Falling, the debut novel by former flight attendant T.J. Newman has a great hook: a seasoned pilot forced by terrorists to sacrifice his family on the passengers on his plane. The story begins with a literal nightmare scenario right before the real-life nightmare begins. Newman wastes no time placing pilot Bill Hoffman in this impossible situation and the plot, admirably, remains taut throughout. Violating strict instructions from the terrorists, Hoffman informs his flight crew of his impossible dilemma. From that point, Falling ricochets between several viewpoints, including Bill in the cockpit where he receives demands from the terrorists through his wifi-connected laptop, the flight crew as they prepare for the worst without panicking their passengers, and Hoffman's kidnapped family, along with the FBI agents who need to rescue Hoffman's wife and kids---or prepare the military to shoot Hoffman's plane before he's forced to crash it into a high profile target. As with all good thriller writers, Newman adds surprises and reversals along the way to keep the reader guessing. Falling is a non-stop thrill ride is a perfect beach read. And may all your flights be much less interesting.

Although this book snagged my attention from the first page, I started to lose my interest when the characters were developed along very racially stereotypical roles. I found some of the stereotypes to be unproductive and I wish the author had made some better choices in that area. I couldn't get past that.

Sadly, this debut novel was contrived and empty. It is great for someone needing a novel to read in a few hours that has no substance, but I like a little more from my literature. Really disappointing.

3.4 - an adrenaline-fueled premise, but I found myself losing interest; loved Jo's character;; some of the FBI scenes seemed more convoluted than necessary

3.5 stars on this one! I really liked the characters in this book. It’s definitely edge of your seat type action.

A couple of things that were disappointing were the “bad guys” and their reasoning behind everything felt a little forced and not as fleshed out. Also the Scott was supposed to be ten and he felt much younger than me..

I will definitely be recommending this book and will look for more by this author.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

This high-octane thriller felt more suited to the big screen than the page, and if the news I've heard is accurate, it's headed that way. That's pretty impressive, and it's well deserved. As I mentioned, I felt like it was more suited to the movies - that's not to say I didn't enjoy it because I certainly did. The story has a breakneck pace, and I would suggest setting aside some time to just get lost in the book. I cracked it open one Friday night thinking I'd read a chapter or 2 to get a feel for it and then go on to sleep. Boy, was I wrong. Saturday morning, I was making coffee while still reading. I had to know what would happen with this plane. The only drawback for me was that I wanted more explanation and development of the bad guys - but then, how much real closure do we ever get after a terrorist attack? Closure or not, the book is everything a high-action thriller should be - it's full of danger, it's intense, and it's impossible to put down.

Falling was a fast-paced edge of your seat thriller that I could not put down. I loved the storyline, the characters (especially the flight attendants) and I can’t wait to read more from this author!
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest reviews

Reading Falling by T.J. Newman while on an airplane could have been brilliant or terribly foolish. I'm going to go with brilliant. I LOVED this debut thriller by T.J. Newman! Seriously, it's going to be one of my absolute favorites and top reads of the year. ALL THE STARS!

Falling is the kind of thriller I love, the one you can't stop reading, the one that keeps you up at night, where you're quickly flipping page after page.

Captain Bill Hoffman is flying one of his usual routes from LAX to JFK when he gets word that his wife and children are being held hostgae. Crash the plane, or they'll be killed. I don't want to give away anymore because you just have to read this thriller!

T.J. Newman was a former flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic and wrote much of this novel during red-eye fights on cocktail napkins and her iPad. After 41 rejections, this story finally fell into the right hands, and I am so thankful it did! Before it was even released, Falling created a bidding war when trying to sell the film rights, ultimately ending in a 7-figure deal with Universal Studios! Another thing I loved about this novel was that the supporting cast of characters was excellent! They all played such vital roles. I can't wait to see what T.J. Newman comes out with next!

Ohhhh what a ride!! Can’t wait for the movie! Ask yourself what would you choose? Scary!! The story of how the author came to write this is fun too.

I started to read this in the airport right before boarding a plane and quickly decided maybe that wasn't such a great idea! After getting to my destination I quickly picked it up again and quickly raced through it. Exciting, realistic and terrifying, I just hope that life never imitates fiction in this case! Awesome debut novel!

In Falling, T.J.Newman has presented a well-crafted page-turner of a debut novel. The characters were believable, the scenes almost cinematic. This book has gotten a lot of best-book-of-summer hype, for good reason. Gripping and enjoyable reading! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reading copy.

My heart is hammering in my chest! This adrenaline-pumping thriller is NON-STOP action from the go. You board a flight to New York. You don't know that the pilot's family was kidnapped and for his family to live, everyone on your plane must die...
This story will surely be the hit of the summer. It's like watching a movie. Bill Hoffman wasn't supposed to be working that day. He and his wife disagreed over it. His superior asked him to take the flight, so he did. And now he will die! Someone has his family and it up to Bill to save them, by killing the 143 souls on his flight. It's a race against the clock thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat!
4 stars

This book was Speed in the sky! Such a fun summer thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved how fast paced it was - the perfect summer blockbuster!

At first I thought this book rather slow moving but once the action shifted to the plane it picked up speed and my interest. I thought the reason for the hijacking wasn’t sufficient for the actions and was somewhat pointless. The best characters were the flight attendants and the actions on the plane were what kept this book speeding along.

What a ride!
This novel kept me on the edge of my seat and I had to put it down a few times because the drama ws so intense. I thought it was well written and the tension built up with each scenario. The characters were believable - people next door - and their interactions were realistic.
The perpetrators motives were understandable, and while I recognized those motives, I don't think the author made them wholly sympathetic. She kept me engaged to see how it would play out.
There was just enough coincidence in the book to maintain the storyline - and it just came together well.

I read an advanced digital copy of this novel courtesy on the publisher through NetGalley. Review available on goodreads.

Thank you to Avid Reader press for my copy of Falling by T.J. Newman in exchange for an honest review. This book was so anticipated and oh my did it deliver! Bill Hoffman is a pilot, flying from LA to New York when he receives a call demanding he crash the plane or his wife and two kids will be killed. What ensues is a nonstop thrill ride while Bill tries to figure out how to keep his family safe and land the plane without an casualties. It switches perspectives from Bill to his long time friend and coworker Jo, a flight attendent, Bill's wife, and an FBI agent. I devoured this book, every time I thought I would set the book down, another twist happened and I had to read just another chapter. I thought it perfectly captured the internal struggle of the pilot and his family as well as the flight crew and passengers. T.J. also humanized the captors, making you empathize with them, which is a true talent. The end really wrapped up the story nicely. It is truly remarkable that this is her debut novel and I cannot wait to see what she comes out with next. This book is one that will be talked about and recommended to so many.

What a ride! This book captures your attention on the first page and doesn't let go until the last one. A great book by a debut author! Imagine as you are boarding a plane, you don't realize that the pilot's family has been kidnapped, and his only options are to crash the plane to save his family, or let them kill his family to save the plane. This story shows how the entire flight crew works together in every situation and how the pilot struggles to save both his family and the plane. A great story by an up and coming new author.

Absolutely unputdownable, but I cannot NOT talk about the fact that the terrorists here fall into a stereotype that I'm SO tired of. Give us something new. Stretch yourself and the reader. That change (and removing the overly violent prologue) would have pushed this book to five stars for me.

Falling by T. J. Newman is an okay thriller on an airplane. The novel does feel authentic like you the reader are getting insider information on how the flight crew works. The author was a former flight attendant and Falling is her debut. This book has moments of thrills but it felt pretty formulaic too me. I would say this book is Airframe by Michael Crichton meets a decent James Patterson thriller. I think if you read this novel it should be on a plane, because that will amp the fear, and you couldn't help wonder what goes on behind the door of the flight deck. You will come out respecting your fight attendants and the job they have to do. I think this book is getting over hyped, it is good but not great. Thanks to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for giving me access to Falling early. Falling by T. J. Newman is published on July 6 2021.

The Plot: Airplane Pilot Bill has picked up a flight to the disappointment of his wife Carrie who will miss his 9 year-old Son's first baseball game of the season. After Bill leaves his family is kidnapped my Sam, who wants Bill to gas his passenger's and crash the plane. Bill is in flight when he finds this out, the terrorist warn there is a mole on the plane that will let the terrorist know if anything is wrong. Bill confides in Jo his lead flight attendant that has been with him since the beginning of his career. Jo agrees to help, she also conveniently has a nephew that works for the FBI, she text him about the situation. Bill must think of something while not letting his co-pilot know, Jo must think of a way to keep her and the passengers safe from a gas attack, and the young FBI agent must save bills family.

What I Liked: I loved Jo the flight attendant so, so, much, she did remind me a lot of Nana Mama from the Alex Cross series, they could me cousins, but she is the stand out character. I liked the bad guys were bad but they were trying to make a point about there country and the war that we pulled out of despite our alliance to the Kurdish people. I like how fast this novel starts, and it was very easy to read. I makes you think and see plane travel a little differently.

What I Disliked: Some of the flashbacks were not needed at all and didn't add any insight. I was waiting for another twist, but it didn't happen. The plot was fairly straight forward. The biggest piece was we were missing the thoughts of a passenger to elevate the fear, we have action from the passengers but not thoughts, and they were needed badly. The action was a little hard to follow.

Recommendations: I think that falling is a run of the mill thriller, but I can see that reading it on a plane will ratchet up the thrill of it, so if you read this book I would recommend it on a plane. This book is getting over hyped right now I read it based on recommendations from Don Winslow and Lee Child. Falling is author T. J. Newman's debut and I saw some decent characterization, so I will read the next novel from T. J. Newman. I rated Falling by T. J. Newman 3 out of 5 stars.