It’s spooky season which means it’s time to whip out all the mystery and cozy vibe books. When I saw Missing in Flight on NetGalley, I needed to grab it while I could.

I really wanted to like this book. A baby going missing in flight? That drew me in. Unfortunately, for me the book fell short. A lot was happening but at the same time, nothing was happening. I didn’t care for any of the characters and the plot didn’t get interesting until the last part of the book. There were almost too many different directions the book could go.

I am glad I was able to see the book through.

*Missing in Flight* by Audrey J. Cole is an exhilarating and suspenseful novel set in the high-stakes environment of an aeroplane, which immediately piqued my interest as a fan of both planes and books set on them. The plot follows the mysterious disappearance of the protagonist Makayla’s baby, and the unraveling mystery kept me hooked.

The unique atmosphere of being on a plane brings its own claustrophobic tension. The story is fast-paced, and the twists and turns, while gripping, do verge on the farfetched at times. Some plot points felt a bit unrealistic. However, the entertainment factor and suspense more than make up for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book despite its occasional leaps in logic. If you’re someone who loves planes and can suspend disbelief for the sake of an enjoyable, tension-filled read, *Missing in Flight* will definitely keep you entertained.

In summary, while the novel may not be grounded in realism, its thrills and plane-centered plot make it a fun and worthwhile read for aviation lovers and mystery fans alike.

Thank you, Thomas & Mercer for the copy of Missing In Flight by Audrey J. Cole. This book captivated me from the very start. The claustrophobic setting of the plane added to the growing tension. If you love learning about flying and how pilots act during an incident you will adore this book. It was a little much for me because I couldn't visualize what was going on. There was a scene that didn’t feel realistic and a couple of plot holes. Everything slowed down when the story switched to the investigation on the ground and I missed the built-up suspense. This was a good, quick read but I wouldn’t recommend reading on a plane! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

What a wild ride. Much of it felt unrealistic (Yes, I know this is fiction). I typically enjoy thrillers that feel more realistic because I can imagine it happening and those thoughts add to the feelings and emotions I experience. However, as a mom, there were still plenty of emotions felt while reading this book. The story was interesting and definitely worth reading.

Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. It was Unputdownable as I NEEDED to know if the baby was okay or even real?

On a flight back home, Makayla Rossi’s baby has gone missing. Not one passenger on the plane can confirm seeing the baby aboard but Makayla insists someone has taken her baby.

What a thrilling read!

Just suspend disbelief and buckle your seatbelt. This story was action packed from beginning to end. I loved following all of the side characters. It added a layer of mystery into wondering why they were included and if they could be trusted. There was a lot of reputation surrounding the grandmother and her condition, but otherwise I really enjoyed this little popcorn thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley,Audrey J. Cole, and Thomas and Mercer Publishing for this arc of Missing in Flight, out January 7, 2025!

📜Quick Summary: Makayla is on a flight with her baby boy, Liam, traveling home to her husband after a great visit with her father. It’s been two years but things haven’t been the same since her mother’s untimely death. During the flight, Makayla realizes that she needs to use the restroom and asks a young girl next to her to keep an eye out for her child. When she returns from the lavatory, she sees that Liam is missing. The crew members don't’ recall seeing a baby, and now everyone around her is questioning her. With a fellow passenger making the realization that Makayla’s mother died from a memory issue, everyone around her; including the FBI and her husband on the ground; start to question if she truly ever had Liam to begin with.

❣️Initial Feels: Right from the start, the cover had me in ALL my feelings. I have a fear of flying, and just the belt buckle (and title) shot up my anxiety. I knew I was in for a ride!

👀Trigger Warnings: missing child, extreme turbulence (for those with fear of flying)

🙋🏼‍♀️Moving Character: For me, Derek showed some growth! In the start of the investigation and dealing with Makayla, he wasn’t the kindest. After some new discoveries, he turned a corner in showing her some sympathy.

📖Read if you want: multiple point of views, slow burn mystery, short chapters

💡Final Sentiments: I enjoyed this novel…even though I couldn’t sleep until I finished it because I had to “get off the plane” too! I have a very, awful fear of flying, and for most of this novel I could feel the anxiety and nerves in my body. As a mother, I also was feeling allllll the feelings for Makayla. This was a super fast read, and because of the short chapters, really made it fly by! A great introduction to thrillers!

🌟Overall Rating: 4 stars


This novel was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

3.5⭐️I just can't imagine something like this happening while stuck on an airplane. Missing in Flight was full of suspense. It definitely had me guessing throughout so I rounded up!

This was such a suspenseful ride! I really enjoyed every twist and turn. I was nervous going in it wouldn’t be able to pack enough thrill but it did!

4.5 rounded up.
Had me hooked from the start – fast-paced and fascinating (grab the popcorn).

Energy: Gripping. Bold. Calamitous.

🐕 Howls:
The reasoning behind the plot was ridiculous in an action-adventure movie type of way…the entire scheme relied too much on everything lining up perfectly and was unnecessarily dangerous and complicated, but I had so much fun reading it I didn't rly mind.

🐩 Tail Wags:
Action scenes that read like an action movie because they unfolded quickly as I imagined them happening. Direct, snappy, cinematic writing style that's easy to visualize. Rapidly shifting POVs giving us hints, reveals, and insights. Well-paced, never dragged, everything is relevant to the story. Short chapters and skipping between the three main scenes. Whenever I had a question, one of the characters would ask it too. Near the end there were moments of suspended disbelief, but I didn’t have to turn off my brain entirely.

Scene: 🇺🇸 ✈️ Set on a flight from Anchorage to LaGuardia, and on the ground in the NYC area.
Perspectives (4): The mother of a newborn with a family history. The father of a newborn who works at an investment firm. A co-pilot reconsidering their marriage. An FBI intelligence agent assigned to the case.
Timeline: Current (2010s/before Face ID).
🔥 Fuel: Cliffhangers. Interlocking reveals. Escalating stakes race against time. Did someone take the baby? If so, who and why? How did they manage to do it undetected? Where is it?
📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:
Seatbelt sign. Airplane ambient noise. Turbulence. Laptop. Lightning. Helicopter blades. Warning alarms.
• Psychological action-adventure popcorn thriller
• Locked room mysteries
• Short chapters
• Punchy, cinematic writing
• “Go big or go home” Big Bads
• What-happened whodunnits
• Law & Order style FBI investigation digging up the tea
• Potential unreliable narrator
• Fly-on-the-wall reader gets to know more than the characters
• Fast-paced action and plot driven stories
• Who-took-my-baby parenting horrors

Content Heads-Up: Infertility. Early menopause. Stalking, home invasion (celeb; brief recall off page). Memory loss, confusion (Alzheimers; transient global amnesia). Loss of parent (as child). Abduction. Death. Fraud. Parental abandonment (as child; very brief recall). Migraines. Sexual harassment (workplace; of male). False accusations. Depression, mental illness (brief recall). Plane stuff (see my StoryGraph for more info if needed).

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. A mother's worst nightmare plays out in real time when her baby gets abducted mid flight and she has no idea where he is or who took him. Though some parts were slightly unbelievable, I still enjoyed this thriller and think fans of the genre will too!

My first book with this author and there was a lot to love but also a few things that were head scratching. My thriller/suspense novel doesn't have to think through EVERY plot point and make it realistic (although I'd prefer that in most cases because I'm not reading fantasy or magical realism so I tend to prefer an "explanation" for the choices the characters make). With that said, this story is about a missing child on a plane and we get 4 points of view within the storytelling. One of those viewpoints was pretty irrelevant to the plot but served more as a red herring and a voice for the inevitable climax of the story.
So I loved the fast-paced nature of the story. I finished it in one day. There are moments within Makayla Rossi's story that got repetitive and her manic behavior was a device to add drama. Overall, I felt she was a little narrowly drawn for us to get a sense of her as a person.
Jack her husband does a few things that are head scratchers and I'm not sure (I'm not a finance person so this is where I wonder how plausible several of the things he says happened are really possible).
Tina is the FBI agent that seems to have more humanity than anyone of the other voices. I could see her character on a big screen.

I don't want to spoil the plot but go into this story leaving your incredulity at the door because there are quite a few things that just don't seem to add up. That said, it definitely was a fun ride.

Ok I actually loved this book a lot. There’s something about books that take place on planes that immediately suck me in. I felt like I was watching a movie the whole time. Will absolutely be checking out more of this authors books!

Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole is an excellent, exciting thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Makayla and her infant son, Liam are on a flight to New York. When she gets up to use the restroom, she asks someone to watch her son.

When she returns, her son is missing. How is that even possible? Frantic and searching the entire vessel, Liam is nowhere to be found.

This book is INSANELY good. Filled with twists and turns, I absolutely LOVED this book!

This was awesome. A quick paced, action packed read. The plot was engaging and the story was intriguing. This was my first Cole book but it won’t be my last.

I really enjoyed this book and it gave me a mix of air crash investigations and criminal minds it was tense, emotional, dark and made my heart race

[ARC review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

PUBLISH DATE: JANUARY 07, 2025

While on a flight home from Anchorage to New York, Makayla rushes to use the bathroom while her baby son sleeps soundlessly in his bassinet. However, when Makayla returns to her seat, she finds the bassinet empty. Her baby is missing and everyone on the flight is a suspect. Chaos ensues as the flight attendants search the passengers' belongings, Makayla anxiously tries to understand who would take her baby and why, and the pilots attempt to calm things down while flying through difficult weather conditions. Could the kidnapping have something to do with her wealthy husband who was recently featured in Forbes? Did Makayla even get on the flight with her son?

I loved that a majority of the story takes place during the flight - communication is difficult, security is pretty high, everyone is in a tight, enclosed space, and everyone is a suspect. I liked that we go multiple POV's and got a glimpse of what was happening on the ground - FBI analysts making sense of the situation and Makayla's husband trying to pieces the pieces together.

However, I felt that there was SO much repetition and the author worked so hard to lead the reader during a specific path - which made me immediately understand that it couldn't be the answer.

This was a tense and suspenseful read, but it felt like the 'thriller' aspects were forced. This is a great book for anyone in need of a short, fast-paced, not-scary 'thriller'.

#arc #missinginflight #netgalley

Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole delivers a suspenseful premise with an intriguing plot involving a high-stakes disappearance. Cole's writing style is engaging, and the story starts off strong, capturing readers with its mystery and tension. However, the narrative eventually loses some momentum, and certain plot twists feel predictable. The character development could also benefit from more depth to fully invest readers in their fates. While the book provides an entertaining read with its fair share of suspense, it falls short of being a standout thriller.

If you’re a fan of The Pilot’s Daughter, then you’ll love Audrey J Cole’s new title, Missing In Flight. I could not put this book down, and felt like I was sitting along side Makayla, just as panicked as her and hoping for a happy ending! Audrey had me suspecting many (okay, all!) of the characters along the way, and often doubting the truth. And as a bonus, being the actual daughter of a pilot, Audrey’s aircraft knowledge is spot on! 5 stars!

A rollercoaster read for sure! I loved all the twists, they kept me invested from start to finish. Few things that were tough to get past would definitely be how intense Makayla was. It felt like every part she was in was just fighting someone. I understand it being an emotional situation with her son missing, but there was no voice of reason or part where she wasn't fighting someone. It got a bit repetitive in that sense. I also struggled to understand the parts with the pilots because of all the flying terms used, so it ended up being a bit confusing to follow along.
All in all, it was a good read, and the twist at the end was worth the anticipation.