our time.

I have loved the other two TJ Newman books I read and I was anxious to read this one. I kept putting it off however, just not being in the right head space to listening to a book about a plane crash.

I shouldn’t have waited. It sucked me in right away and I was fully invested. While there is a plane crash first thing in the book. The majority of the story is what happens next with what the plane crashed into. I devoured this one not wanting to stop listening.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an audio-ARC of Worst Case Scenario by T. J. Newman.
Having read the previous two books by TJ Newman, I was excited for another plane crash story. This book is very different from the other two. Worst Case Scenario is a story about the people on the ground rather than those in the plane. It is a book that makes you question how you would react when disaster strikes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Holy wow! This book was such a wild and crazy ride! This book was giving me anxiety and sucker punched me in the feels. I loved how all of her books have this effect. I officially love TJ Newman and will read everything she writes!

I received an advanced audio copy for my unbiased and honest review. I have given very mixed reviews of this author's work. For me, this was her worst book. The premise says it all--worst-case scenario--and that's what initially drew me in, but the balance of suspenseful action and developed characters you want to root for did not deliver. I realize that Newman's intention is to write play-by-play plots made up of quick scenes that jump back and forth between perspectives. Frankly, this writing style is better suited for the screen, and I am assuming she hopes for all of her books to become adapted with little change from book text to screenplay. She did that here and, unfortunately, the innumerable characters, similar names, and their odd interconnectedness (I know it's a small town, but...), it didn't work for me. The audio narrator made quick and sometimes strange pauses between scenes, which jolted me through the plot in a very confusing way. Additionally, the plot was, predictably, filled with total devastation mixed in with a bunch of unlikely actions and character dialogue meant to evoke a sense of hope during a tragic situation, but it all resulted in a poorly executed cheesy, cheap popcorn thriller (and I enjoy and have enjoyed many in this "genre"). And the romance literally made my eyes roll to the back of my head, I could not believe Newman's choice to include this unlikely and out of nowhere "spark" between two characters who never meet. Enough said.

The way I ran to request this after seeing it was available as an audiobook for review! I just loved the high octane thrill ride of DROWNING, and had high hopes this would be just as good.

It had my heart racing in seconds, and didn’t let up the entire reading experience. Just when I thought I had it figured out, another twist came flying at me.

I loved the multi-character cast, and thought the narration by Joe Morton was great.

*many thanks to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

T.J. Newman is an auto-read author for me, I will truly read anything she writes! She has a way with building suspense that truly creates the best reading experience. This isn’t my very favorite of hers, but I still loved it so much and look forward to reading her next one!

Worst Case Scenario by TJ Newman is an incredible book! Incredibly hard to read, with scenes so devastating I could barely breathe. But also incredibly hopeful. No one writes about the goodness of humanity like Newman does!

Like all of her books, this one is high tension and high anxiety all the way through. It took me a while to read because I’d have to set the book aside and read something light and fluffy for a couple days before picking it up again.

Newman’s books prompt a lot of introspection for me. She writes about horrific situations that happen in the blink of an eye, which always forces me to think about what I’d do in a similar crisis! Newman’s explorations of human emotions and actions are what makes her books so relatable and emotional for me.

I also love that her books are as much about community and family as the crisis unfolding. So many moments where I read with tears in my eyes because of the sacrifices the characters are willing to make to protect the ones they love. Newman deftly writes about the choices people have to make when all hell is breaking loose.

And it wouldn’t be a TJ Newman book if I wasn’t sobbing through the final chapters! Not everyone gets an HEA in a thriller/suspense novel, but some do. It’s an emotional gut punch either way, with the happy and sad all churned together. And there’s one moment towards the end that I’m so mad about!! 😭 If you’ve read this, DM me so I can talk about it. 🤪

If you like addictive edge-of-your seat books that also pack an emotional punch, this is 💯 the book for you! Every one of her books has been 5 stars for me and I can’t recommend them enough!

Worst Case Scenario
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️++
Author: TJ Newman

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Little Brown and Company and Hachette Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: When a pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, which becomes ground zero for a catastrophic national crisis with global implications.

The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks nuclear disasters. It has seven levels. Level 7 is a Major Accident, with only two on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a Level 8. Until now.

My Thoughts: Newman is an absolute goddess of writing gut wrenching, edge of your seat thrillers and this one was no different. This is only the third book Newman has put out writing at a higher caliber such as Foley, Sager, and Feeney, to name a few. The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks any type of nuclear disaster. Only two level 7 disasters on record with Fukushima and Chernobyl. Never has there been anything higher, until now, with this one rating an 8 on the scale. The pilot of a 757 has an heart attack while 35,000 feet in the air, right at the moment with the co-pilot uses the bathroom, rendering the time to decelerate an emergency mute and with no time to warn the passengers. Ultimately the airplane is headed to collide with the Clover Hill Nuclear Power Plant. When the worst case scenario ensues, will it bring the best or the worst out in humanity? Will the ordinary citizens of this town step up to be the real hero’s to serve themselves to save others? Will this single catastrophic event roll into a global epidemic?

One voice narrates multiple third person distinct characters with sprinkled in radio transmissions, really the perfect type of narration. I enjoyed this format. The boots on the ground have to make split second decisions that will not only affect the lives on the plane, but the lives of the people in this town and perhaps even globally. Some of my favorite characters were Steve Tostig, Joss Vance, Dani Allen, Ethan Rosen, Marion, Levon, and even President Dawson. The race against the clock of 16 and half hours is equative to a ticking time bomb and evokes the same fear and tension. The employees of the nuclear plant, the firefighters and responsive personnel, the church congregation, the White House personnel, and even the town’s citizens all step in to save as many people as they can while avoiding further contamination that could implicate global issues. It really warms your heart to know that humanity can be saved when facing the worst possible day, even at the perish of their own life. The characters were developed well, they were fleshed out, they had depth, they were impactful, and compassionate. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, twisty, suspenseful, and brilliantly laid out.

This book evokes a lot of emotions, tension, fear, suspense, gut wrenching, sadness, and being scared. While this is a work of fiction and some of the scenarios are implausible, it is written in a believable format where it is easy to suspend belief. The character backstories are built up. The plot is delivered in twisty layers, think onion layers. Then the conclusion/end is explosive. You will cheer for the hero’s and cry for the victims in this action packed story.

I had the privilege of having both the digital and the audio ARCs. I am very behind on my reviews, so I apologize to anyone who follows my reviews. I have read most of the books but need to write up my reviews. Tackling them one at a time. The narrator, Joe Morton, did a good job with voice affliction and matching the character distinct voices. I had no problem following the flow and pitch at 2x speed. This book will take you on a complete rollercoaster of emotions where tears are sure to fall. The narrator does a fantastic job at expressing the empathy across the multiple characters, makes you feel their grief, pain, and loss. Newman is a masterfully genius with developing a plot that will not only keep you on the edge of your seat but also evoke a little education into it, especially for concepts not general knowledge, she does a phenomenal job at explaining things. This is nothing sort of an exquisite masterpiece. I believe this was Newman’s best yet and she is sure to set the thriller genre on fire. I highly recommend picking up this story TODAY!

i haven’t been loving traditional thrillers lately, but worst case scenario by @tj_author was exactly what i needed. there’s a lot on the line, when a commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant, and the people of a small minnesota town must find a way to keep the incident from becoming a full-scale disaster… 
 
relationships are tested and forged amidst the tragedy, putting personal stakes alongside global consequences. as the story plays out—and time runs short—there’s hope and heartbreak, suspense and sacrifice. it all had me feeling so many emotions, plus quite a few tears. 
 
this is definitely a thriller i recommend.

TJ Newman tells a fantastic story of one of the scariest things you could imagine, a plane crashing into a nuclear power plant. The story was fast paced and full of intrigue. The audiobook narrator relayed the story with just the right amount of energy and emotion. I will definitely pick up more books by TJ.

This book is tense! A plane crashes after a pilot suffers a heart attack, and the commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant in a rural, small town in Minnesota. The plane crash sets off an absolutely terrifying scenario where a Level 8 nuclear event (the highest in record) threatens to leak into the Mississippi river, affecting water supplies, agriculture resources, and disrupting the entire country. Not to mention the people who live in the town are in imminent danger and it seems impossible that they’ll get out.

Blog readers may or may not know that I work in counterterrorism, and so I struggled to read this and remember this was not a terrorist attack, it was a tragic accident. This doesn’t fundamentally change most of the story, but just a note about where my mind was while reading. I would say it took until about 50% until I was into the book, though I think that is a minority view. I am too much of a character-driven reader and the main character storylines didn’t really take off for me until around then. The back half is gripping and the ending is a total heartbreaker.

There are a lot of characters and perspectives, so it wasn’t immediately clear who was a main character and who wasn’t. There’s a countdown through the book that puts the pressure on—only 16 hours and 38 minutes before total devastation. The story follows a mix of people involved from the President of the United States to the local firefighters. There’s a crisis management team involved. The local church tackles humanitarian efforts without a second ask. By the second half, I was hooked but in that stomach churning way. These people cannot catch a break! The ending is sad. So, so sad. I’m not sure if it was intended to be sad, but I was crushed with emotion!

Do the audiobook for this one, the narrator really keeps things engaging but even (needed in such a stressful book!).

I haven't read T. J. Newman's previous books, but my daughter is a big fan and I've heard her rave about them. So I decided to give this one a try even though I felt sure it would make me deeply uncomfortable at times. And I wasn't wrong - but I'm glad I risked it. This book is truly aptly titled - a worst case scenario on an airline flight becomes a worst case scenario at a nuclear power facility in middle America. As local and national experts try to work the problem of containing any potential fallout (literally) from the damage to the facility, the everyday people who live and work near the facility are thrown into trying to cope with the current and potential issues of both the airliner crash and the potential issues with the power plant. We see people in a cross-section of everyday life & professions - first responders, teachers, retirees, students, and more - as they do what they can to cope and try to save and survive. It was a compelling story full of interesting and likeable characters that kept me listening to the end. And Joe Morton's narration - wonderful.
Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for providing a digital copy for an unbiased review.

i made it to 68% and i just cannot keep track of the characters and it's made me lose interest in the story. maybe audio wasn't the right medium for the one?

This was a terrifying idea and a wild ride to read! So many things happening at once! The idea that this could happen is super scary! This was my 1st book by TJ Newman but will not be my last!

TJ Newman does it again!!! This had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I don’t know how she manages to put a new spin on a plane crash story, but damn it, she does!

Yowzah!

Another banger.

Another book to NOT READ BEFORE YOU GO ON VACATION.

I loved the pacing (even the side-quest). I loved the story. I loved the main characters.

I get that some felt bogged down by all the technical details, (I felt the same whilst reading Hadfield’s newest) but somehow it worked for me.

For me, the biggest hurdle wasn’t the jargon, it was the sheer volume of characters. Small towns are still small, no? I needed a white board to keep track.

Cannot wait for the next from this author.

This was quite the thriller. The narrator was very good and I couldn't stop listening to it because of all the action in it. Some parts were very sad but there were also several heroes in this story.

Thank you NetGalley for an ALC of this book.

What a great book to start my year with!

At first glance, you might think this novel will focus on a plane crash, but it actually focuses on the aftermath as experienced by the people on the ground. While this was my first time reading a T.J. Newman book, it wasn't my first time reading about nuclear disasters (Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham, Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen). Newman does a great job of imagining the unimaginable and emerging the reader in it. She provides fully developed subplots that play out in the midst of the disaster, each of which is full of its own tension and adrenaline, emotions and decisions.
Joe Morton's audiobook narration was well done, his voice well-matched to the novel. And the included sounds effects made it all come together even more effectively, turning this novel into an experience for the reader.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for allowing me early access to the ARC audiobook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.