I have read Falling and Drowning by T.J. Newman and I don't know how she's going to top this disaster novel. I was on the edge of my seat wondering how they were going to resolve a plan crashing into a nuclear power plant. My only feedback is there were a lot of characters and at times how certain narrators fit into the story. I wish there were less viewpoints so they could be more distinct.

Thanks to T.J. Newman, Netgalley and Hachette Audio | Little, Brown & Company for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ARC.

This was my first T.J. Newman book, and while it won’t be my last, I am going to need to wait a few months before I pick up another one! This was the most suspenseful book I’ve ever read, and I literally sat screaming in traffic while listening. Also, Joe Morton as a narrator was absolutely perfect at making me so stressed I wanted to pause every minute.
However, between the moments of absolutely insane intensity, this book was packed with the goodness of humanity. I was stressed because I genuinely cared about every single character I met. I wanted everyone to get their happy ending, even when I knew that wasn’t going to be a possibility. Each character felt fully developed, gave a unique point of view, and influenced how I felt about the plot. And with a list of 20 or so characters, that’s an impressive feat.
I will also note that I have zero knowledge about nuclear reactor meltdowns (surprise). But Newman made sure to include enough information throughout the book so that it was easy to understand how life-or-death every moment had become. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of seamless ways to include that much information, so chunks of the story felt more like a textbook excerpt. I knew the information helped ramp up my anxiety, but it was still difficult to not just fully skip forward to get back in the action.
Overall, if you’re looking for something that will grab your attention, this could definitely be an option! My only warning would be that three of the main characters are children and they are involved in very intense moments, including the death of parents. I know that can be an extremely sensitive subject, and wouldn’t want to gloss over it!
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown & Company for the free advanced audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review!

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

4.5 hearts

This author never disappoints in providing fast-paced action with possible dire consequences. Worst Case Scenario delivers a frightening case with a plane and a nuclear plant.

The points of view we get are from ordinary people who give their all for others and the greater good. Our primary characters include Steve, the firefighter who recently lost his wife to cancer and is raising his son. Jocelyn, a single woman and scientist who heads the team for the area in handling nuclear disasters. Ethan, the director of the nuclear plant. Carla, another firefighter, desperate to save a little boy caught in a vehicle in the middle of a fire.

I really enjoyed the action, as well as the competent people who tried their best to save everyone. There is an emotional intensity to the horror of the facts, and when things don't work as they should. The selflessness and courage were amazing to see.

I will say I wish there had been a bit more about the aftermath and how things were improved for the future. I'd like to learn a bit more about the situation of nuclear plants and storage of spent fuel rods. Also, there was a trucker who helped with a couple of different aspects of the shutdown and then saving the small boy who I thought should have got more credit.

Worst Case Scenario was exciting and thought-provoking. I recommend this author's thrillers. I have loved them all.

Narration:
The narrator allowed me to stay in the story, which I always appreciate. The voices were comfortable and seemed appropriate to the characters. I listened at my normal 1.5x speed.

It's a good thing I didn't wear makeup to work because I would be a mess right now. Oof, I wasn't expecting to cry so hard at the end there. Wow.

I've been 50/50 on TJ Newman up until now. I had some strong feelings about her first book (not the good kind) but I took a chance on her second book and I loved it. I'm going to go ahead and just assume that book one was a fluke for me, because here we are at book three and I am floored once again.

The action is nonstop from start to finish. I found myself actually holding my breath as I listened because some of the scenes were so intense. She writes with great description so that it was truly a movie in my mind while I read.

There was action and heart, fear and excitement. I wanted to know what happened from start to finish. I craved to know the ending! But I also dreaded it a little because you know that not everyone can make it out alive in such a scenario.

This was an incredible book. I will probably find myself snagging a hard copy to reread at some point. I highly recommend this one.

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
336 pages
Releasing today August 13th, 2024

A pilot suffers a heart attack while 35,000 feet in the air, causing a commercial airliner filled with close to 300 passengers to crash into a nuclear power plant in Minnesota, leading to a national crisis. Power plant workers, firefighters, and those in the community surrounding the power plant must work together to do the unthinkable & make extremely hard decisions to save their friends and family.

What an emotional and tense ride!!!! T.J. Newman knows how to catch you & pull you in right from the start. Her descriptive writing style allows me to envision everything & make me feel like I’m there. The characters in this book all are faced with the unthinkable & have to make extremely hard decisions in a short amount of time. Each chapter started with “___ hours remaining” which made my emotions heighten. A thrilling ride!

Read if you like:
✨Intense storylines
✨Emotional reads
✨Multiple perspectives
✨On the edge of your seat feeling

Thank you @tj_author @littlebrown & @netgalley for an eARC & ALC!

#tjnewmanauthor #tjnewman #thriller #suspense #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #arc #alc #littlebrowncompanypublishing

When a pilot suffers a fatal heart attack, his plane crashes into a nuclear power plant outside of a small town in Minnesota, and the countdown to global cataclysm has started. Can the specialists at the plant and the town itself work together to avert disaster?

TJ Newman has readers in the palm of her hand as they turn page after page, hanging on every word, clinging to the hope that things will be okay on both a micro and macro level. That is one of Newman’s great gifts. She not only makes the reader care about the high-concept stakes but also the people involved. If you enjoyed her two previous thrillers, then this is a must-read. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading a TJ Newman book, this is a great starting place.

The audiobook is absolutely fantastic. The narrator does an admirable job of making every character come alive individually, which is no small feat. He deftly navigates the technical parts of the book, and it is never dull or pedantic, just propulsive.

Thank you Hachette Audio for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Action-packed story that both thrills and terrifies! The scenario is plausible and definitely makes you worry that it could truly happen. TJ Newman excelled at fleshing out the characters; you could feel everything they felt and really got to know them. There were a few eye-rolling moments but otherwise I was swept away into the story and recommend it if you’re looking for a fast-paced, suspenseful read.

T.J. Newman once again had me hooked from the get-go. Worst Case Scenario is the third of T.J. Newman's books and just like her past airplane related thrillers, this one had me on the edge of my seat.

When a pilot has a heart attack while flying, the plane crashes into a nuclear powerplant in a small town. The disaster results in ordinary people being asked to do extraodinary thinks.

Thank you Hachette Audio and NetGalley for my copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

A disaster story of mammoth proportions! The list of challenges to overcome are endless but wow what a way to portray it!
The writing I found comfortable without being over the top and created just the right amount of atmosphere.

Worst Case Scenario is even more gripping and death defying than I expected.. I thought it would be the worst case scenario in a plane but this story went way beyond that. In the first few minutes the pilot suffers a widowmaker heart attack and the plane crashes into a nuclear power plant. And things go downhill from there. There are some gruesome details in the crash, deaths and injuries that occur, but the story isn't overly graphic. TJ Newman is fantastic at creating suspense, combined with loveable and relatable characters who you don't want to lose.
The audiobook narration by Joe Morton really captured the urgency and drama and also contained realistic sound effects and radio transmissions, I almost felt like I was watching a movie unfold.

After eagerly reading Newman’s first two books, I couldn’t wait to get to this one. The fact that it was a departure from the strictly plane-based setting was one of the things I was most interested in seeing, because honestly, how many nightmare plane scenarios can we read without having an impact on the travel industry? Also, I was approved for the audiobook version of this, narrated by Joe Morton, and these seem like just the right kind of story to be read in audio format.

The action starts immediately in this book. It starts out with the pilot having a massive, fatal heart attack at 35,000 feet, while the copilot is in the lavatory. The plane crashes into a nuclear power plant in rural Minnesota, creating an immediate catastrophe of immense proportions. Part of the power plant is damaged, and parts of the plane have landed across the town, creating blockages and traffic accidents, in addition to the impending potential for a nuclear meltdown that has the capacity to surpass Fukushima and Chernobyl in terms of severity.

Joe Morton, the narrator, does a wonderful job of telling this fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat kind of story. There are CB radio transmissions interspersed with the story, and plenty of sound effects, and I was pulled into the action right from the beginning. Newman keeps the tension high throughout the story, but she also has a talent for creating storylines that draw in my emotions—there’s the single dad and his son who are struggling to connect, a small boy who is in a tough spot to save, and then the whole town full of people who are trying to avoid the same fate as the people of Pripyat, Ukraine. However, it was incredibly frustrating to realize early on in the book that the narrator mispronounced “nuclear” as “nuc-u-lar” every time, which took me out of the story.

Each chapter starts with a countdown to the zero hour, keeping the story tense for nearly the entire time. The pace was consistently fast, but the ending felt a bit rushed. I loved the way that the characters were developed and we got to know each of their storylines to add an emotional investment to the book. Each of the characters was stuck in a tough situation, and everyone did what they had to do, regardless of what they wanted to do. While each of her stories are terrifying in a different way, this one was less claustrophobic and more far-reaching. I would suggest that if you plan to read this, to read a hard copy or e-book, and avoid the audiobook, especially if mispronunciation of simple words bother you.

I think this author is extremely talented, I just don't think this book was for me.

When it comes to thrillers I try to go in as "blind" as possible to the details of the plot and I think I was just expecting something different from this book. I think it would be great for a lot of people, especially if you are into reading about disasters/ possible global catastrophic events.

I was able to listen to the audiobook and I do recommend this format. I enjoyed that at times it really sounded like the characters were talking on the radio, which added to the listening experience.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in advance

T. J. Newman has another bestseller with this thriller. As I am listening to the book and explaining to my husband what it’s about, he said that’s a bit far fetched. However, later that day while watching the nightly news, we watched the Brazilian Airline plane crash killing everyone. My husband turned to me and said, I guess the story could really happen. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was so well done. I especially liked the sound effects. They added to the story.

Thank you #NetGalley, #HachetteAudio, #LittleBrown&Company, #T.J. Newman and #TheWorstCaseScenario for the advance audiobook for my honest review.

Worst Case Scenario starts immediately with a situation to get your pulse rising and it never stops. T.J. Newman takes terrible situations and brings life to them through her lived experience, research, and writing. This was no exception.

Following a crash, a small town in Minnesota loses power and isn't sure what's going on - but as we learn with them, the tradeoffs, their choices, and what happens in between is sobering and impactful. This isn't a book I'll easily forget!

I read it in audiobook format. I found I couldn't do much other than listen since the material kept me so engaged.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette, and Little Brown & Company.

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is a NetGalley Audiobook approved ARC!
A little over 8 hours normal speed I was glued to my headset the whole time and binged this to completion in one sitting.
The narrator does an amazing job keeping you on the edge of your seat as the tension mounts. And I really liked the difference with the radio calls sounding almost real.
The multiple POVs were easy to follow and even as fast as this audio breezed by I found myself emotional on several occasions! This was a phenomenal thriller and I will be backtracking to more of her works in the future.
If you've seen the Korean film Pandora this is some of the same scenario but that didn't detract from the story at all.

What a book! This one grabbed me from the very beginning and did not letup.
This one started out with the pilot of a commercial airliner as the victim of a heart attack, and the plane crashed into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota. This becomes ground zero for the disaster, and the rest of the story is a roller coaster. The tale is told from multiple perspectives, and I was afraid for the fate of most of them.

This one has heartwarming instances when the townspeople came together, tense and dangerous scenes in the power plant, crises with the firefighters who were trying to rescue a little boy, teachers directing children to safety, and families and neighbors huddling together and hoping to help. It was a really good book! Other reviewers have commented that there were too many characters, and admittedly there were a lot, and they were sometimes hard to track. That’s the only negative for me.

I switched back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook. The narration was really good, and the different voices were believable and easily remembered.

Five great stars for this one!

How many ways can a passenger plane accident happen? T.J. Newman showed us two already with Falling and Drowning, and she’s back with a 3rd installment. This one is a little different in that the story doesn’t take place on the plane, it focuses on the small town and the nuclear power plant that the plane crashes into – very Chernobyl.

I’ve gone back and forth on how to review this book and the audio production. I’ve decided to be really transparent and honest in my review: I DNF’d at 84%. Why? I realized that I just didn’t care about this story – it has all the same drama and action as her previous books, and mentioned/borrowed several elements we’ve already seen in the previous books. There were a lot of characters to keep straight, one of whom was a fictitious president of the US of A. The dialogue was very forced and unrealistic. The narrator’s pronunciations of several words just irked me to no end and took me out of the story.

On a positive note, the audio production (other than weird pronunciations) was really good. Joe Morton delivers a clear and smooth narration and I enjoyed the change in tone for the bull horn and CB Radio transmissions – I thought they brought some depth to the story.

2/5 for the book
4/5 for the audio production

Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio for this audiobook. All opinions above are my own.

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @hachetteaudio & @netgalley for the audio ARC!

From the first page, this book had me in knots and then I cried through the final chapters!

The high anxiety, heart stopping narration from multiple POVs was able to convey the urgency & the potential outcome of a horrific tragedy playing out minute by minute, while also showing the humanity of everyday heroes.

Equally brave, some of them stepped up to try to save the world, while others were focused on saving just one life.

#WorstCaseScenario #TJNewman #5StarRead #5StarReview #ARCReview #HachetteAudio #Netgalley

Thank you @tj_author and @littlebrown for this finished copy, @hachetteaudio and @netgalley for the ALC 💖.

✨What it is about:
A pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, and the crew cannot get back control of the commercial airliner.The aircraft 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. ✨
 
💭My thoughts:
I was thrilled when @tj_author contacted me letting me know I won a copy of her newest book. This was absolutely one of the most intense stories I have ever read, and the action starts right on page one so be ready! T.J. Newman knows how to execute a story full of chilling details and mid-blowing scenarios, supported by great characters, in circumstances that are beyond your wildest imagination. She gets your blood pumping and your mind racing with stories full of suspense and tension that keep you turning the pages.

🎧Listening to the audio book while reading the physical book was such an amazing experience. Narrated by Joe Morton, the audio made me feel like I was right there in the middle of it all! The characters were voiced with the emotion and intensity pertinent to the different situations, and I was fond of all the audio enhancements done to portray the different methods of communication that were used throughout the story: phone calls, intercoms,radios etc…they made everything sound so realistic.

The book follows multiple perspectives and characters dealing with different situations all happening simultaneously, and all brought by the plane crash. It was a lot to wrap up, and the end did leave me wanting more details. However seeing the sacrifices made by so many, and a whole community come together to save the world was very touching.

4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Read if you like:
✈️Fast paced page turners
✈️Multiple POVs
✈️High stakes
✈️Non-stop action
✈️Suspenseful thrillers
✈️Compelling and emotional stories

⚠️CW: Plane crash,death,graphic injury details,car accident,death of a parent,grief, death of a spouse,mentions of terminal illness.

Get ready for the ultimate adrenaline rush because T.J. Newman has absolutely outdone herself with "Worst Case Scenario!" After being blown away by her first two novels, I wasn't sure how she would top them! This heart-stopping thriller had me hooked from the first page.

There's no putting this book down, even for a second. The non-stop action captivated me, and I snuck away every chance I had to squeeze in one more chapter. The action starts immediately and doesn't let up. The book begins so intensely that I didn't think Ms. Newman could maintain the level for the remainder of the book. I was anticipating the moment of letdown (or a break to catch my breath), but it didn't come!

I couldn't resist immersing myself in this gripping story, even ignoring my husband on his day off. Once I started, nothing could tear me away. The relentless pace and suspense hooked me, and I had to devour it in one go.

T.J. Newman's exceptional talent shines through on every page of "Worst Case Scenario." While she may churn out books slower than some authors, her quality-over-quantity approach has paid off. With three incredible novels, she has established herself as a master of phenomenal thriller novels. I have my popcorn ready for the movie adaptations and eagerly await her next masterpiece. Maybe I'll even brave flying again one day!

Sincere thanks to Hachette Audio/Little, Brown & Co. for this spectacular advanced audiobook copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

#WorstCaseScenario #TJNewman #HachetteAudio #littlebrownandco #audiobookreview #ARC #pageturner #reader #read #honestreview #thriller #bookreviewer #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #pulsepoint #thrillerfriendsunite #thrillerobsessedbookishclub #ReadersOfTheLateArc #TalkWordyToMeTeam #lovetoread #lovebooks #booknerd #readaholic #bookstagrammer #booktok #booktoker