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lectures_de_chloe's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Un livre qui se lit rapidement. Rien d'inoubliable mais une lecture qui garde le lecteur intéressé du début à la fin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Islamophobia, and Kidnapping
beltari's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Americans = good
Literally anyone in the middle east = suicide terrorist
When I started reading it, I had to double check the publication date, it looked like something that would come out in 2001, not 2021. Where was T. J. Newman on January 6?
Literally anyone in the middle east = suicide terrorist
When I started reading it, I had to double check the publication date, it looked like something that would come out in 2001, not 2021. Where was T. J. Newman on January 6?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Self harm, Murder, Genocide, Islamophobia, Death, and Suicide
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
btodd12's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Couldn’t put this book down!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Islamophobia, and Hate crime
riella_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This was such a wild ride. Fast paced and action packed, but I saw the "twist" from the very beginning.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Violence
stephr's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
If you’re looking for a book that feels like an episode of a predictable action movie this is it. Felt like a Season of Amazon’s “Jack Ryan”. Not a fan of the terrorist trope, problematic on many levels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia
manon_misheck's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
It's been about a month since I've read this and I'm still having trouble giving it a review. On the surface, it's an engaging thriller with a great premise (can a pilot choose between saving his family or everyone on the plane?). I'm sure the movie will be great! However, I can't get past a few things, especially the careless casting of a Middle Eastern man as the plane-hijacking villain. This and the other harmful stereotypes the author played into for the other supporting characters as well as some White Saviorism made it difficult to enjoy the actual story. In 2021, there are many thrillers out there that have much more nuanced and thoughtful conversations around social issues, and I'd love to see more of those be developed into movies with as large of a budget as this one has.
CW: plane hijacking, kidnapping, Xenophobia, gun violence, suicide
CW: plane hijacking, kidnapping, Xenophobia, gun violence, suicide
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Gore, Violence, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Blood
librariangeorgia's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, and Islamophobia