A locked-room mystery set on a plane with multiple suspicious characters and a potentially unreliable main character? Say less.

Makayla Rossi is traveling back home to New York with her infant son, Liam, after visiting her father in Anchorage. Halfway through the flight Makayla asks the woman across the aisle from her if she'll keep an eye on Liam so she can go to the restroom. The woman agrees, but when Makayla returns Liam isn't in his bassinet. The plane is searched, the FBI is contacted, but there is no sign of Liam. When no one on board can recall ever actually seeing the baby, their suspicion turns to Makayla.

This book was a wild ride, and I had so much fun reading it! I am a sucker for a locked-room mystery and I'm not sure a room can get more locked than a plane mid flight. I thought the author did a really good job of writing all the side characters and giving multiple of the people on board a motive for why they might've taken a baby. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the pilot and intelligence analyst's perspectives, as I thought they added some depth to the story. While this was a quick read in general, coming in at under 300 pages, the short chapters and different POVs really kept me turning the pages to figure out what happened next.

This certainly wasn't the most believable plot, but I thought it was balanced by the author's obvious research into police procedure and airplane mechanics. I did feel like the dialogue got a little repetitive at times, with different characters relaying the same information to each other in different POVs, but it wasn't to the point that it affected my enjoyment of the book.

If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller I would recommend giving this one a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Thomas & Mercer!

This is a 3.5 star book. It starts off really strong, with a baby going missing on a flight, then it's just stagnant for the rest of the book until the last 25%. The authors prose was good, though. I was able to read it quickly, and I appreciated that there wasn't a bunch of word salad.
I also didn't particularly care for many of the characters. Im not sure why we had a pov from a pilot. It didn't really add much to the story. They were just boring, really. There wasn't much substance to them.
All in all, it's an easy read, but it can kind of drag on in the middle there

This one did not go where I thought it would.

I definitely started reading it thinking, whelp...read this before. But about halfway through the book it takes a turn and what happens is unexpected.

It's also a little unbelievable, but I didn't really care because entertainment and popcorn, right?

Expect a few twists and turns and a very surprising reason for everything.

Fun read!

This book, I'm sorry, was horrible. Nothing seemed to be happening and the story went in circles. Third person plus no quotation marks around anything made it hard to read. Will not recommend as I did not enjoy it.

3.5 Stars. This starts strongly with a unique puzzle that seems unsolvable. Makayla boarded a plane in Anchorage with a bulging body sling devised for carrying a baby. She was returning to New York from visiting her father in Alaska, and while onboard the airliner flying at 30,000 feet, she left her three-month-old baby Liam asleep in his bassinet for a quick trip to the restroom. On returning, her baby is gone! Passengers and crew had noticed the baby carrier strapped to her body, but no one actually saw her baby. Liam has never uttered a sound. Makayla becomes frenzied while the flight attendants search every possible hiding place on the plane.

We can understand her fear, but she becomes so belligerent and frantic with the passengers and crew that we begin to be annoyed with her manic behaviour. She grabs the passenger's hand luggage, which has already been searched, insisting to have another look, and is determined to enter the cockpit. Our sympathy turns to annoyance with her behaviour. She refuses to obey the flight attendant's orders to be seated and struggles with them, resulting in injuries. It is necessary for her to be restrained in her seat.

It is learned that her mother had a rare type of amnesia, which resulted in her accidental death. Is it possible that Makayla has developed the same medical problem? Could she have forgotten the baby at her father's home or left him at the airport? As no one has actually seen the baby, her situation is suspect. Her husband, James, is a successful money manager and appeared on the cover of Forbes. Could his financial prominence set off a kidnapping plot for ransom? His firm has some financial irregularities, which could lead to an enormous ransom demand to recover missing funds. Did an unknown subject kidnap Liam before they boarded the plane? Is Makayla a part of a criminal plot? It seems impossible that Liam could have vanished onboard an aircraft that has been thoroughly searched. Are Jack, Mikayla's father, or any of the passengers implicated in the baby's disappearance.?

In the meantime, the FBI on the ground are investigating everyone's background. They cannot find any proof that the baby was on the flight. The story is told from the perspectives of Makayla, Jack, flight attendants, pilots, and the FBI. There is a lot of air-flight terminology, and the flight runs into a storm and landing problems. The narrative is repetitive early in the book due to Makayla's thoughts and actions. The parts about copilot Anne and FBI agent Tina could have been omitted with no loss to the story.

It is necessary to suspend disbelief. Still, the solution is farfetched, implausible, and even ridiculous. What has happened to the baby, and is he even alive? Despite the inconceivable ending, I was highly entertained and enjoyed the book. Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC. I will be looking for more books by author Audrey J Cole. Its publication is due on March 01.

This is definitely a unique thriller. Makayla is solo parenting a flight with her baby. She gets up to use the restroom while her baby is sleeping and, when she gets back, the bassinet is empty. Makayla experiences every mother’s worst nightmare, a missing child. However, no one remembers seeing the baby get on the plane and Makayla’s mother suffered from amnesia. Is the baby missing or was he even on the plane in the first place? 

Holy cow, this book gave me so much anxiety. Makayla’s search for her baby on the plane is so intense and sad. The passengers don't seem to care about a missing child. I do think this shows how some people don't want to be bothered by other people's issues. The flight attendants helped out until they began to question if the baby ever boarded the plane. I get their hesitancy though. I mean how could a baby go missing on a plane?

The pacing of this book is perfect, and it changed POVs perfectly. All the POVs were fun to read and added more mystery. This book hooked me, and I was dead-set on finding out where this baby is. When you get to the ending you definitely have to be okay with some unbelievable things happening. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for this eARC to review. All opinions are my own. This book will be available on March 1st, 2025!

Read if you like:
✈️ Plane Disasters
🔐 Locked Room Mysteries 
😥 Anxiety Inducing Moments

How can a baby go missing on a plane? That's the question Makayla is frantically trying to answer. She only stepped away to use the restroom but when she returned, baby Liam was gone from his carrier. Or was he ever there? This is a zippy closed plane thriller that will have you questioning Makayla's mental health, among other things. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. You might find it over the top and unrealistic but I'll bet you keep turning the pages to get answers.

This is my 3rd Audrey J. Cole book. There is something about her writing that pulls me in and keeps me interested. Missing In Flight was no exception. Easy to breeze through her books within a couple days. I desperately needed a book I couldn’t put down!

Missing In Flight had a straightforward plot (missing baby on a plane) with nowhere to run (seriously, how can an infant just *poof* disappear on a near empty airplane). So I wasn’t fully expecting the huge amount of intrigue, suspense, emotion, or mystery. So many nuggets of information sprinkled in each chapter had me constantly wondering if the answers were right in front of me or if they were distractions. It was difficult to take breaks from reading when I just wanted to find out how it would all come together. Truly loved every second of it.

The story is told from Multiple POVs: Makayla (mother of missing infant), Anne (pilot), Jack (father of missing infant), Tina (FBI). This was a great way to incorporate more settings and multiple suspicions by getting into the mind of several characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.

Pub Date Mar 01 2025

Mikayla Rossi is on a plane on the way home to NY with her 3 month old son Liam from visiting her father in Alaska. She asks the girl in a nearby seat to watch Liam in the bassinet so she can use the bathroom. When she goes back to her seat, Liam is gone. The crew and passengers search the plane but Liam isn’t anywhere. Questions about Mikayla’s mental state arise especially when everyone finds out her mother, who was an actress and killed in a car accident, had transient global amnesia. Was Liam actually on the plane? Her husband Jack is a high profile banker featured in Forbes and deals with a lot of money.
The story was told from multiple POVs: the parents Mikayla and Jack, the copilot Anna, and an analyst working with the FBI, Tina.
There was twists but not enough. There were some edge of your seat moments and moments you questioned and had you guessing. There was repetition in the story. I felt Mikayla’s worry and panic but she was annoying. The author did her research in regards to the language pilots and copilots speak. There were far-fetched and unrealistic parts.

Pub date: March 1, 2025

Thank you #netgalley and #Thomas and Mercer for the ARC

Missing In Flight
Wow!!! What a turbulent ride-literally!! What starts as an ordinary trip back home turns into a baby missing at 3,000 feet. Makayla needs to find her infant son before the unthinkable happens! This was a terrifying, spine-chilling thriller that I could not put down !! 5 stars

This definitely had lots of twists and surprises. Some parts I found a little out of the realm of real life possibility but then that's why we call it fiction. Give it a read.

A mother and her very young son are returning on a long overseas flight from a visit with her father, when she makes the ill-fated decision to leave him sleeping and visit the restroom quickly. Her baby inexplicably disappears mid-flight in those few moments and can't be found anywhere. Compounding the situation, her very famous mom suffered from a kind of memory loss that she fears will be hereditary. Now everyone wonders, did she even bring the child on board the plane? How could he have just vanished?

Missing in Flight grabbed my attention from the first page and never let go. I really enjoy reading thrillers and mysteries that I can't solve midway through the book, and Audrey Cole has a gifted way of crafting such a story.

Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole is a gripping thriller that turns an everyday moment into a nightmare. When Makayla briefly leaves her baby, Liam, in the care of a fellow passenger during a flight, she never expects to return and find him gone. What follows is a tense, high-stakes mystery unraveling at 35,000 feet. The novel taps into the anxieties of parenthood, making readers question how quickly an innocent decision can spiral into disaster. With its compelling premise and fast-paced storytelling, this is a must-read for thriller fans—especially those new to Cole’s work.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love a fast-paced thriller, and this one was absolutely wild. Missing in Flight is a pulse-pounding, addictive ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Believe me when I say you won’t be able to put it down. It had me doubting every character, and I ended up reading it in one sitting because I needed to know who was behind it all.

Missing in Flight starts off at a slow pace, requiring readers to be patient as the story sets the stage for the events to come, but the last third that’s when things really kick into gear. The pacing may not be quick, but it’s the imaginative details and subtleties in the narrative that truly flesh out the plot. While this could be a challenge for some, it’s what made the payoff so much more satisfying for me in the end. It’s a quick read once you hit that final stretch, but getting to that point might feel a bit like wading through a slow stream.

Thanks NetGally for advance copy

4.25/5

Makayla gets up to go to the bathroom and makes a split second decision to leave her infant in the carrier under the watchful eye of a seat-mate because let’s be real, there is no room in those bathrooms and the baby isn’t going anywhere. She walks back to her seat and realizes immediately her baby is missing. Naturally she panics, and starts looking everywhere. She alerts the attendants and no one can find her baby. Poof. Disappeared into thin air. But then…people start to question if she really had her baby. No one REALLY saw him. Or did they?

Ding ding… this is your captain asking you to sit in your seat with your seatbelt because we will be hitting some turbulence and a FREAKIN missing infant in this flight! 👀 Say whaaa? Ok Audrey, whatcha trying to do to these mama hearts?! 😆 I go into books blind and I am just telling you my heart was pounding from the first few pages of this book! This literally plays to so many of my mama fears and I loved every heart stopping moment of it! What is wrong with me?! I devoured this in one stressful sitting and I can say with confidence this is Audrey’s best book yet! I loved how she made me question everything and everyone in this book. This truly was the ultimate locked room thriller and completely worth the layover! If you haven’t read her books yet, you need to! This one was AMAZING!

This was a fast paced thriller that was under 300 pages and would be great for any thriller lover and especially one looking for a quick read! MISSING IN FLIGHT was highly entertaining and while at times quite unbelievable, that is what made it so thrilling and entertaining. It is a locked room mystery that takes place on a plane which personally gave me chills. You’ll be wondering where the baby is but you’ll asleep be scratching your head wondering what else is going on. I highly recommend this juicy thriller!

Makayla is headed home from Alaska to NYC with her 3 month old son, Liam. Once they takeoff Liam falls fast asleep.

During the flight she runs to the restroom leaving her baby behind. When she returns Liam is gone. She frantically searches the plane but cannot find him. A fast paced thriller that will keep you absolutely guessing until the end.

Thank you Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer for this ARC!

I have a weak spot for a plane setting in a thriller as well as a good locked room mystery, so it's easy to understand why I added Missing In Flight to my TBR as soon as I first read the blurb. Add the fact that I've enjoyed Audrey J. Cole's writing in the past, and it comes as no surprise that I've been looking forward to join the flight and learn more about what is going on. And what a ride it turned out to be! The start was a bit slow and there were parts that were a quite repetitive, but especially the second half was tense and I couldn't stop reading.

I cannot imagine anything more frightening for a mother than to have to leave their child for just a minute, only for her to discover her baby is gone when she returns... Imagine when it happens on a plane, and you just KNOW someone among the people on board is behind it. This is exactly what happens to Makayla while she is returning to New York from a visit to her father in Alaska, and boy did it make for a fascinating premise! The fact that the majority of the plot is set on board of the plane makes it a true locked room mystery, and while I had my suspicions I never did guess the full truth behind it all.

Missing In Flight uses a multiple POV structure, although we mainly switch between the mother Makayla and the co-pilot Anna in the air and FBI analyst Tina on the ground. Later on, we also get the father Jack's POV to complement the part of the story set on the ground... While he is less present, his POV does play a key role in the plot. Makayla's POV could get a bit repetitive and frustrating after a while; I get that she is desperate to find her child and having others not believe her story only made things worse, but her behavior was still way too erratic. I wasn't too big a fan of Anna, but then again I never like a cheating element... It was interesting to see things from inside the cockpit though. Tina's POV was probably my favorite, mostly because we got to see the investigation through her eyes.

I'm keeping this review short to avoid spoilers, but what I can say is that you will definitely have to be able to suspend your disbelief to properly enjoy the story. Especially the second half takes some turns that are way over the top and they don't exactly help making this story feel credible. It was all a bit too farfetched to be truly satisfying, although I can't deny the fact that I never did see those twists coming. And there is no doubt that the increased tension made me race through the pages!

All in all, Missing In Flight turned out to be a suspenseful and entertaining ride despite a few minor hiccups. A bit slow to start, but the tension is racked up in the second half and there is no doubt that the story goes out with a bang.

I mean seriously?? COME ON. Flightplan with Jodie Foster is one of my favorite movies ever and did this book deliver and leave my heart in my throat like the movie did? YES. If you suspend belief and dive deep, this is an insanely wild and uncomfortable ride, especially if you’re a parent. The thriller aspect was phenomenal of course but the back stories of the characters and the way their lives and family dynamics played into the story? Chef’s kiss!