The Flight Attendant
Fiction
Doubleday
March 13. 2018
Advanced Reader Copy
368
Free from publisher
Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She's a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, already counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police--she's a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home--Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it's too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did?
My review:
3.5 stars
Make no mistake, Chris Bohjalian can tell a tale! The writing in this book was superb, and I can highly recommend this book on that alone. If you are interested in, or saavy about espionage and Russian spying, you will love the details and intense mystery surrounding the death of an American hedge fund manager found in a hotel room in Dubai. The suspect is not who you would think, but is a flight attendant, who literally ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or does she? There are a lot of moving parts to this one, and a lot of characters to keep track of. If you are used to reading these kinds of thrillers, you will lap it up, unfortunately I felt completely lost by the end and couldn't figure out who was working for whom. And while I had some sympathy for the main protagonist, I wasn't really her fan, although I certainly wanted to see how everything was going to play out. Too bad I didn't really get it when I found out. While this may not have been my favorite by this author, I will never stop reading his works. He is an author who always comes up with stories that are timely, fresh, and masterfully crafted.
Fans of spy thrillers will love this one. Everyone else should read it for the writing and the wonderful way Bohjalian can tell a story!
I've read and enjoyed several of his novels. In fact, THE NIGHT STRANGERS was the novel that I neglected for several months and ended up inspiring me to start my blog!
That is such an interesting story! I bet Chris would love to hear that he inspired you in that way!