I really enjoyed the first few opening chapters of the story, meeting Lila Wilde a rockstars daughter and how a night out in Thailand ends up in inviting 30 strangers on her private jet to keep the party going.

Suddenly however the party ends and the PJ crashes into a Thai jungle. It is a real page turner but I found the majority of the characters pretty unbearable and the the middle chapters got a bit repetitive.

That being said, this is a quick and rather unique read and would recommend it to a friend.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book.

When the party ends, the real game begins. THE HIGHER YOU FLY…
In the dazzling lights of Thailand, socialite Lila Wilde is set for the night of her life. When her fame-hungry DJ boyfriend proposes at an exclusive nightclub, Lila makes a spur-of-the-moment decision: she invites a mix of celebrities, influencers, and near-strangers to keep the party going back at her luxurious villa — just a short flight over the lush Thai jungle. Champagne flows, music pulses, and the vibe on her private jet is nothing short of euphoric.

THE HARDER YOU FALL.
But when disaster strikes mid-flight, the dream turns into a nightmare and the group are stranded in an unforgiving jungle, far from the world of luxury they know. What begins as a desperate fight for survival quickly descends into something darker. Secrets are exposed and power dynamics shift, as the stranded passengers begin to realize the greatest threat might not be the jungle — but each other.

Some parties are unforgettable…this one might be deadly.

To be honest, this book was af all what I expected from the description. I quickly became bored with the story. Not so much a thriller book but a need to survive story.

2.5 out of 5 ⭐️

4.5🌟
If everyone will please take their seats….
Lila Wilde is the daughter of a famous rock star. Her life-style may be short on love and support, but the perks are enormous. She has the ability to buy anything she wants, and access to daddy’s private jet to travel anywhere in the world.

Her latest indulgence is taking off to Thailand with her boyfriend Bryce. After the first night of partying she doesn’t want the night to end. So she invites a group of fellow partiers (virtual strangers) on her jet to her dad’s private Villa, just an hour away.

But life will change forever in that one hour.

The publisher’s blurb kept the premise quite vague, and so will I. You need to go into this read as blind as possible!

OMG! This was not what I expected and I mean that in the best possible way! I was absolutely super-glued to my kindle and devoured this in just a couple sittings.

Sarah Goodwin has done it again! She has delivered a thoroughly unputdownable read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK

✈️ The Private Jet - Sarah Goodwin ✈️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I was lucky to receive a ARC of this book, which is due to be released on 13.02.25, highly recommended as it’s a fast passed thriller.

In the book we meet Lila who’s a well off privileged daughter of a rock star who’s making her carer in the influencer scene. She gone to Thailand with her boyfriend Bryce who’s a rising DJ

After a night out in the club Lila and Bryce want to continue the party and gather a group of partygoers and jump on a private flight to her dad’s secluded villa.

Things take a sudden turn when the plan crashes and the number of survivors starts to drop. This now become a fight for survival.

I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down! In fact I’ve read it in one day 😬 I just wanted to see how this played out and what would happen next.

The twists and turns this story took were jaw dropping and I was just invested from the off. Highly recommend this one!

If you are looking for a glamorous and suspenseful read, you’ve come to the right place! This is the one flight no one is leaving the way they boarded it!

I can’t in good conscience, give this book more than three stars, because it’s throwaway trash. However, FOR throwaway trash (and why am I saying that, since it’s redundant?) it wasn’t bad.

Socialite Lila Wilde (oh, the names in these books!), daughter of a very famous rock star is in Thailand having what she believes is the best night of her life. Her “fame-hungry DJ boyfriend” (methinks this won’t end well) proposes at a fancy nightclub and Lila’s response is to gather a group of “celebrity” influencers she barely knows and some strangers to celebrate…via a short flight to her family’s home over the Thai jungle.

Guess what happens. C’mon, guess. Fine. Things do not go well.

Since the book begins by giving readers the number of wild tigers left. Well. And (SPOILER ALERT) you just know that rotten DJ is going to get it. So little career longevity in DJing.

So, again, trash, but, boy did I keep turning the pages. (SPOILER ALERT) Given the buildup, not nearly enough tiger.

I'm a great fan of Sarah Goodwin and this has to be one of her best books so far. From page one it pulls you in, first taking the reader into the world of influencers - who knew it could be such an exhausting occupation? Lila Wilde, however, is no normal influencer. Her pathway to success has been backed by an unusual childhood, raised by her rock star father.
Although Lila comes across as an over indulged and entitled young woman, it’s clear she has a caring side. This becomes even more apparent as the story progresses and she faces constant danger in the jungle environment after her jet crashes. Narrated between past and present from Lila’s viewpoint, it shows how her experiences change her from who she was to the woman she becomes.

The story is well constructed, and the pace never flags as the survivors are launched from one crisis to another. It’s a roller coaster of a story, and well worth every one of the five points I have given it. Recommended.

I would like to thank Avon, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of The Private Jet in exchange for an honest review.

I really thought I was gonna enjoy this because it sounded so good, but sadly it just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t get on board with the characters and the writing style. Lila seemed a bit too absorbed with her self image for my liking and Bryce was lowkey racist and selfish... as for the writing style, it was simplistic and easy to get into, but not engaging enough for me to actually care for the story. It was fine, but not my favourite book. Unfortunately I can’t recommend this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Private Jet was a tense thriller focused on survival and some not so great discoveries about the people you surround yourself with. Luckily this book also carried with it some redemption, and was well written in getting its message across. The plot is interesting and the story fulfilled the brief, starting with Lila, a socialite / celebutante who managed to survive in a Thai jungle after a horrific plane crash. While we know Lila makes it she was en route to a party with her boyfriend and some friends, and the story was just as much about seeing what happened as who survived.

There were some love to hate them characters, a lot of disbelief that this posse could survive more than a day, and plenty of very real terror. The pacing here is excellent and I found myself wondering what I might do to make it, and who I might be after surviving in such harrowing circumstances.

A well done thriller, and very unique for its genre, I recommend picking this up and maybe not reading it during a plane ride.

I loved this book! The writing flows and its also an interesting story. We all know Lila lives, but we don't know the fate of the other characters. I was reading late into the night to find out what happened after the plane crashed. I loved all of the characters, the good and bad. This book has many twists & turns, will the poachers get hold of them? Will they get attacked by wild animals? I definitely recommend you read it & find out ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sarah Goodwin has done it again, another amazing survival thriller book that hits all the spots. From the start i was engrossed as i always am with a sarah goodwin book and the excitement i felt when i got the notification for my approval. I finished The Private Jet in one day and couldn't stop once i started.

The Private Jet follows socialite influencer and daughter of a famous rockstar Lila Wilde as she is in Thailand on holiday with her DJ boyfriend Bryce soon to be fiance. After being proposed to in a nightclub Lila invites strangers and fellow celebrity influencers to come on her private jet to party at her father's villa to celebrate. What seems to be a fun idea at the time soon turns out to be one's worst nightmare. While flying the private jet encounters turbulence and rough air conditions which makes the plane crash into the jungle. Lila survives but many of the people onboard are killed in the crash with only a few survivors left. While trying to survive and find help the group encounter snakes, monkeys and many other predators.

Lila in the beginning is a spoiled individual but we witness after the crash she in torn between sticking with the fellow celebrities or the 'normals'. At a time i didn't like her character but as injuries were becoming more and more apparent she started trying to survive as well as help the others whether it was hunting/foraging for food or helping with injuries. There is mention of drugs and drinking which as it goes along we see how the celebrities use their status to belittle the 'normal' survivors and treat them like dirt when they are the ones who are doing the most to find help. There is one particular character that i absolutely loathed, the change in personality and overall mannerism was making me so mad that i was begging Lila to stand up for herself.

The private jet is filled with suspense, betrayal and survival that you really root for them to make it out of there alive. As the survivors keep dropping you are hoping for a miracle that each time you think it can't get any worse it gets worse. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to others to pick up and read. Most definite a must read for 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK I Avon for the copy of this arc in exchange of my honest review.

Not so much of a mystery, more of a fight for survival. A little slow to get going and then a little unbelievable at times. Not my favourite of this author but I'm sure it'll be enjoyed by others

I found this to be stretching disbelief too far. There was nothing realistic in this book and thus nothing to anchor on to.

I would think this is a novel that could do with a rewrite and some heavy editing.

I cannot recommend at this point.

This wasn’t quite what I expected. It was a survival story rather than a mystery. It was relentless yet tedious and I skimmed through most of it. The characters were alost uniformly loathsome, but not in an entertaining way. No twists and no mystery, just one dangerous situation after another,0

Sarah’s latest fight for survival thriller

Perfect for fans of the series of ‘Lost’.

Perfect for those who enjoy:
- Tense pacy thrillers
- The series LOST
- Fight for survival fiction
- Poignant endings

With thanks to Avon Books UK | Avon and Netgalley for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

Imagine being plucked from obscurity by Lila Wilde, a famous influencer and rock star royalty, to join her exclusive entourage on a private jet. Wilde, true to her larger-than-life persona, lives up to her namesake with an invitation to continue the party at her opulent mansion in Thailand. Over 30 people, caught up in the glamour and allure, eagerly join the spontaneous adventure.

But the dream quickly morphs into a nightmare when the private jet crashes in the heart of an unforgiving jungle. Stranded, disoriented, and with no way of knowing if rescue will ever come, the group faces the terrifying reality of survival. The black box is likely miles away, and so are their chances of salvation.

Sarah Goodwin’s The Private Jet is a masterclass in tension as she methodically ratchets up the fear. The jungle itself becomes an antagonist, with every conceivable terror—diseases, dehydration, dangerous wildlife, and even poachers—lurking in the shadows. With no one and nothing to trust, the survivors must navigate a perilous balance between cooperation and self-preservation, and the question remains: how many will make it out alive?

This thriller had me absolutely hooked from start to finish. Goodwin’s vivid descriptions and relentless pacing kept me on edge the entire way. My only critique? The most sinister character didn’t quite get the comeuppance they deserved. But that’s a minor qualm in an otherwise electrifying read.

If you’re ready for a pulse-pounding tale of survival, betrayal, and the primal instincts that emerge when the comforts of modern life vanish, this is the book for you!

#AvonBooksUK #ThePrivateJet #SarahGoodwin

It started off really well, with Lila Wilde but then it went off the boil and I skim read the latter part of the book

Tense, Atmospheric..
What happens when the party ends? Socialite Lila Wilde is on a night of excess, when the party ends she decides it just has to carry on. Inviting a melange of near strangers, celebrities and influencers back to her extravagant villa. It’s only a short flight away through the jungle by private jet. As the flight commences, the atmosphere is euphoric..but not for long. Disaster strikes and a struggle for survival begins. With a credible and well drawn cast populating a pacy and menacing plot with often unexpected twists and a swiftly flowing narrative, this tense, atmospheric and edgy tale of suspense, secrets and survival is impossible to put down.

A private plane full of party-goers crashes in the jungles of Thailand and the passengers struggle to survive with nothing more than they brought for a nightclub. Well, what could go wrong? So, you already know this will be a catastrophe even though the survivors include two celebrities who have made their fame via wilderness/survivalist shows. The plane belongs to Lila Wilde, a young socialite with an infamous musician father and more money than she knows what to do with. She gets so wrapped up in enjoying her new engagement that she invites a bunch of people she barely knows or doesn’t know at all to come party at her family’s property just a plane ride away. And that’s when disaster strikes.

The number of survivors quickly dwindles and that’s not a surprise because the story is told partially in the present time and partially in the past as we read about their time in the jungle. In the present, Lila’s at an airport, watching an old interview she gave a few years back when she was fresh out of the jungle, so we know she survives. It’s jarring to see her current state of mind compared to how she was before and as the disaster occurred. To say it changed her is a gross understatement. I found the descriptions of the jungle and its dangers pretty accurate based on my zero knowledge of the Thai wilderness. But it seems on point – animals, treacherous terrain, killer bacteria, poisonous plants, weather exposure, etc.

The celebrities act as you’d expect, treating the ‘normals’ like dirt, even though the non-famous have a much better grasp on reality. Alliances form and break instead of everyone working together and you wonder how anyone will possibly get out of there safely. Like all this author’s works, it was fast-paced and entertaining, and I found myself quickly immersed in the book and reading most of it in one sitting. You may find yourself disgusted with Lila at first but as the story builds, your opinion might well change. And you’ll never be as thankful to be safe and sound reading about characters constantly on the brink of death!

The Private Jet is a highly engaging novel that explores themes of survival and the transformative power of adversity. The story follows Lila, the privileged daughter of a rock star musician, who lives a life of luxury and excess. After a night out in Thailand, she decides to continue the party at her family's secluded mansion in the jungle, just a short flight away on her father’s private jet.

However, disaster strikes when the plane crashes during a storm, thrusting Lila and the other survivors into a desperate fight for survival. The author does an excellent job of crafting well-drawn, dynamic characters whose development keeps readers captivated as the plot unfolds. The tension steadily builds as their desperation grows, making it nearly impossible to put the book down.

With its vivid descriptions and intense narrative, the novel evokes echoes of Lord of the Flies and The Beach, delivering a gripping and thought-provoking read. The Private Jet is a must-read for fans of survival stories and character-driven drama.