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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A page turner, but old fashioned storytelling, the plot could have been written in the 70s. Set in US which never really appeals to me. It’ll be a good beach read.
Five stars! What a fun ride! Pilot Bill Hoffman is called in at the last minute to fly from Los Angeles to New York. He is quickly alerted that his family has been kidnapped. The kidnapper has given him an ultimatum to either crash the plane or he will kill his family. Will he choose to save his family or the plane full of passengers? The book starts off pretty quickly. I loved the fast pace and short chapters. Someone please make this into a movie! Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Libby/audio
Toward the end, this picked up speed and got more exciting. But it was mostly a series of ultra detailed vignettes of very boring POV scenes. The slowest of slow. It would probably make a better movie.
It's trying(i assume) to float in moments when a persons life shifts on a fundamental level. That's fine and all, but do i really need to hear about what type of tea, how hot the water, how many sweat trails slide in which places, snot etc each person has going on in every given moment? No. I do not. Listen, I'm a details gal. I like to know all the emotional clues. But the physical nuts and bolts, the grosser side of humanity? This stuff all just bogs down the story for no good reason.
In the end, this story just made me sad. The villain states his so-called motivations. Trouble is, by the end of the story, it turns out those motives were actually not his motives. And though he still has a very sad story, there isn't much to be happy about by the end. I guess that's the point. This happens because something else happened. And now these people are trying to learn about what happened, because this terrible thing happened to them. And while yes, we should care about others suffering, and yes, these terrible things should not happen, I'm not sure that anything is solved or that the next generation wont have similar issues as they grow up. As i said, the message is important, but it isn't hopeful. (Vague but confusing, sorry. Keeping it that way to avoid spoilers.)
The story starts off with a pretty graphic dream, that seems like a flash forward, but wasn't. Yet again wasting time with shock value content that doesn't go anywhere.
The final showdown is pretty anticlimactic. After spending so much time in supposed 4D chess with this threat, it was over pretty fast. And what was the point? The outcome was the same(there is an event earlier in the timeline that someone prevented, but the outcome is the same at the end of the book.)
I guess what I'm getting at here, is this isn't my type of story. Although this tells a somewhat realistic tale of normal heroism in the face of a terrible situation, no one in the story is incredibly heroic. And that's totally fair. It's just not as aspirational as i prefer.
It had some random religious content that i would rather have done without.
It also pokes fun at certain groups of people, and certain sides of the social/cultural spectrum.
This book is obviously not for me. It tends to reinforce the idea that humanity is dark and horrible and hopeless, and that sort of message is not something i seek out. You can call me an ostrich i guess, but i prefer to keep my outlook hopeful.
Toward the end, this picked up speed and got more exciting. But it was mostly a series of ultra detailed vignettes of very boring POV scenes. The slowest of slow. It would probably make a better movie.
It's trying(i assume) to float in moments when a persons life shifts on a fundamental level. That's fine and all, but do i really need to hear about what type of tea, how hot the water, how many sweat trails slide in which places, snot etc each person has going on in every given moment? No. I do not. Listen, I'm a details gal. I like to know all the emotional clues. But the physical nuts and bolts, the grosser side of humanity? This stuff all just bogs down the story for no good reason.
In the end, this story just made me sad. The villain states his so-called motivations. Trouble is, by the end of the story, it turns out those motives were actually not his motives. And though he still has a very sad story, there isn't much to be happy about by the end. I guess that's the point. This happens because something else happened. And now these people are trying to learn about what happened, because this terrible thing happened to them. And while yes, we should care about others suffering, and yes, these terrible things should not happen, I'm not sure that anything is solved or that the next generation wont have similar issues as they grow up. As i said, the message is important, but it isn't hopeful. (Vague but confusing, sorry. Keeping it that way to avoid spoilers.)
The story starts off with a pretty graphic dream, that seems like a flash forward, but wasn't. Yet again wasting time with shock value content that doesn't go anywhere.
The final showdown is pretty anticlimactic. After spending so much time in supposed 4D chess with this threat, it was over pretty fast. And what was the point? The outcome was the same(there is an event earlier in the timeline that someone prevented, but the outcome is the same at the end of the book.)
I guess what I'm getting at here, is this isn't my type of story. Although this tells a somewhat realistic tale of normal heroism in the face of a terrible situation, no one in the story is incredibly heroic. And that's totally fair. It's just not as aspirational as i prefer.
It had some random religious content that i would rather have done without.
It also pokes fun at certain groups of people, and certain sides of the social/cultural spectrum.
This book is obviously not for me. It tends to reinforce the idea that humanity is dark and horrible and hopeless, and that sort of message is not something i seek out. You can call me an ostrich i guess, but i prefer to keep my outlook hopeful.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow. This may be one of the most addictive thrillers I’ve read. I loved the storyline and the deeper narrative on American ignorance related to war violence in other countries. A phenomenal debut novel.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No