Terrorists kidnap a pilot’s family and force him to make a choice - crash the plane he’s flying, or his family dies. That’s the premise of Falling, written by a flight attendant, and the subject of a lot of positive chatter. Unfortunately, don’t believe the hype on this one. Stereotypical characters, implausible situations and cliches fill this book, which reads more like a comic book than a thriller. While a certain amount of literary license is expected in this type of novel, this one stretches those boundaries to the point where it’s just plain ridiculous (when you read the baseball scene, you’ll understand). If you’re looking for a mindless, almost slapstick-type action story, you’re in luck. As for a suspenseful thriller, it was a disappointment. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Falling by T. j. Newman
Rating: 5 stars

Summary: A pilot and his family are taken hostage and kidnapped to facilitate a crash of a jetliner into a unknown target. A group of three dedicated airline stewardess on board must help the pilot save and land the aircraft with a 144 souls on board.

Comments: Certainly a fresh take on the thriller genre with a rip roaring pulse bender of a novel. It’s a rather short novel but gets right to the point of a thrill ride, literally. This thriller should make a great summer read, and just in time.

A Pilot’s Nightmare Become Reality

Ben has reluctantly accepted piloting a flight when he should have been at his son’s little league game. He leaves home with his wife angry at him and isn’t able to contact her before his flight leaves the airport. When in flight, he receives a message from home but is dumbfounded with what he sees. His wife is wearing an explosive vest, she and their son are bound and gagged, and the man holding them hostage has one message for him. You will crash your plane or I will kill your family. If you tell anyone else, your family dies.
Ben’s reply, I’m not going to crash this plane and you’re not going to kill my family. Somehow, Ben must figure out how to make that possible.

Falling didn’t quite live up to the hype from the noted authors. Although the premise of the story is good, the actions by some of the characters were too unrealistic. The story started with a shock, dwindled for a while in the middle, arriving in a tense, if overacted, conclusion. Ben’s character was well developed, as was Jo, the lead flight attendant on the plane. The kidnapper and Jo’s uncle Theo were unrealistic. The teamwork of the flight attendants lent a heroic atmosphere to the story, but the impossible scenarios were numerous as well. With that said, I did enjoy the story, and the tension buildup at the end was real, even if the storyline was overworked.

Thank you Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and T. J. Newman for an ARC cop of Falling.

I absolutely LOVED this book. What a compelling thriller. Grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let you down until it’s finished. Honestly I would love a sequel with another adventure. This book starts out innocently enough with a typical American family. The cable is out and the repairman is there working as the family prepares to face another day. The father a pilot has picked up a flight and is out the door not realizing that the cable repairman is not who he seems. As soon as he boards his flight and takes off the story begins. A terrorist has kidnapped his family demanding a trade. Either crash the plane or he will kill his family. I could not wait to see what would happen in this thriller. I found out later that this is the authors first book and I eagerly await more, I’m definitely a fan

This book was just what I needed to get out of my reading slump. Suspenseful, fast paced and full of heart! Would definitely recommend.

This book had a very interesting storyline and great writing for both character development and being able to follow the events in it. Despite the quality of the writing, the book read like watching a bad, very predictable, movie. Theo’s actions were so ridiculous, the car scene just a total disregard for any sanity in his actions or consideration of the results of it. The flight attendants were likeable, but also a bit cliché, poor Kellie being played to have no brain. I think the story could have been written with Theo actually working with his team and leaving out the theatrics of the president being cut off mid-sentence. At least the ending didn’t disappoint. That being said, I think there are many that will enjoy this book, because they do like the action scenes and the quick thinking of the characters, as the clock is ticking.

This book took off running right from the first page and did not stop until the end.

Pilot Bill Hoffman has a dream that the plane he is flying is about to crash and then wakes up with a jolt and we learn that this is not the first time Bill has had this dream. His morning then starts out normally, even having a rift with his wife, Carrie about him missing his sons baseball game. Bill then leaves his house for the airport at the same time a technician comes to the house to fix the internet.

From there it is a whirlwind of a novel. The buildup was quick, but you didn't feel like you missed anything. Once you thought the threat might be handled it just got worse and then worse again, and the needing to know what happened next kept you glued to the pages. Bill has to chose between his family and a flight full of innocent people. Will he crash the plane? Can he trust everyone on board? Will his wife and kids make it? I literally could not put the book down until I knew these answers.

This is a phenomenal debut for T.J. Newman and I can't wait to see what they do next.

*Falling Is One Of The Worst Books I’ve Read In 60 Years Of Being An Avid Reader!

I’m very aggravated with myself for being taken in by all the prepublication hype for Falling. I let the praise from some respected authors — such as Don Winslow who described the book as “stunning and relentless...a JAWS at 35,000 feet”...outweigh my hesitancy about reading it stemming from the fact that 41 consecutive previous literary agents rejected it. Please don’t let my mistake become yours when you start seeing and hearing the promotional efforts by the publisher who will be trying to convince you that Falling is going to be this summer’s blockbuster bestseller when it is published on July 6th. It may very well turn out that way but being forewarned is being forearmed.

I’ll leave it to you to check the description of Falling (along with some of the hype) on Amazon or Goodreads. The remainder of my review will tell you just some of my reasons for having such an unusually strong negative opinion of it:

...First-time author T.J. Newman’s writing style is clumsy, choppy and, sad to say, amateurish;
...The book is virtually devoid of any meaningful character development, and what there is is one-dimensional at best. For me, the characters too often came across as comic book figures rather than “real life” people;
...The plot (which I had high hopes for prior to starting Falling), the dialog and the various actions taken by the “good” and “bad” characters was so implausible for me that instead of considering them to be exciting/suspenseful/attention-holding, I had a hard time keeping my eyes from rolling around in my head. This continued to the point that by the time I got to the last 50-60 pages — which were intended to be the most dramatic part of the book — I found myself skimming through them in order to get to the only real exciting part of the book for me, which was to come to THE END.

And, if the above reasons aren’t enough for you, while I can’t cite specifics about the political motivations for the “bad guys” without providing spoilers, I’ll just say they were unoriginal and preachy.

#Falling #Net Galley

Thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish. A wonderful cast of characters, pure tension, and a commendable topic of discussion regarding the Kurds.

For this to be a debut book is phenomenal. I can't wait to see the career that awaits.

Wow. Non-stop! I could not turn the pages fast enough. Newman nails the suspense, and the twists and turns and surprises will have readers riveted. I know everyone will say "fasten your seatbelts"--but is the perfect warning!

What an absolute ride! From the first line ("When the shoe dropped into her lap the foot was still in it.") to the last, I was hooked. TJ Newman has an edge-of-your-seat thriller for a debut novel. Everyday people put in extraordinary circumstances in a realistic scenario.

Captain Bill Hoffman is a dedicated pilot with wife, Carrie, and son Scott and baby Elise. An ordinary call to cover a flight begins their nightmare as Bill's family is kidnapped and held hostage. The ransom? Save his family or crash the plane and kill all aboard. As the author has been a flight attendant, the interactions on the plane are interesting and give a view into that role. The pace of the story is as fast as I imagine my thoughts would be going through the situation, and alternates between the action in the cockpit, the the flight attendants in the cabin, the family held hostage, and the support being given by the FBI and Air Traffic Control.

TJ Newman has crafted a story that is entertaining with family drama, current events, and consideration of how decisions made by a country impact others. It left me thinking about things that I hadn't previously paid attention to. The writing style had me telling those around me of the plot and discussing it. I definitely recommend Falling for anyone who enjoys a thriller and look forward to reading more from TJ Newman (although maybe not those that have a fear of flying!)

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the

This book really kept my interest. It was fast paced and I held my breath til the end. A few surprises that I didn't see coming. Worth the time to read.

T.J. Newman does not waste a line of copy before the she is bringing the reader into a free fall. The action begins on page one. What would happen if the pilot of a plane was told after take off that his family has been taken hostage and would be killed if he did not crash the plane? Seeing his wife and young son in explosive vests. Their infant daughter looking to be comforted in a world which still has no meaning to her. If he alert anyone, his family will die. Pilot Bill Hoffman has firmly told the terrorists that he will not crash his plane and they will not harm his family. But can he make that happen?
As a former flight attendant, the author writes character actions that only someone trained to guard the safety of airline passengers could imagine. This is not to day that every detail is realistic, liberties are taken in the name of suspense, but no one will mind, Falling is fast paced , suspenseful and although sometimes a little fantastical, great fun to read. As Margo Channing (Betty Davis) said in "All About Eve", "Fasten your seatbelt, it's going to be a bumpy night"
My Thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon Schuster for the ARC of thisFalling in exchange for my honest review.

4 solid debut stars!!

This book was marketed as "JAWS at 35,000 feet" and the minute I saw that I requested this title! The plot for this novel is fairly simple to understand. On a flight from LA to NY, consisting of 140+ passengers, the pilot gets a phone call where he is asked to choose between 2 things; his family or the plane. In the starting few chapters of this book, we get to know that a certain cable repairman has held the pilot's family hostage. So, if he wants his family to survive, he has to crash the plane and kill everyone on board.


This one was a wild ride, folks! Seriously, as we progress in this story, the mystery and the suspense keeps on building. I was not able to put this one down, I think I read this one in 2-3 sittings! What makes this one better is that the author was herself a flight attendant and her technical knowledge just adds to the fun. I would really like to read more from this author. Also. I'm really glad that Newman never stopped in her mission to get this book published, otherwise, how on earth would we ever get to read this amazing title?

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy via Netgalley! I really appreciate it.

Really, how many more novels about terrorists hijacking an airplane to protest (fill in the blank) do we need? Isn’t that particular sub-genre exhausted by now? Not, according to T.J. Newman, a stewardess turned author of Falling. I had the opportunity to read an ARC of the novel courtesy of NetGalley and publisher Simon and Schuster. I can easily summarize my response with one word, ‘Wow!’

Gripping. Intense. Gut-wrenching. Falling packs an emotional wallop that I didn’t see coming. The premise is simple. Terrorists kidnap a pilot’s family and offer the pilot a choice — crash the plane into an unnamed target, killing all the passengers, or his family will be slaughtered. The pilot is forbidden to tell anyone of the threat and, by the way, there is another terrorist aboard the airplane to ensure compliance.

The question is posed: will the pilot sacrifice the plane and its passengers, or will he sacrifice his family?

While the premise may be simple, the book is not. Newman throws a wrench into expectations by courageously guiding the reader into a sympathetic view of the terrorists and their underlying motivations. It is a brave decision that, in lesser Hans might have backfired. It didn’t.

I approached reading this book with trepidation and low expectations due to its tired subject matter. I am so grateful I read it and highly recommend it to any reader who enjoys a terrific, well-plotted, and riveting story.

Coastal Airways Flight 416...LAX to JFK...estimated flight time 5 hours, 24 minutes...144 souls on board. In the air, pilot Bill Hoffman and the flight crew face an impossible dilemma, while on the ground, Hoffman's wife and young children are held hostage. It's a race against unfavorable odds to save the lives of the passengers and the Hoffman family.

Falling's pulse-pounding plot and heart-stopping twists and turns make it a compelling read. Its well developed, engaging characters take readers through a range of emotions--from the depths of despair to the heights of human resiliency--while evoking support for the protagonists and empathy for the villains.

Told with an insider's knowledge of the industry, Falling takes armchair travel to a new level, and is sure to be one of the blockbuster reads of summer 2021.

Oh wow, this is fabulous. The twists and excitement kept my heart racing. This book was VERY suspenseful with – surprisingly - some terrific comic relief in places.

Aboard a plane for the 6-hour flight from LA to NYC are 149 passengers and crew who don’t know that terror has boarded with them. The pilot, Bill, is faced with a devastating choice. He must choose between crashing the plane with everyone onboard or the death of his wife and children, who are being held captive by a terrorist. What can Bill do? Will he choose his family or the lives of his passengers and crew? He must use all his skills and training to do the impossible, and is determined to save his family without crashing the plane. Meanwhile, on the ground is Theo, a troubled FBI agent who also has a relative on the plane. How far will he go to disobey orders to locate Bill's family and save them from the terrorist?

This will be THE most exciting summer thriller, the one you really won’t be able to put down. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this incredibly gripping book in return for an honest review. Five big bright stars!!

Holy crap!

Honestly, I think there were at least a dozen holy crap moments in this book. It’s just a thrill a minute, separated by moments of extreme heartbreak.

More than that, however, the book is fun.

Highly reminiscent of those wonderful disaster films of the 1970’s, Falling grabs your attention from the first page and just doesn’t let you go.

I loved every minute of this and, yes, if they make it into a movie I’m watching it!

I’d say get your popcorn ready, but you might be so into the read that you’ll forget to eat it.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

I have tremendous respect for what it must have taken T.J. Newman to conceive of this story and then write such a complex novel. Especially a first novel. It is gratifying to read in the acknowledgements that the author received so much support, especially from two of the best thriller writers around: Adrian McKinty and Don Winslow. I loved the characters and cared very much about what happened to them, although at times they were too clever during terrifying moments, or too good to be true. My primary misgivings: if one were to lay out this book plot-point by plot-point, it would be near perfection. The complications are plausible and the solutions mostly believable. However, there were important moments that were real clunkers, that brought my "willing suspension of disbelief" to a screeching halt. The heroic offer of the little boy to sacrifice himself is simply not plausible, to me anyway; any child that I can imagine hangs onto a magical belief in the ability of parents to save him/her in the most dire of circumstances. Offering to die in place of another is just not something I picture a ten-year-old doing. The scene involving baseball (trying not to spoil here) is absolutely ridiculous. It felt to me like soldiers in the trenches or a bunker facing almost-certain death and deciding to use their final moments to play poker. Not pray, call loved ones (possible in this scene), or just make any desperate attempt to grab a thousand-to-one shot at evading disaster. The choice of these eighteen men didn't ring as heroic or accepting their probable fate in the cause of a higher good. Players turning their hats inside out and spectators sitting down to drink looted beers while cheering...rang a terribly false and disruptive note for me. The scene could have been simply edited out or drastically modified and the suspense of the story would have been maintained not derailed.
But overall, I think this is a terrific story and look forward to more books by T.J. Newman.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Falling.

I wouldn't recommend reading this during a flight but for the most part, it was enjoyable and would make a great movie.

I didn't like it as much as I had hoped which might have been due to the writing style. At times, the narrative felt chatty, repetitive and filler heavy.

I like the idea that Bill is forced to make a near impossible choice but that being the reason as to why the hijackers chose him as a pawn in their twisted game is weak.

Also, it sure is lucky that Jo's nephew is a FBI agent, and comes to her and Bill and his family's aid.

Not surprisingly, a typical cliche is revealed when the readers learns the nephew is on the outs with his supervisor after messing up and has to jump their hoops to convince his supervisor that a hijacking has taken place.

I did like the diversity of the main and supporting cast.

I also liked learning about what flight attendants really do (I'll never look at them in the same way again) and the behind the scenes details on what a pilot needs to do before a flight.