Imagine the following scenario: You’re the pilot of a commercial plane with almost 150 passengers and crew aboard. You’re flying from Los Angeles to New York when, just moments after takeoff, you get a text message from a stranger who has strapped bombs to your wife, your 10-year-old son, and your 10-month-old daughter. The stranger indicates that they will kill your family unless you crash the plane into a to-be-disclosed target. If you break the rules, namely, by telling anyone this, there will be hell to pay. That’s essentially the set-up for Falling, the debut novel from T. J. Newman, an author who used to work in an indie bookstore, then became a flight attendant for 10 years — so she knows of what she speaks of with this work. However, it took her 42 tries to find an agent for the novel — which she largely worked on when her passengers were asleep during red-eye flights — which may say something of the quality. More on that in a minute. Anyhow, despite her initial setbacks trying to sell this book, she was probably paid handsomely for it by Simon & Schuster, and the movie rights were sold to Universal Pictures for a cool $1.5 million. So, you’ll probably be seeing this book in the multiplexes when this pandemic is over.

And I’ll bet that Falling will make a good popcorn movie because it is such a good popcorn book. It reads like a draft of a screenplay, with clumsy flashbacks and a dream sequence that feels out of place to begin the book (as someone on Goodreads has already noted, the book opens on an R-rating, when the rest of the novel is more PG-13-ish, so, yeah, it’s out of place). However, having said that, it is also really, really, really gripping, exciting, and entertaining. After all, how, as a pilot, do you weasel your way out of a terrorist situation when the terrorist is not even on the plane and you have your family to save (or at least make a trade-off with in terms of the lives of the crew and passengers aboard the jet). Still, you can punch holes in the plot, and a major plot point — and I’m trying not to spoil this — is centered around the fact that the pilot himself brings something on board the plane that’s very contraband. Doesn’t airport security check out the pilots, too, and what they’re carrying in their onboarding bags?

The reason I’m trying to be careful in what I give away is the fact that, once again, this is a book that’s more enjoyable to read the less you know about it going into it. Granted, once you start reading, it becomes a smidge predictable, but part of the tension of the novel is predicated on the fact that you sort of know that something bad is about to happen in advance of it happening in real-time. The book is like a car wreck you can’t turn away from looking at in some regards. Still, this is about as Hollywood you’re going to get in terms of reading a page-turning thriller, and it is about as enjoyable as Speed meets Snakes on a Plane. Put another way, I simply couldn’t put the book down — but was forced to at points because my eyes would get blurry from all of the reading I was doing on my Kindle. And it’s a relatively short book, too. I’m guessing that, all told, it took about three or four hours to read — or the amount of time it probably takes to fly across the continental U.S.A.

One of the great things about the book is that it feels real. Newman has used her real-life flight attendant training to great advantage (and called in favours from a few pilot friends to boot) and uses real-life lingo related to aviation in the book and then only hints at what the terminology might mean. On one hand, it brings credibility to the read. On the other hand, it can be hard at times to figure out what the pictures in your head should look like — but, thankfully, this effect is used rather sparingly, so it doesn’t threaten the entire reading experience. And what else can I tell you about this engrossing and spellbinding book? Well, you can’t think about it too deeply — which makes it a perfect summery novel for the beach. After all, how does the terrorist (or terrorists) decide to pick our target? The hoops to jump through in getting his family taken hostage are many, and Occam’s Razor would say that the hostage-taking would be too complicated to set up in real life. The motivation behind the novel’s terrorism is a bit shaky at best, too. While the backstory is believable to a degree and leads Newman wanting to empathize with the bad guys through her heroes (to make everybody that more human and believable), it also seems like a rather flimsy excuse to go to a lot of trouble to bring a plane down (without knowing that the pilot might choose to not bring the plane down at all). However, all is forgiven when the target of the attack is revealed. I won’t say too much about this, though it’s not the first time that this sort of target has been the basis of a terrorist attack in literature. Still, it’s a bit on the unpredictable side, and you certainly won’t expect it, even if it is foreshadowed in advance at the novel’s beginning.

In any event, read this book. While it could have used another draft or two of polish, it begins to fire on all cylinders once the plot is put into place. And you won’t want to put the novel aside until you find out how the whole thing ends. That’s the best commendation I can give to a book of this ilk. It’s not going to win any awards for stylish writing and is — in fact — a bit on the hokey side in so far as writing craft goes. However, this is a big, loud, pedal to the metal thriller that punches all the right thrill buttons. You can’t want anything more than that from a book like this, which is to say that Falling is a novel that you just might fall for in the end. Warts and all.

I recently finished this book and wow!  It is so good.  A definite summer must-read.  No spoilers here.  This is information from the book description.

A flight was just boarded to fly to New York.  What the passengers and crew do not know is that thirty minutes before the flight the pilot's family was kidnapped and for his family to live, everyone on the plane must die. The pilot must crash the plane in order to have his family survive.  He is also not allowed to tell anyone about this kidnapping or his family will die.  Enjoy the ride of this novel.  

The author is a former flight attendant who wrote a lot of this book while working on night flights when passengers were sleeping.  

As I read this book, I kept thinking how is she going to write a believable story and make certain situations be able to happen.  My imagination was not coming up with solutions to the situations occurring in the novel.  But the author pulled it off and wrote a fabulous and fun summer read that is action-packed and unputdownable.  I highly, highly recommend this book.

Thank you to @avidreaderpress, TJ Newman @tj_author and @netgalley for my Advanced Readers Copy of this book.  Falling by TJ Newman is definitely going to be a summer hit, just don't read it if you are planning to fly anytime soon and do not read it on a flight.

In her debut novel, T.J. Newman takes the reader on a wild ride through the not-so-friendly skies with all the white knuckle suspense and pulse pounding action you could ever want in a summer read.

Falling by T.J. Newman
Newman’s own story reads like something out of a novel. She had aspirations to be an actor, graduating from a musical theater program and moving to New York City to pursue acting. After two years of “failure after failure after failure” as Newman herself put it, she moved back home to Arizona. She returned to her first love: books. She had always wanted to be a writer and spent some time working in a bookstore. Then, in 2011, she took on a job as a flight attendant with Virgin Airlines. The flexible schedule allowed her to work on a novel. A novel about an airline pilot who had to make an impossible decision: crash your plane and kill everyone onboard or allow your wife and two children to be murdered. Newman ran the novel idea by a pilot she worked with and the blood draining from his face was all the confirmation she needed that she had a great idea.

The resulting novel, “Falling”, was written over ten years as Newman worked with Virgin Airlines. In it, Captain Bill Hoffman is called in unexpectedly to take over a flight. Bill is a great husband to wife Carrie and a great father to children Scott and Elise but he’s also a great employee, sometimes to the chagrin of Carrie. By taking this flight, Bill is going to miss Scott’s Little League game. Turns out, he could miss a lot more than that.

Hoffman takes to the skies with his crew and is soon informed that his family is being held hostage and that he must crash his plane in order to ensure his family lives. Now Hoffman and his crew, including his co-pilot and flight attendants, must work to save everyone.

Newman’s knowledge of all things commercial flight generally and the work of flight attendants specifically is made clear in the writing. Neman takes us behind the scenes of how being a flight attendant actually works (the serving of peanuts and booze is the very least of it) and explains it in such a way that it’s understandable and adds to the excitement of the moments in the novel.

As for the excitement, it is relentless in the best ways possible. Newman keeps the reader guessing as to what will happen next and there are a few surprises thrown in along the way. Not surprisingly, the flight attendants in the novel are the characters who feel the most “real” and you will find yourself rooting for them that little bit extra. Newman also gives the terrorist in the novel a tragic backstory that you can’t help but feel for, even if the actions the terrorist takes are unconscionable.

If you’re looking for something to read on the beach this summer as life gets back to a degree of normal, look no further than “Falling”. You’ll get all the action, suspense, and thrills you’ll need. And you won’t look at flying the same ever again.

** A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


Review for Falling


This books starts off strong, you can’t get much stronger than a foot landing in someone’s lap. It’s not often that I read a book where the first paragraph has been captured in a whirlwind of a crash. By throwing us into the action right away I feel like it makes the reader be invested from the very beginning.

I would like to caution those going into this book that it does get a bit graphic fairly quickly with people suffering bodily harm and injury. This books keeps your guessing from the very first chapter, wondering what’s going on and if anyone, let one the main character, will survive.

To have all that action in the beginning to find out that it’s only a dream? It really set the suspense tone for the book, wondering if this dream is a premonition of things to come.

A plane crash to a hostage situation, your heart barely has time to settle down before you’re thrown into the next hair-raising situation. This book keeps you at the edge of your seat better than any movie.


Before you’re even 10% into the book there are so many twists and turns that it’s a little hard to keep up at first. Once we’re up in the air things start to come together. As you read you discover who the true heroes of the story are and its not necessarily who you thought it was.

Just as an FYI, my favourite character is Big Daddy who we don’t see until about 1/3rd of the way through the book and I LOVE HIM.

There were a few scenes, mostly the flashbacks which I thought were unnecessary however overall story was fantastic and I enjoyed it to the very end.

You put your life in the hands of the pilot flying your plane. But what you don’t know if thirty minutes before this, the pilots wife and children were kidnapped.

The pilot is given two options.
Save his family or save everyone on the plane.

I’m going to be totally honest, this isn’t the kind of book I would go out a choose. However the synopsis had me interested and I am SO glad I didn’t pass this over.

Falling was written by a former flight attendant for Virgin America, she was able to bring the employees on that plane to life.

This book took me on a wild ride, it felt like a movie playing in my head. I was invested in these characters and the pilots choice. There were a lot of references from things that have happened in our world that makes it that much more believable.

This high stakes book is with its shooter chapters allows you to completely invest in the wellbeing of the pilots family and all the souls on board.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I could have done without the prologue, the purpose of which escapes me, but after that it was certainly action-packed. The blurb doesn't really make clear how much of the narrative focusses on the cabin crew and their efforts to contain the situation. I found the multiple perspectives diluted the tension, and I skimmed the second half as the characters lurched from one crisis to the next. There was a lot of detail about the procedures cabin crew and pilots follow. I think this would work well for readers who prioritize plot over character development.

Oh my god!! This book!! I could not put it down.. I had all the feels! This book was beautifully written. I felt it ... As someone travels a lot this story was terrifying and felt so real. I was so invested in the story and characters. I had tears in my eyes during several parts and celebrated along with all the souls on the plane. The book had just enough details that it didn't feel overwhelming. This author is gifted and I am so glad I had the opportunity to read it. I will be picking up anything and everything from this author. Highly recommend! So glad this author found a publisher!!!

This edge of your seat adrenaline-filled thriller is a MUST READ!

“When the shoe dropped into her lap the foot was still in it.” – opening line!

The passengers on a crowded red-eye flight from LAX to JFK are unaware that Captain Bill Hoffman’s family has been kidnapped and that in order to save them, he must crash the plane. Determined NOT to make a choice, Captain Hoffman plans on using his experience to outsmart the terrorists. With 149 souls on board and his family at gunpoint on the ground, can he compartmentalize and execute his plan to save everyone?

Mayhem in the sky is not new, but this former bookseller turned flight attendant gives it a fresh perspective. With ten years in the airline industry as a flight attendant for Virgin America and Alaska Airlines, Newman knows the lingo and has enough experience with her job and cabin crew, adding to its authenticity. Her publisher reports that "with her extensive professional training for hijackings, mid-air disasters, and every imaginable emergency on board, she brings an authority to the story that no other writer could." After 41 rejections, Newman has landed a 7-figure deal for two novels. This one she wrote on her iPad and on the back of napkins at 35,000 feet while her passengers were sleeping!

For a debut novel, you’ll be surprised at the high octane, Mach speed drama and will no doubt be absorbed in this compelling read. This blockbuster read is not only worthy of your time, it’s also silver screen worthy.

Congratulations on a five-star debut, T.J. Newman. Enjoy your retirement.

Publishes July 6, 2021

I was gifted this advance copy by T.J. Newman, Simon & Schuster Canada, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

What a great page-turner! I knew I wanted to read this as soon as I heard the premise, and the author did not disappoint. A well-crafted intersection of true-to-life characters and breathless action. Brava! Best wishes to TJ Newman for a long and successful career in writing. She's off to a brilliant start.
#netgalley

An outstanding debut novel! What an adrenaline rush, my heart is still on a rollercoaster ride! This is a taut, character-driven psychological thriller, filled with suspicion and tension. The author’s wonderfully developed characters that you will love or otherwise love to hate make this a riveting read. This is a well-written, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will leave you breathless at times in anticipation of the next twist in the plot. Don’t start reading this book if you are not prepared to stay up all night. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Shuster Canada who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, the publishers Simon and Schuster Canada and the author, TJ Newman for an ARC of Falling. I LOVED this book! Once I started it, I could not put it down. It’s the kind of book that reminds me why I love to read.

Bill is the captain of a commercial flight from LA to New York City. There are 143 innocent souls on board.

It isn’t until the plane is up in the air that Bill finds out his wife, 10 year old son and infant daughter have been kidnapped.

The only way his family gets to live is if Bill crashes the plane.

😳😳😳

This book was heart-pounding, jaw-dropping, absolutely THRILLING. It’s a fast-paced read, packed full of drama and shocking twists and turns.

The story is told from the cockpit, the flight attendants on the aircraft, and the people on the ground. I highly recommend this wild ride (except if you’re on a plane or will be flying in the near future)

This is the author’s debut novel and the book deserves all the praise it’s getting.

Woah!! This is a wild ride. It is so fast paced and intense, taking place over a few hours. The cover is gorgeous and drew me in immediately.
This story follows pilot Bill Hoffman who takes a last minute flight that gets hijacked by terrorists. Who have kidnapped Bills family to make sure they get what they want. This book is told from a few points of view and you can feel for every character.
I really enjoyed this book.
10/10 would recommend

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Mind blown! When I saw the cover for T.J. Newman's debut release I knew I had to read it. Little did I know what a wild ride I was in for.

From beginning to end, Falling had me on the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat. Full of twists and turns, and anxiety-inducing suspense. Just when you think you know what's coming next, Ms. Newman tosses something else at you! Fab characters and a brilliant plot, Falling kept me engaged and wanting more...Ok, maybe I was a little nervous to find out what would happen next. ;) Definitely one of my favourite reads this year!

If you love suspenseful thrillers, buckle up! Falling by T.J. Newman is a must read for you!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 6, 2021
There are 143 passengers who board a plane bound for New York. The pilot, Bill, receives a cryptic message informing him to “crash the plane or his entire family will be killed”. Of course, Bill can’t tell anyone or notify anyone of the messages, and, to make matters worse, an accomplice is on board the plane, to ensure Bill follows through. This is the addicting, pulse-pounding premise for debut author TJ Newman’s, “Falling”.
The action starts right from page one, pulling the reader along for the proverbial ride. Narrated from the perspective of Bill, his wife and a flight attendant, Jo, the plot is immediately immersive, told from all angles, and I could not put it down.
I enjoyed the characters of this novel; Newman even managed to make the “terrorist” suspects seem likable, and evoke SOME (albeit very little) sympathy. Every character was human and real, even the young children, making the novel disturbingly possible and relatable. Faced with such an impossible choice, it was difficult to predict the ending of the novel, and how Bill would choose. Every possible outcome was just as likely, and when the ending finally came around, it surpassed all of my expectations.
The action played out like a Hollywood action movie, with cockpit fights, FBI SWAT team invasions, even a house explosion. Once it starts, “Falling” does not let up. There were not that many characters in the novel, which made it easy to not only keep track of the plot, but to form an attachment with each one. However, of the characters that were there, three of them were males that had names starting with “B”. Although the characters were all very different and it was easy to differentiate between them, it made for a bit of a tongue-twister.
“Falling” is a devilishly creative work of gripping suspense and non-stop action. As a debut work, it has certainly set a high precedent for any other works from Newman, hands down. Described as “Jaws at 35,000 feet”, I eagerly anticipate Newman’s next work.

Well, after reading this I’m glad I won’t be getting on a plane anytime soon! This is a terrific pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller that successfully maintains that tension throughout the whole book.

Captain Bill Hoffman has no idea that his family has just been taken hostage as he embarks on cross-country flight from LAX to JFK. Their captor tells Bill he has two choices: 1: he can he can crash the plane and save his family; or 2: he can continue the flight, but his family will be murdered. He cannot save both.

I can easily see this book adapted as a movie. In fact, I think, it’s already been snatched up for the big screen.

This is told in multiple POVs, some on the plane and some on the ground. All were dynamic and believable characters.

The opening chapter is pretty grisly, but after that it’s far less gruesome. I was so invested in each character, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. Equally, there are some characters I wouldn’t have cared at all if they got pushed out of the plane!

This is a great debut and I will lookout for anything else T. J. Newman writes!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC in exchange for my opinions.

I was very captivated by the description for this book. A plane flight from Los Angeles to New York and the pilot's family has been kidnapped. His choice: crash the plane or his family will die.

Definitely an intriguing plot line and the book did not disappoint. Very fast-paced and very thrilling! And a great first book by a flight attendant turned author (who clearly has a very good understanding of flight protocols). Definitely an enjoyable ride!

The only thing that It could have used was a bit more details of the timing as far as where they were along the flight. Knowing that, say, there was only 2 hours left in the flight would have added to the tension.

Thanks, NetGalley for this ARC!
#NetGalley, #Falling

Bill is a commercial airline pilot, who receives a terrifying message in the early stages of a flight. Bill’s wife and children are being held hostage and he must crash the plane or they will be killed.

With that beginning, we are taken on a wild ride with numerous twists and turns. I was captivated right from the start and did not want to put it down. There were some great characters, specifically Jo and Big Daddy, and without giving too much away, I thought the portrayal of Sam was well done.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy. A definite 5 star read! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good thriller/suspense novel!

Thanks NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and T. J. Newman fort his awesome book! As soon as I started reading it, I loved it from the start. This book started with a bang and ended with an even bigger bang. I was shocked with the twists and turns that happened at the end of almost every chapter, T.J know how to write a book. So many times, I wondered how this was going to go. Many chapters I had to stop and just stare at the page and say really? I can not give one detail as this book will be spoiled if I say one thing about the book. It was just so good. All I can say, you need to know your people and to know they have your back.

“People are only as good as the world lets them be.”
FALLING - T.J. NEWMAN

Let me be honest. I don’t think I would have chosen this book off of a shelf. Until I read the description:

‘You just boarded a flight to New York.
There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers on board.
What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.
For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.
The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.
Enjoy the flight.’

... it really gave me no other choice.

This book played out like an action movie in my head. Every chapter, every sentence, every word had me hanging on the edge of my seat. Even as I write this, my heart still races thinking about it. The fact that the author is a flight attendant just adds to the authenticity - you notice it in the details, the characters, the suspense. It was an absolutely fantastic ride.

**Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

What a thrilling book to read! I could not put it down. It is a fast paced, sit on the edge of your seat and hold your breath kind of a read.... the best. I highly recommend this book and can hardly wait for T.J. Newman’s second novel.!!!