Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsYour captain has switched on the seat belt sign. Buckle up.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 June 2021
First rule of novel writing – grab the reader in the first page. Well T.J. Newman certainly ticked that box
Having forgotten that I pre-ordered it, this book arrived unexpectedly in my Kindle inbox. I read an article about the book and I was intrigued enough to pay my money months before its release. This was not because I love thriller books. Far from it, this is a genre I would not normally read. I ordered it because of the author’s backstory: first time novelist, lots of rejections, flight attendant writing in her spare time about a clever twist on a hijack at forty thousand feet, rave reviews.
If edge of your seat, tension on every page, easy to read books are your thing, then this should be on your summer reading list (as long as your holiday does not involve boarding an aeroplane). The author has ticked most of the ‘must do’ things to get published. The characters are full of colour, there are unexpected plot turns (within context of a well-trodden story-line), a love story, enemies with a background to make them human and enough technical detail to interest but not bore the reader.
I really enjoyed this book having read it in two sessions. But, with the caveat of this being firmly in a genre I do not normally read, it is not a novel that left me wanting more. The prose is well constructed and easy to read, but never asks you to re-read sentences just to admire the skill of the writer. The storyline is at times very far-fetched, but again this is absolutely to be expected – Die Hard would never happen in real life.
Universal have won the bidding for the rights to the movie. This is one of those books that absolutely smacks of blockbuster Hollywood film
I have given this book five stars, not because it has gone into my top books list, but because it will with so many people who love novels that seem to turn the pages themselves.