Thank you to Net Galley for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

Solid 3.5 stars. I was interested in this book from the very beginning. The plot is smart, interesting and current and not one that is entirely played out in the current suspense novel trend. With that said, this is not one of my favorite's of Bohjalian. I think it gets a bit "ramble-y" in parts and there's quite a bit of background story to one of the main characters that I didn't find that interesting or relevant. Actually, it was slightly interesting and was relevant but not to the extant that ALL the detail was given. I just found myself wanting him to get back to the current story. The ending wrapped everything up nicely and included some surprises that I didn't see coming.

This book is very suspenseful, a real page-turner.

Cassie, a flight attendant, wakes up after a blacked out drunken night lying next to a one night stand gone wrong: he's dead, lying in bed next to her. What would you do when you wake up next to a dead man?

Cassie isn't your average person: she is a flight attendant, a (mostly) functional alcoholic and of course an unreliable narrator. She remembers meeting a woman Miranda during her mostly blacked out evening, but has difficulty finding her. What does Miranda know? How is she involved? Does she know Cassie woke up next to a killed man?

Throughout the book, the perspective shifts between Elena (Miranda) and Cassie building to a tense and well crafted climax.

Recommended if you enjoy suspense and murder mysteries.

A thrilling and intelligent novel sure to keep you in suspense!
I wasn't expecting this book to be so unpredictable and fresh. I expected another "Gone Girl" or "The Girl on the Train" knockoff but that wasn't the case at all. Instead, I was thrown for a loop by complex characters, torn between what was real and what wasn't. This book spoke to human fears, of waking up after *possibly* committing a crime. of not being sure if you can trust anyone, especially yourself. And the main character is so terribly flawed but it humanizes her.

Cassie Bowden is a heavy drinker who, one morning, wakes up beside the body of a dead man in a hotel that isn't hers. She lies through her teeth to everyone, more afraid of the fact that she may have killed him and that she might be framed. The entire time, I kept thinking "just tell them the truth" while at the same time saying "wait, they probably wouldn't believe you". I love that this fear created adequate tension and fueled the story.
Well worth the read.

I cannot believe this was my first book by Bohjalian, but it definitely won't be my last! He is very good at creating a strange, intriguing atmosphere and memorable characters. The story was slow, but well written and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

What would you do if you woke up in bed with a dead guy in Dubai ? You don't remember anything would you leave and go back to the states?

I liked this so much more than his last novel. Cassie is an independent woman and flight attendant with a dependency on alcohol to deal with her empty personal life. She describes herself as "easy," and this easiness leads her into a web of international intrigue she never sees coming...despite the dark overtones, this novel was a fun diversion for me. A well crafted thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Buckle up!

When long-time flight attendant and hot mess Cassie Bowden wakes up in Dubai one morning, she's face to face with a dead man. Since the details are foggy on how the night wore on, she thinks she may have killed him. Not wanting to stay in Dubai to get questioned, arrested, or prosecuted, she wipes off finger prints and heads back to the airport. Everything and everyone, FBI included, catch up with her once her plane lands in New York. They want to talk to all of the flight attendants who were serving this now dead passenger. Bohjalian uses the same style he typically does for his storytelling; alternating perspectives of two characters chapter by chapter. The Cassie chapters have readers glued to the page; the Elena chapters are a bit more difficult to get into, mainly because readers don't get to know who she is while she's in the hotel room with Alex and Cassie. While The Flight Attendant might not be my favorite of Bohjalian's books, it's still a well-thought out and researched story.

A true edge-of-your seat mystery! The book begins with Cassie Bowden waking up after a blackout drunk night, next to a corpse. The reader is immediately drawn in, and will find themselves reading late into the night, to find out if Cassie is ultimately held responsible, or silenced, by those who wanted Greg Sokolov dead. The author’s style reminded me of Robin Cook, and I believe fans of his medical espionage novels will also appreciate The Flight Attendant.

Once again Chris Bohjalian is proving that he is an excellent writer using the female point of view. I don't know how a man captures the voice of his female characters so well. In The Flight Attendant Bohjalian introduces us to Cassie Bowden. Cassie seems to make one horrible decision after another and this leads her into an international nightmare of murder and intrigue. Cassie awakes one morning next to the dead body of her one night stand. She is pretty sure that she isn't responsible for the death but isn't sure who exactly might be. Bohjalian is an expert at writing books with twisty endings and this one definitely doesn't disappoint. Once I reached the ending I had to flip back to the beginning to start the book all over again in order to see what clues I had missed during the first read through. Read and enjoy!

Chris Bohjalian has hit another one out of the park!! Don't start until you have time to finish because you can't put it down! From the first page you get hooked into his sad pathetic and totally unlucky character. The title character wakes up after spending another drunken night with a passenger from her flight, with blood dried into her hair from his dead throat slashed corpse next to her in bed. Unfortunately for her, she has had another drunken black out and is unsure if she or some else killed him! Kudos to Chris Bahjalian on another winner! Please keep them coming!

I liked this book, but it wasn't a stand out to me. It felt derivative (think Girl on the Train) and repetitive. We get it-- she's a self destructive alcoholic who can't trust herself or her memories. That being said, I do think Bohjalian created characters who are multidimensional and interesting. Each of them has flaws and strengths and feels very human. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's good enough to recommend to avid readers of the genre who want more of the same.

Initially I was worried that I wouldn't like this book very much because after the first 20% or so of this book it was hard to categorize exactly what kind of story it was, and ultimately, that was what made me keep reading and become hooked on the lives we got to a peek inside.
As I've never personally known anyone as reckless as Cassie, sometimes it was all to easy to shake my head or roll in my eyes in frustration as she continued to make such deeply flawed decisions, but I think it's likely a common experience for people deep in addiction of any kind.
There were some fun little twists as the book progressed, and I think this story will appear to people who like slice of life narratives with a hint of mystery.

Quick paced thriller, not a bad summer read. We know from the beginning she didn't do it, and it seemed to take awhile to get what the "thriller" part was going to be. She does spectacularly stupid things which was super annoying. It made it hard to like or empathize with the character.

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT is a taut.and fascinating study of Cassie, the title character drowning in her own alcoholism and self-destructive tendencies. Bohjalian Is an engaging author who paints portrait of a woman in crisis.

Cassie awoke in a bed with a bloody corpse and no knowledge of how either of them got there. Her decisions, truth telling or lying, hiding or facing the situation make for fascinating reading. The book deals with the international intelligence community, banking and money laundering and other very topical issues.

The victim, Alex Sokolov and other minor characters kept up a level of continued engagement. The enigmatic Elena gave us a clue about the current discussion of Russian intrigue which is certainly a valid concern now.

Within Cassie's self-destruction behavior, the reader is essentially very sympathetic because Bohjalian allows us to view her history and relationships. He even manages to convey the difficult, detatched life of many people in the airlines industry.

Personally, I like books when all the loose ends come together and I have a sense of closure. I was able to read the epilogue, sigh and close the book as a very fulfilled reader.

Absolutely wonderful! I was riveted from the first page. well fleshed out characters, the perfect anti hero and a great secondary cast.

I felt as if I was traveling around the world. I love the combination of cat and mouse/spy thriller. I look forward to reading more worka from this author.

*I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair review*

Every book by this author is completely different and completely enthralling. One of my favorite authors. This book is intelligent and suspenseful.. Loved it and recommend it like all the rest.

What’s the best thing to do when you wake up after a night of heavy drinking and discover you are in bed with a man who has been brutally murdered? Flight attendant Cassie Bowden doesn’t remember much about her night in the lavish Royal Phoenician hotel in Dubai, but even in a blackout, she can’t believe she could have slashed Alexander Sokolov’s throat. Head pounding, she has no time to think. In a moment of self-preservation, she follows her instinct to get out fast. Can she get back to New York before the maid service discovers Sokolov’s body? Will the authorities trace his death to Cassie?

In or out of the country, Cassie has big problems, ranging from years of drinking to the present problem of running from a murder scene in a foreign country. She may have believed Sokolov was just another friendly hookup, but there is much beneath the surface. Spies, international intrigue and a mysterious woman named Miranda enrich an already exciting plot. As the authorities zero in on her, Cassie’s reckless and drunken behavior only dig her deeper into trouble. Old friends, coworkers, family and new one-nighters keep the reader guessing who’s really on Cassie’s side and, as the bad characters emerge, one thing becomes clear: her life is in danger.

I thoroughly enjoyed this exciting and modern story about being in the wrong place at the wrong time and in which bad judgment gets mixed up with dangerous characters. In addition, readers will appreciate the way Bohjalian adds many references to literature, rounding out his characters and enhancing the story’s themes. Relationships gone bad is one of his primary themes, as Cassie tries to reconcile her father’s alcoholism and the mysterious Miranda struggles to understand her own father.

Careful reading at certain points is required for some of the more complicated plot developments, but the reader is always rewarded with helpful summaries.

The story drives through a nail-biting confrontation between its players and concludes with a satisfying wrap-up. I recommend The Flight Attendant to readers who enjoy suspense and studies of human relationships.

One of the best of Bohjalian's books--and that's saying a lot because so many of his books are must-reads--even for Oprah. I don't think I'm giving away too much to say that the premise is: a drunken flight attendant wakes up next to the corpse (murdered--throat slit) of her last-night's hook-up in a swank hotel in Dubai. The rest of the book is well written cloak-and-dagger spy-thriller stuff--with twists that you won't see coming. I read the entire book in one rainy weekend, only getting off the couch to grab an apple or to make more coffee. Well done, Mr. Bohjalian.

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Chris Bohjalian


MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️
PUBLISHER Doubleday Books
PUBLISHED March 13, 2018

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT is an intriguing and intense international thriller that will have you tightly buckling your seat belt.

SUMMARY
Cassie Bowden, a veteran flight attendant from New York wakes up in a beautiful hotel room in Dubai, next to a dead man. Blood was everywhere around them, his jugular had been cut. With a piercing hangover caused by her incessant love for alcohol, Cassie can only vaguely remember the events of night before. She knows Alex Sokolov had been on her flight and they had gone out to dinner and had gone back to his hotel for drinks. But she doesn't remember killing this handsome man. Could she had done it? She has no idea, she was blackout drunk. Cassie is way to afraid to call the police, so she leaves the hotel and begins a web of lies and a string of bad choices.

REVIEW
THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT is an intriguing and intense international thriller which captures your attention on take-off. Cassie’s life is just a hot mess and she has no one to blame but herself. Her excessive drinking lies at the root of her cascading problems. And she can't stop, even when she is at the core of an FBI investigation. The story is a unique combination of murder, espionage, and politics with a character who is vulnerable, madly unreliable and in fear for her future. Cassie’s character is fascinating. There was no ceiling to the trouble she caused, and to the trouble she was in.

CHIS BOHJALIAN never fails to entertain us. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT is no different. He has creatively woven a tale with an alcoholic woman in denial that you just don't know what to do with. She has yet to reach rock bottom, and continually makes bad choices time and time again. The conflict for me was I really want her to be okay and get her act together. I particularly loved how BOHJALIAN creatively uses FBI interview notes to tell integral parts of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley, Doubleday Books and Chris Bohjalian for the advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by Chris Bohjalian, and now I finally understand why I keep seeing his name everywhere! A smart, tautly plotted thriller, featuring a protagonist who is deeply aware of her own flaws. Although this feels nothing like a traditional spy thriller, there is an intriguing spy thread running through it. I'll be reading more novels by Bohjalian.