Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Flight Attendant's title gives away some of the premise: Cassandra is a flight attendant based out of New York City. She's senior enough to be working in the first-class cabin on some of the glamorous international routes. It's on one of these trips, to Dubai, that she spends a night with a passenger - only he doesn't survive the night.

As authorities seek to piece together why a young American businessman was murdered in a Dubai hotel, Cassandra is trying to figure out what role she played in the matter. At dinner and in her date's hotel room, Cassandra drank to excess, as is her habit. Now she finds that she can't trust her own memory when it comes to the events of that night.

Overwhelmed by the events that took place when she was in Dubai, Cassandra continues to get drunk and make impulsive choices, risking her job, her relationships with others, and even her freedom, as the investigation progresses.

Unlike the most recent book by Chris Bohjalian that I read (The Guest Room), The Flight Attendant sticks to Cassandra's perspective throughout. This makes it as much of a psychological thriller as anything, but I also found it frustrating. Cassandra is perpetually making terrible decisions against the advice of nearly everyone in her life, and they don't always seem to follow logically, even taking into consideration her addiction issues.

Nonetheless, the book was an enjoyable, easy read. Bohjalian's prose isn't showy, but it also isn't actively bad, as is the case with too many thrillers. There were a couple of fun, surprising twists at the very end that kept me on my toes.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Let me start by saying that I am a big Chris Bohjalian fan. I am in awe of the way he conducts his extensive research and incorporates it into his stories. His knowledge of the subject matter makes the stories believable and the characters real. I can't think of another author who so deftly pivots from family drama to historical fiction to thriller and makes them all work.

Having said that, this was not my favorite of his novels. I still have a soft spot for his early books, Midvives, Transister Radio, etc. This one was an easy read, but I felt myself not as invested in the story and the characters as I have been with previous books. Cassie was annoying and I felt myself wanting to slap her to her senses. The spy plot line was convoluted and not as interesting to me, but I will say I don't tend to like spy stories.

This book had some good moments. I'm still on the Bohjalian bandwagon, hoping the next one resonates with me a bit more.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2177850960?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The premise is really catching right from the start - Cassie Bowden, an alcoholic flight attendant with baggage in her past, hooks up with a guy from her flight only to wake up next to him the next morning only to find that he has been brutally murdered. But she drank so much the previous night that she blacked out and can't remember a thing.

Did she do it? Did she witness it? She has no idea, and she panics.

Aside from the main character being ridiculously annoying in her life choices (I mean, come on, girl...make some grown up decisions now and then!), I found the book to be well written and I would recommend it.

I really enjoyed reading most of this book - the flight attendant perspective was unique and interesting, but I did not enjoy the end - too much happened too quickly, and it was difficult to follow and believe. I prefer books with twists more evenly spread throughout the story.

Jumping on the bandwagon of no one is quite who they seem, this is a light read that trudges along and then races to a conclusion. Not particularly memorable, but sure to find an audience.

Hot mess flight attendant Cassie spends a drunken night with a passenger in his hotel in Dubai and wakes up next to a dead body. She has no memory of most of the night and no desire to end up in a prison in the Middle East so she flees to the security of her life. But the night and her lack of memory haunts her and the FBI are asking tough questions. A crazy ride as Cassie tries to figure out what really happened.

Cassie is a party girl with a drinking problem who thinks nothing of sleeping with strange men on a one chance encounter. While her carelessness could have gotten her into trouble, many times, this time, she's reaping the repercussions of her transgressions. Did she actually do what she's accused of doing? What's sad is that she's filled with so much self-loathing and self-doubt that she can't be sure she didn't do it because she blacks out when she binge drinks. In short, this story was full of espionage, intrigue and thrill.

This is my first Chris Bohjalian novel and it left me wanting - wanting to read more of his novels.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this publication in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars
Cassie Bowden is a flight attendant who's also a heavy drinker, sometimes resulting in total blackouts. After flirting with a passenger on a flight to Dubai and spending the night with him, she wakes up in his bed to find herself covered in blood and him dead, with his neck severed. Her life spirals out of control from there as she lies to everyone about the events. She can't remember what happened and doesn't think she killed him, but she's not sure. While trying to figure out what happened, she often puts herself in situations that my book club refers to as TSTL (too stupid to live) moments. This was a total page-turner by a master storyteller.

Cassie is a flight attendant. She’s also a binge drinker who picks up men when she flies to foreign countries, and mostly a liar. But she’s not a bad person, just a messed up one. She goes back to a Dubai hotel with the wrong man one night, and in an instant her life spirals out of control.

The characters in the book were completely believable and it was a great story. Cassie, while flawed and self-destructive, was still likable and made you sympathize with her and care what happened to her.

An excellent book. Highly recommended.

ohjalian has clearly done his research on flight attendants. This element adds to the glamour and intrigue of this thriller about a flight attendant who wakes up to find her lover of the night before dead with a slashed throat. Caddie blacked out and can't remember what happened as she is an alcoholic. An unreliable yet interesting whirlwind of an unraveling of lies follows. The story is strong up until the end when things get a bit rushed and convoluted. The pace prior to the end is pretty steady. Overall, a good read.


Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I have read everything by Chris Bohjalian, many multiple times. The Flight Attendant has to be one of my favorites! I know many reviewers didn't like Cassie and felt that her character took away from their enjoyment of the book. I disagree-I found Cassie to be a likable character despite all of her many, many flaws and mistakes. Yes, she is a mess, and yes, she handled a horrible situation in the worst way possible, but throughout it all she still has heart. And, the suspense of the novel was great! There were twists and turns at every corner that I never saw coming. But, Bohjalian didn't let the suspense get in the way of his incredible storytelling skills. A must read!

I cannot say that this is a bad book. I had read Bohjalian's The Sandcastle Girls and really found the book fascinating. I just found that parts of the story was too far fetched to even possibly be true. But since it is fiction, I guess it doesn't have to be realistic.

** spoiler alert ** This book was made available via Netgalley. I have not been compensated for this review.

My score should actually be a 3.5.

There's a part of me that doesn't understand why this book was so compelling, but it was. I shouldn't like Cassie, the main character, and yet I did, at least a little. I did care about what her eventual fate would be, despite how much I didn't always connect with her.

This book is trying to tell a thriller and mystery from a different angle than the normal detective or CIA agent perspective, which was refreshing for the most part, even though I did learn that I prefer the other POV better.

I also liked that both perspectives we got were women, a breath of fresh air in the thriller world.

The biggest critique I honestly have with the book is that we never get the whole story regarding Alex and what he was actually doing in Dubai, even though Cassie ends up in a role where she could be told the truth. If she was told, it's not shared with the reader.

It didn't feel like real life, where things are never clean and unsolved mysteries are par for the course. Instead, it felt like a plot hole or a miss on the part of the author. However, it does feel the same way books like Gone Girl or the Girl On the Train felt at the end- it's the end, even if all the questions weren't answered.

While this may not be my favorite novel by Chris Bohjalian, it was still very entertaining. The character of Cassie is broken in ways that many of us do not understand and cannot relate to, but she was written in a way that made us empathize with her. The murder mystery at the heart of this story is enriched by wonderful details about real criminal organizations and investigative bureaus. I read this book quickly and found myself picking it up to read during middle of the night feedings of my 8 week old baby. Sometimes, I had a hard time falling back asleep because my mind was whirring thinking about where this story was going. Great book, easy read!

When I heard Chris Bohjalian had a new book coming soon I couldn't wait to read it! This was not my favorite however. The main character, Cassie, was a alcoholic who slept with anyone and made nothing but bad choices. The story of who was murdered and who did it and why seemed to be a small part of the book. I would of liked more mystery and less bad choices.

A broken heroine wakes up after a night of drinking to a dead body beside her in bed. A fabulous start to a book I couldn't stop reading. What followed was a jet-setting, but not so glamorous tale of a flight attendant who found her self in the wrong place at the wrong time. The pages were peppered with surprises, culminating in a satisfying and surprising conclusion. This action packed book makes the ever popular and lovable psychological thriller feel like overkill as it exuded a minimalist mystery.

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)
Publisher: Doubleday
Pub. Date: March 13, 2018
Stars: Goodreads does not include ½ stars. I feel this novel should be 3½ stars.

POSSIBLE SPOILER

The author, Chris Bohjalian, is one of my all-time favorite authors. I believe he is today’s Hemingway, writing American literature with an emotional force. I first discovered Bohjalian when I read his 2010 book “Midwives.” The setting for that book is rural Vermont, known as the Northeast Kingdom (NEK). Since I spend a good deal of my year in the NEK I was delighted when I recognized the towns and the region’s customs that the author is referring to, especially when he mentions the town of Barton, which is where I summer. But, even if the work was located in an unfamiliar place, I still would have loved the novel. “Midwives” blends moral, medical and political themes. “The Flight Attendant” is similar if you substitute the word “medical” with “sexual.”

Although, many of the author’s novels (and I have read them all) take place in Vermont, this one doesn’t. The sexy, flirtatious flight attendant, Cassie, lives in NYC, and her work has her traveling internationally. She is no stranger to blackouts and is accustomed to waking up in the bed of a man that she just met on the plane. But this time, when she wakes up in a Dubai hotel room, the man lying next to her is dead, she has blood in her hair, and she has no memory of what happened. Did she, or didn’t she kill him? The novel could be entitled “Confessions of a Flight Attendant,” as its filled with sex, murder, and mystery, but have no fear that you are reading a rubbish; Bohjalian is too talented to write a trashy novel. And if a murder mystery is not your type of story, Bohjalian also manages to get today’s headlines into the plot, including Russian espionage, the FBI, and the CIA. His ability to weave these topics together is enjoyable. Moreover, as in all his novels, it is obvious that a good deal of research went into the writing, giving the story an authentic feel.

Unfortunately, for me, this page-turner lost much of its oomph somewhere along the way. Maybe it is because Cassie, who is now known in the news as the “Tart Cart Killer” is so self-destructive you can guess how she will sabotage any progress her lawyer makes on her case. Or maybe the surprise ending is too much of a leap for me to believe. Or maybe, and most probably, my disappointment is that I expect the author to write a masterpiece time and time again. Although this is not my favorite of his work, I still recommend you read this book. Bohjalian is not capable of writing an uninteresting novel. On a personal note, he also happens to be a genially nice guy who respects his readers and reviewers. He actually, contacts myself and other reviewers via the internet thanking us for reading and reviewing his work. He has been writing best sellers for over twenty years, there is no professional reason for him to do this other than that he is a nice guy who happens to be one heck of a writer. Enjoy the book. You will never board a plane again without wondering what your flight attendant is really like.

The title and description of this book grabbed me right away - as a former flight attendant who knows that crazy things happen on an overnight and a lover of mystery, I needed to read this thriller! The novel follows Cassandra, a flight attendant with a penchant for men and alcohol, both in excess. When she wakes up next to a dead man in his hotel room in Dubai, how does she put together the pieces of what happened? Through flashbacks, hangovers, and more poor choices. Cassandra is an absolute mess of a person that the reader can't help but rooting for. The author drops many clues throughout the book to the ending, so pay attention as you race through the book to see what happens to the flight attendant.

Chris Bohjalian is an author that I can't count on to entertain me with a good story so I requested his latest book when I saw it on Netgalley. The description made it seem like something that I'd really enjoy.

This follows Cassie, a flight attendant who wakes up one morning after a one night stand next to a dead body. She can't really remember what happened and must piece it together.

I can't really say that I liked Cassie at all. The way she clung to drinking even though it was clearly destroying her life made the book a little less enjoyable. She makes it very hard to like her. As she is not likeable it made the book seem to drag on to me. Quite frankly I just got tired of reading about her.

There was some action and some twists that unfolded towards the end but I feel like some of the action should have come sooner. I would have rather had a little more action and a little less of Cassie bumbling around.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

Started off with a lot of promise. Fresh story line, great beginning but the story moved a little too slowly for me and I didn't love the main character. I liked her vulnerable side but didn't connect with her self destructive nature and desire to make her life a mess. I did love her relationship with her niece and nephew which made her a bit more human and relatable.