Scan barcode
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
For fans of movies like Speed, In The Line of Fire, Air Force One, Flightplan
A suspenseful, fast-paced page turner. TJ Newman really knows how to keep the reader engaged. While many of the plot points are predictable, or as predictable as they can be in the realm of disaster flights, I enjoyed it for the most part. It had my adrenaline pumping and I genuinely liked a few of the characters, even when their actions were kinda dumb.
My main problem with this novel was in regard to the way the terrorist situation was written—Why make the bad guys Middle Eastern?? Very much playing into the offensive stereotype, not to mention unoriginal. It would have been far more compelling and truly unpredictable to have it be some random white dude with a vendetta against the airline or something. Idk. That, and the overdone reasoning behind the hijacking, just felt like a cop out in poor taste.
I definitely preferred Drowning over this one!
A suspenseful, fast-paced page turner. TJ Newman really knows how to keep the reader engaged. While many of the plot points are predictable, or as predictable as they can be in the realm of disaster flights, I enjoyed it for the most part. It had my adrenaline pumping and I genuinely liked a few of the characters, even when their actions were kinda dumb.
My main problem with this novel was in regard to the way the terrorist situation was written—Why make the bad guys Middle Eastern?? Very much playing into the offensive stereotype, not to mention unoriginal. It would have been far more compelling and truly unpredictable to have it be some random white dude with a vendetta against the airline or something. Idk. That, and the overdone reasoning behind the hijacking, just felt like a cop out in poor taste.
I definitely preferred Drowning over this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Self harm, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Bullying, Confinement, and Gun violence
cait's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Child death, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, War, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Hate crime, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, and Gore
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
thenovelbookshelf's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I dare you to put this book down after the first page!
Falling is the debut novel from TJ Newman, former flight attendant, and takes the reader on a thrill ride up in the skies and a hold your breath race on the ground.
As much as a pilot's family could be kidnapped for blackmail against a full planeload of passengers, the only thing that held me back from really enjoying this thriller is the I found it just a little unbelievable that there wouldn't be backup procedures, more thorough background checks, just more protection against this happening.
Doubts aside, Falling sucks you in from the first page, and until it's safe to land to won't want to put this book down!
This book was sent to me by BetterReading and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Falling is the debut novel from TJ Newman, former flight attendant, and takes the reader on a thrill ride up in the skies and a hold your breath race on the ground.
As much as a pilot's family could be kidnapped for blackmail against a full planeload of passengers, the only thing that held me back from really enjoying this thriller is the I found it just a little unbelievable that there wouldn't be backup procedures, more thorough background checks, just more protection against this happening.
Doubts aside, Falling sucks you in from the first page, and until it's safe to land to won't want to put this book down!
This book was sent to me by BetterReading and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Blood, Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Racism, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
More...