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tlaynejones's review
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Xenophobia, Racism, Car accident, and Gun violence
biancahartley's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia, Racism, and Violence
scburhans's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Yeah, this book was not for me. This is for several reasons: the Islamophobia, the Xenophobia, the half-assed and shallow characterization, and (surprisingly) the pacing.
I found it really cheap and frankly disgusting that Newman chose to play into stereotypes and make the bad guys Middle Eastern/Islamic. It's 2022, it's time we stop demonizing an entire ethno-religous group because of the actions of a few men 20 goddamn years ago. There were moments where it felt like Newman was trying to overcome this, but it fell flat and just came off as in bad taste. The whole brown guy = bad guy bullshit is overplayed, overused, and fucking disgusting.
I also didn't care about 90% of the characters. Theo, Jo, and the kids were pretty much the only people I cared about and, not so coincidentally, they were the only ones with complex characteristics! Bill was such a cookie cutter, rah-rah-All-American hero character that I could not care less about. So much of the plot was unoriginal as well. There were whole chapters that were almost scene for scene recreations of a Criminal Minds episode, season 10 episode 3 to be exact.
Worst of all, somehow, I was bored throughout this entire book. I have no idea how she did it, but I could only read a few pages before I would get bored and go do something else for a while. Very rarely have I ever been so incredibly bored by a thriller. Somehow, it was both faced paced and slow as hell. Everything happened quickly, but it wasn't fast enough apparently.
Not my cup of tea, probably won't reccomend it to anyone either.
I found it really cheap and frankly disgusting that Newman chose to play into stereotypes and make the bad guys Middle Eastern/Islamic. It's 2022, it's time we stop demonizing an entire ethno-religous group because of the actions of a few men 20 goddamn years ago. There were moments where it felt like Newman was trying to overcome this, but it fell flat and just came off as in bad taste. The whole brown guy = bad guy bullshit is overplayed, overused, and fucking disgusting.
I also didn't care about 90% of the characters. Theo, Jo, and the kids were pretty much the only people I cared about and, not so coincidentally, they were the only ones with complex characteristics! Bill was such a cookie cutter, rah-rah-All-American hero character that I could not care less about. So much of the plot was unoriginal as well. There were whole chapters that were almost scene for scene recreations of a Criminal Minds episode, season 10 episode 3 to be exact.
Worst of all, somehow, I was bored throughout this entire book. I have no idea how she did it, but I could only read a few pages before I would get bored and go do something else for a while. Very rarely have I ever been so incredibly bored by a thriller. Somehow, it was both faced paced and slow as hell. Everything happened quickly, but it wasn't fast enough apparently.
Not my cup of tea, probably won't reccomend it to anyone either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Xenophobia, Murder, Racism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit
lisaw33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book has some serious white savior complexes with a middle eastern terrorist /villain. As someone who works in aviation I found it very stereotypical and off putting. I’m giving it 3.75 stars for the fact that the author is a FA so understands the ins/outs so the believability factor was high. It did leave me shaken at some points. I also did fall in love with the cabin crew. Everything else was meh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
meegreads's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
So many issues with this: poor representation, predictable, not well written (pacing slowed after halfway and nothing was ever at risk or gained), multi perspective was weird, why was a character literally called Big Daddy???
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Racism
thespinystacks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
First, let me start with the good - the adrenaline you get while reading this book is unparalleled for anything I’ve read in awhile. The descriptions of the cockpit, the attendant’s station, and general aircraft design are so realistic you can literally picture yourself there.
However, I hold little to no weight in any of that when we’ve gone ahead and played into the most basic, derivative stereotypes.
I found it deeply upsetting.
I want to be clear, I am a white female - I know my privilege, I work hard to be sensitive to the feelings of people who experience the world differently to me.
I don’t think that the white, affluent community did anything positive with this, and I’m so disappointed.
However, I hold little to no weight in any of that when we’ve gone ahead and played into the most basic, derivative stereotypes.
I found it deeply upsetting.
I want to be clear, I am a white female - I know my privilege, I work hard to be sensitive to the feelings of people who experience the world differently to me.
I don’t think that the white, affluent community did anything positive with this, and I’m so disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Violence, and Racial slurs
ingomiel's review against another edition
I browse the whole book the writing is so bad it's so unreadable I'm just so angry that my money was wasted on this book that was so hyped on. If you have to read this just get it from the library
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
my_plant_library's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Racism and Death
christinesreads's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Violence, and Gun violence
onkenzisshelf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
What I Liked:
- Super fast pacing - I listened to it and usually take a month to listen to an audiobook - this took me 3 days.
- The narrator on audio was fabulous
- I really connected with all of the characters, even the bad guys
- Contained twists that I didn't see coming!
You Should Read If You Like:
- Suspenseful books
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Suicide, and Violence