I think that after having read The Guest Room and now this, this author just isn't for me. A very successful author, I'm sure his fans will be excited for this.

The Flight Attendant: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian

March 2018
Adult fiction

I received this digital ARC from Doubleday Books and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Another captivating novel of suspense and mystery. The author takes a seemingly “ordinary” person and shows how easily a bad decision can snowball into disaster. This story weaves the story of a reckless alcoholic flight attendant with the chaos of international spies and murder.

Cassandra “Cassie” Bowden lives alone in Manhattan and flies out of JFK airport as a flight attendant. Despite her poor life decisions and periodic blackouts from over indulgence of the wild life, she still manages to keep a dysfunctional relationship with her sister, Rosemary McCauley. Her brother in law is a Major in the Chemical Corps with extremely high security clearance due to his work with chemical weapons. She takes pride in his important work as it seems to be of interest to many people she meets.

Cassie has always known her lifestyle is dangerous and unbecoming for a woman of her age. Her drinking is out of control which makes it easy for her to fall into bed with strange men and not remember anything the next day. She likes to dull the pain of her past and deny any similarity to her drunk father who caused the family embarrassment over the years.

Reality starts to sink in when Cassie wakes up in a hotel room at the Royal Phoenician in Dubai next to a dead man. Of course, she was intoxicated and blacked out so she couldn’t recall the exact events of the evening. Alex Sokolov was an attractive hedge fund banker who also lived in New York she discovered when serving him in first class on the flight to Dubai.

It wasn’t the first time she separated from her flight crew to party with strangers. This time was definitely different. She never woke up in bed with blood pooling around her, wondering if she was capable of committing such a heinous crime. As much as she lived a life of debauchery, she never had so much to lose. She begins lying to cover up the blank spaces in her memory as well as for the random flashes that slowly come to her.

I hate spoilers so I will not provide any here. Sometimes people really need to hit rock bottom before they realize the desire to live.

This was my first novel by Chris Bohjalian and I have very mixed feelings about it.

You could definitely tell that Bohjalian did his research for this book. For the cities, the details, the flight attendants, the laws talked about, everything. I thought The Flight Attendant was incredibly detailed, and I really enjoyed the FBI reports throughout the book.

This was more of a slow-burning thriller to me, and I didn’t think the book was especially fast-paced. However, that didn’t seem to be a problem with this one even though I usually like faster paced books better.

I loved the multiple POVs. You got Elena and Cassie which was really nice to have those 2 viewpoints throughout the book. Multiple viewpoints always hook me. I just wish there would have been more Elena and Cassie’s wouldn’t have been so much because she drove me crazy.

This book definitely keeps you interested, and I didn’t see the ending coming AT. ALL. Like literally I was 92% done with my ARC and still had no idea what the ending was going to be. It totally blew me away.

Now some things I didn’t like. Cassie was one hot mess, and I didn’t feel like she learned a thing throughout the book (I really hate when that happens). She was idiotic, unstable, and usually in a drunken stupor even after she knew she was in trouble. Like get yourself together already woman… She just functioned on the mantra “we are who we are” and didn’t even TRY to change or grow in the slightest. And her habit of stealing from hotels began to irritate me as well. I found her extremely unlikeable as a character. I guess this just goes to show how well Bohjalian can portray his characters though. I saw another reviewer had pointed that out and it is so true. He really makes you dislike Cassie.

Honestly, I can’t think of one character I really liked all that much besides Ani (she cracked me up), I just didn’t feel like you got any real depth from them so it was hard for me to feel a connection. I wasn’t invested in any of the characters, and frankly couldn’t have cared less what happened to Cassie.

Two minor things: I felt like the book was a little repetitive at times, and caught myself thinking “haven’t I read this already?” a few times. Also, both Ani and especially Cassie, had a tendency to say “go on” when they wanted another character to continue speaking. Sometimes it seemed to be said in unnecessary areas as well and was a little odd. Apparently this must mean I’m weird, because I seem to be the only person that has noticed this, or at least chosen to point it out in a review. It drove me crazy for some unknown reason and I picked up on it.

Ok and this ending. The epilogue felt SOOOO unbelievable to me. Did anyone else feel like this, or just me? I just can’t comprehend it ending like that after everything else. I don’t know guys….

Final Thought: I definitely still want to read other books from Bohjalian. I didn’t hate this book by any means, but apparently it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. I definitely wouldn’t buy it, but I appreciate the opportunity to have read it. It’s got a lot of great reviews so I still recommend reading it for yourself to see what you think.

Cassie has been a flight attendant for a major airline for almost 20 years. She's also a functioning alcoholic which has given her a reputation among her co-workers and the few friends she has. When she works the first class section on a flight to Dubai she meets a handsome and charming American hedge fund manager who she agrees to meet later at his hotel. That decision, followed by a series of really bad decisions, sets her life on an unexpected course that is by turn intriguing and horrifying.

Told mostly from Cassie's (unreliable) perspective the novel made me feel anxious - and yet I couldn't stop turning the pages. I don't want to risk a spoiler but I can say that if an international, of-the-moment thriller is a genre you enjoy you will want to read The Flight Attendant.

This book was so much fun. Well drawn and fast-paced. I couldn’t put it down. Like many Bohjalian books, you just strap yourself in and enjoy the ride!

Review: Thankyou NetGalley, Chris Bojalian & DoubleDay Books for the ARC! The Flight Attendant is the second book I’ve read by Chris Bohjalian & it was definitely a good thriller read. The book was at times depressing & like horror movies in terms of when you’re screaming at the lead actress or the M.C in this case to stop making bad decisions 😂. The book switched between the POVs of: Cassandra (Cassie), Elena & case files from the FBI. I really enjoyed that Chris did his research about the laws in Dubai, I haven’t read many books that have a setting in Dubai so it was nice to read one.
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Rating: 💎💎💎.5

Love, love Chris Bohjalian's books! I raced through this book and couldn't wait to find out how it ended!

Thank you to NetGalley and DoubleDay for an advanced copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.

I was really torn on how to rate this book...it held my attention like a four star book but the main character (Cassie) was so infuriating and made decisions no one on earth (including an alcoholic) would ever make. A main character being so unlikable is a two star for me...so I averaged it it to three stars total.

I also did not understand the ending...Its not very clear and while I understand some books have ambiguous endings the level of ambiguity (and really no reason for it, given the context of what was being left out) was mildly infuriating.

This is the story of Cassie who is a flight attendant and goes to a hotel room drunk with a man. She wakes up next to his dead body with zero recollection of her evening. She goes on with her life like nothing happened. Through all the twists and turns through out the book you learn the entire story. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Doubleday. All opinions are my own.

Cassie is a flight attendant living the high life. She’s drinking way too much, punctuated by emotionless nights in beds of total strangers during her layovers. She knows full well this behavior needs to stop....only she can’t. During a stop-over in Dubai and a long night of heavy partying, Cassie wakes up with the worst hangover ever. Trying to slip out of bed silently, she notices the man lying next to her. And he’s quite dead. Her memory is spotty at best of the previous night, right before she blacked out. Did someone come in during the night and kill him or worse... did she kill him? And now can’t recall the event? She needs to make up her mind, and fast. Call the police and risk prison in a foreign country, or just fly away and pretend she was never there.

I found Cassie’s character to be shallow and not very likable. Her drinking and behavior are out of control through most of the book. But I must admit, at times I really did feel for her and found myself rooting for her. Even hoping she would find a way out of the mess she’d made for herself. Unfortunately, she kept digging herself in deeper and deeper...

This is not a fast paced thriller. The suspense builds slowly as the story-line is laced out. Only to come to a jaw dropping moment. (Seriously, my jaw physically dropped I was so shocked!). Great Job Chris Bohjalian!! I love when an author can draw me in only to pull the rug out from under me!! This was my first read from this author, but I will now be going back to find some of CB’s previous books.


Thank you to NetGalley, Doubleday Books and Chris Bohjalian for an ARC to review in exchange for an honest review.

This book really appealed to me because I haven't read any books about a flight attendant and the whole idea sounded interesting. I have to thank NetGalley for the ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I thought this book was so good and different from most books I've read. The characters were realistic and flawed and even the bad ones had a human side. Super good book and the ending wasn't what I was expecting which is always nice.

Cassie Bowden, a flight attendant, is a flawed character. She is an alcoholic who doesn't/can't sustain relationships with the men she encounters. After a night of drinking with a man who was a passenger on her flight to Dubai, Cassie wakes up to discover him lying dead next to her in bed. She can't be sure she didn't murder him as she has alcohol-induced blackouts. What follows is one bad decision after another. I think reading this could be like watching a train wreck, but I found myself turning pages because I really wanted to see Cassie turn her life around. It is definitely to Chris Bohjalian's credit as an author that I didn't suspect how one of the characters was related to what happened at the end of the story.

"I'm a very, very good liar. I lie all the time. I lie to other people. I lie to myself."

Chris Bohjalian's new book is an intricately plotted suspense novel. It's told from dual points of view by two well written female characters. Cassie is a Flight Attendant who drinks until she blacks out and often wakes up in the bed of someone she doesn't know. Elena is an assassin who works for a covert group in Russia. Most of the story is Cassie's and what a story it is. She is a total mess but so well written that the reader is immediately drawn into her story to see where she will lead them. She is often confused, doesn't listen to other people's advice and continues to follow behavior that has gotten her into trouble in the past -- in other words a complex and interesting character to get to know.

As the novel begins, Cassie wakes up in a strange room in Dubai. At first she wasn't sure where she was or how she had gotten there. She remembers flirting with an American hedge fund manager - on the flight and agreeing to have dinner with him. After a lot of alcohol, she went to his room at the hotel but due to the amount of alcohol consumed, things got a bit fuzzy after that. When she rolls over in bed and finds blood all over, she sees that he is dead. She doesn't think that she killed him but maybe, just maybe, she did. She puts the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door, takes a shower and goes back to her hotel where she soon boards a flight back to the US and nervously awaits whatever is going to happen next but she continues to lie - to the other flight attendants on her flight, to the FBI who are waiting at the gate and most importantly to herself.

This is a wonderful page turner of a novel. Even though Cassie would be an easy character to dislike as she continues to make the same mistakes over and over, she is written in such a way that I found her to be very sympathetic and I was rooting for a good outcome for her. In my opinion, Chris Bohjalian writes female characters better than any male author and his two main female characters are entirely believable - flaws included. This is another fantastic novel by this talented author.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Cassie is a flight attendant who drinks too much, sleeps around too much, and generally takes risks. When she wakes up in bed with a man who has been brutally murdered, with no memory of how she got there, wondering if she is the murderer, she is forced to rethink her lifestyle.

What starts as a simple murder mystery quickly turns into a suspense novel involving Cassie, her family, the FBI, Russian spies, and who knows what/who else. Alternating between Cassie's story, the murderer's story, and files from the FBI, the suspense builds slowly with secrets revealed in every chapter. Although not a personal, compelling family story (like many of Bohjalian's other books), this is a great story that I could not put down. Topical and relevant, this could be a story "ripped from the headlines". For fans of political intrigue and mystery/suspense novels.

Another solid pick from Bohjalian with twists you won't see coming. The "timeliness" of the Russian angle may be interesting to some but off-putting for others who don't want to read yet more about Russian espionage at the moment.

Chris Bohjalian has done it again!

Readers of his work, by now, should just come to expect a literary surprise each time they open his newest book! The Flight Attendant is no exception.

What begins as a somewhat slow burning, character driven mystery soon escalates into an international espionage thriller. It happened so quickly I nearly wasn't aware of it.

Granted, Cassie, the flight attendant, is a train wreck waiting to happen. To say she is an alcoholic is like saying the Vatican is a small cathedral. She drinks a lot; she blacks out - not passes out - blacks out with no recollection of events. She has a guy in every port or maybe more than one guy. This time she has awakened next to a murdered man and she cannot recall how it happened. This guy has connections to Russians who now are very interested in Cassie. Cassie, being the bright mess that she is creates one debacle after another. Never have I read a book with such an infuriating main character! However, despite this insanity that is her life, Cassie is not unlikeable. No matter how hard I tried to loathe her, I simply could not.

This is very much Cassie's story despite a secondary voice every other chapter or so. What a story it is, too, and one that is told as only Chris Bohjalian can do - amazingly! This novel crosses genres from mystery to suspense, thriller to espionage...there is something for everyone.

I liked this for the most part but I'm not sure if I just don't understand the ending or I do understand the ending and it requires more suspension of disbelief than I am capable of. And Cassie made so many ridiculously dumb decisions. So stupid that I can't believe a real person, even an alcoholic, would do some of the things she did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had requested this book from Doubleday because I was in the mood for a good mystery/thriller. I was taken in by the blurb. So when I was approved for the book, I was pretty excited. Then I read the book. Talk about a letdown. I came close to DNF’ing several times because the story couldn’t keep my attention. But when I start a book, I read it through to the end, no matter how bad it was.

The Flight Attendant started off with Cassie, waking up in a strange hotel room in Dubai with a hangover. That hangover turns to horror when she realizes that she is in bed with a corpse. The man she had slept with the night before had been killed, his throat slashed and he bled out all over the bed. Cassie panics and leaves. Her leaving starts an avalanche of lies that catch up with her.

I was so annoyed with Cassie during the book. It seemed like her mentality was that of a horny college student who can’t hold their alcohol. Her exploits before Dubai and mostly afterward always included alcohol. There was a point where I sighed and said to myself “Why doesn’t anyone say something to her or suggest she goes to rehab to dry out?” I mean, even her own sister didn’t trust her alone with her niece and nephew because of the drinking.

She also didn’t listen to anyone. She had a lawyer that was supplied by the flight attendant union. That lawyer told her to plead the 5th. But did she listen? For a little while. Then she told some of the truth and more lies. I was yelling at the book in my head and said “Lady, are you effing kidding me? Shut up!! Listen to your lawyer!!” I almost put the book down after that. Like I said, she annoyed the ever-living out of me.

I did like the parallel storyline of the assassin. I thought it was very interesting how she came to be one. I also thought her not killing Cassie when she had the chance was very telling. I did think that she was going to let Cassie go.

The end of the book was a big mind screw. Everything was turned upside down and that is what saved this book from getting a 1-star rating. I was not expecting the twists that appeared out of nowhere. So wasn’t expecting any of that and I loved it!! I thought the epilogue was a little much but I was happy for Cassie. I guess.

The Flight Attendant was a very slow-moving book up until Cassie goes to Italy for the 2nd time. Then it picks up the pace. I couldn’t get into this book. Besides it being slow, the characters came across as flat. I couldn’t connect with any of them. The ending was fantastic and it saved the book for me. The twists that the author did shock me and they made the book.

Will I reread: No (but I will read other books from the author)

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, violence, language

I would like to thank Chris Bohjalian, Doubleday Books, Doubleday and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Flight Attendant.

All opinions stated in this review of The Flight Attendant are mine

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

There are parts about this book that I absolutely loved, and there are parts that totally ruined the experience for me.

What I loved: Cassie is a mess of a character. She drinks too much, sleeps around, regularly blacks out, and consistently makes terrible, harmful choices throughout the novel. This is who she is, and there's something about a character who is so absolutely, horribly themselves that is appealing. I also loved Ani, the lawyer that Cassie hires after realizing that she has put herself into quite a dangerous position. Ani is the only character in the book who comes right out and tells Cassie how it is and how her behavior is perceived.

What I didn't love: The book starts out as an assassination of a hedge fund manager who is skimming money from Russians who have invested in his fund. By the end, it was like the author decided at the last minute to make it into something else. There was this whole subplot of subterfuge that was thrown in at the last 30% that felt to me like it didn't make sense, including the realization that another character was involved in the Russian conspiracy. The book had such potential, but then I felt like the plot was totally taken in a different direction for no reason, which ruined it a bit for me.

Overall, I think this author did a fantastic job of writing characters whose lives I wanted to devour. But the plot fell flat for me by the end.

The beauty of this story is that we have a character that I did not really like on several accounts. However the author weaves a story that we cannot put down. You've got to know how this is going to turn out and I felt that Cassandra got off lightly despite all her un-likeable ways!

Cassandra worked for an airline, was a binge drinker, picked up men both from the flights and random men from hotel bars. She "blacked" out many times whilst on these binge spells but does not seem to have learnt the danger she was in till she one day gets up in Dubai with a dead man beside her. She has no clue whether she murdered him herself but then rationalizes that she wouldn't have! and then begins the cover up and the story behind the murder.

Though the plot was convoluted and crossed several countries and nationalities, the main event was Cassandra and boy was she a character.

As usual the author keeps you on edge throughout. All his books are different and do not expect the usual.

Goodreads review posted on 13/11/2017. Amazon does not permit reviews as yet. Review on my blog on 9/12/2017. Also linked to my FB page.