Heart stopping, propulsive, and brilliantly written- another slam dunk by Newman.

Believable and cinematic - this is the summer blockbuster for those not afraid of flying to enjoy.

If you decide to pick this book up, be prepared to not put it down until you’ve read the whole thing. This also may be obvious, but if you’re a nervous flyer and plane on flying any time soon I would recommend waiting until after your trip to pick this book up.

This books starts with a bang, we are introduced our main character, Will, as he watches the plane’s engine explode and then crashes into the ocean. To make matters worse, his daughter is sitting right next to him as this disaster occurs. In the aftermath of the crash, a number of survivors find themselves stuck in the airplane at the bottom of the ocean. We are taken on a wild ride as rescue attempts race to save them.

T.J. Newman did an amazing job of making it feel like you were on the plane with the characters and fighting for your life too. Each character depicted how different people would respond to the tragedy and made it that much more compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley for and Avid Reader Press for the ARC! I will be reading any new novels by T.J. Newman in the future.

I wanted to love this book, but I did not enjoy it as much as Falling. I wanted to root for our main characters, Will, Shannon and Chris, but I didn’t feel like I knew them well enough to become fully invested. I definitely enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped.

"𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘵 102 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵."

I loved the high-octane thrill ride that was T.J. Newman's debut novel 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴, and her follow-up may be even better.

𝗗𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 features another aviation emergency that reads all too real - the author is a former flight attendant and the details she includes make you feel like you're experiencing everything as it happens. When a plane crash lands in the ocean and sinks with a group of passengers inside, a rescue team has limited time to figure out how to get them out of a dire situation no one's been in before. It's a race against the clock, which would be stressful enough, but two of the passengers are also related to one of the rescuers. Dun dun dun!!!

The book is a total adrenaline rush, but Newman gives it additional depth with well-developed characters and the nuanced relationships many thrillers lack. You may come for the action, but I promise you'll get emotionally invested, too.

I have no doubt this will be one of THE books of the summer, and I cannot wait to see the movie version!

PS - this is a great book to gift for Father’s Day. I already ordered a copy for my dad.

Thanks to Avid Reader Press for the copy to review.

After reading ‘Falling’ I was sceptical to read this one because they sounded too similar but this was incredible. The storyline, the characters and the tension was unputdownable and I read it in one sitting! Very very good read.

Flight 1421 crashes into the ocean ("ditches") six minutes after takeoff. The survivors start to exit the plane when one dad notices that might be unsafe. The rest of the story is of the remaining survivors who are stuck on the plane as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean and their rescue.

This is one action packed book. I felt like I needed oxygen while reading it- I definitely needed to cancel my plans so I could finish reading it uninterrupted. This is quite a wild ride- I wasn't even sure if I wasn't too sensitive to read this- or ever fly again after reading it! One review I read said that she read it as a how to manual on what to do if this ever happened to her and I choose to read it thru that perspective. I liked the off the plane storylines too (although some were a bit too cheesy and predictable), but mostly this is like an action movie. Just go in reading it reading to sweat and read it quickly without thinking about it too much. The writing is solid- not too sciency and not too emotional- and struck just the right tones.

I suspect this will be a huge hit this summer.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

This story about a plane crash minutes after take off into the water had me holding onto my seat for the entire ride. It was action-packed and full of twists! It was like watching a disaster movie where everything that could possibly happen does.
The women in this book are the real standout characters, from Kit, one of the the pilots, to Chris, the wife of one of the passengers who is trying to work on a solution to saving the people trapped in the plane.
I can’t wait to see what Newman has up her sleeve for a third book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for granting me this ARC so close to the publishing date! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was able to read an ARC ebook of Drowning by T.J. Newman. I listened to the audiobook of Falling and loved that one! I knew I wanted to read this one, as well. This book was fast paced and kept my interest throughout the whole story. I highly recommend.

This book is receiving high praise amongst reviewers with a 4.43 Goodreads rating and 1,000 (so far) 4 and 5 star reviews. It's safe to say this author succeeded in entertaining a wide and varied audience which is not easy to do so kudos for that. 👏

Now there appears to be a small number of people that found this underwhelming. They stand at 26 people at the moment and my cranky ass is about to make that 27.

This book is fast paced, I'll give it that, but is it because I skipped page after page of technical jargon? Probably. I'll give the author credit that she's a smart cookie that did her research but it did not make this a riveting reading experience. It bogged this down so much that I was drowning in tears of boredom. Skim, skim, skim.

There was little to no character development. Here's what I know about them:

Ira and Ruth - The old couple
Bernadette - Nurse
Jasmine - Life vest woman
Andy - Blue polo asshole
Will - Smart guy
Shannon - Smart kid
Ryan - Newlywed widow
Maia - Unaccompanied minor
And the remaining crew - Kit, Kaholo, and Molly

That list above comes directly from the book as if the author knew we wouldn't give a hoot unless she threw us a little something to differentiate the characters.

Though we do take a closer look at Will and his family. He's about to be divorced from Shannon's mom, Chris, after a tragedy befell their family.

It's hard for me to care about characters without getting to know them so between the technical babble and the flat characters my enjoyment was sinking as fast as the plane in this book!

Then there was this and I quote:

"I thought you guys weren't going to fight today."

"We're not fighting, sweetheart," Chris said.

"Which is what you always say when you're fighting."

Chris and Will exchanged looks.

"Can I just save us the hassle?" Shannon said, standing on tippy-toes to grab a bowl from the shelf. "Dad, you don't want me to go on this trip because you're afraid. Afraid something will happen. Mom, you're frustrated because you think he's being selfish. Prioritizing his own feelings for my need to have a life. Dad, you'll be distant and somehow make it all about you. Mom, you won't really listen or even try to see his viewpoint."

Those are some astute observations from an 11 year old. This same 11 year old that eats a peanut butter cracker knowing she's allergic causing her to go into anaphylactic shock after the plane goes down. Cue the drama and the eye roll! 🙄

Not to mention how convenient our savior of the story is. Like, really? I'm not buying it for a second.

"So if you think I'm going to betray those families, or my own, and go sit in a hospital, waiting for some coast guard mouthpiece to finally tell me what happened....then you must not be a parent."

Say what?!?! I am a parent and this made me cringe. As if people without children couldn't possibly understand or care about the severity of the situation. What a crock of 💩!

So there you have it. My apologies to the legions of fans. This book was a bust. 2 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for my complimentary copy.

Wow! Buckle up for nonstop tension in this sophomore novel by the author of “Falling”. It’s another airplane book, but this time a plane crashes into the ocean. 

The flight crew are completely unprepared for this unimaginable crisis. Passengers are becoming hysterical. A few heroes do step up to take the lead and come up with a plan. A plan that is not much more than a guess. A plan that must be constantly revised as conditions change.

Once the majority of terrified passengers have chosen to exit the airplane and wait in the ocean for rescue, twelve people remain on board. For a short time they feel relatively safe in the floating airplane. Then the plane begins to sink. 

The saga is told mostly from the point of view of Will, a man escorting his eleven-year-old daughter to summer camp. Will and his daughter are among those still in the plane.

Up on dry land, Will’s estranged wife happens to be part of the rescue team. Well, the team trying desperately to come up with a way to rescue the people trapped in that plane.  

It is harrowing and heartbreaking to follow the action inside the plane. They are working together to survive, and some of their simple, do-it yourself solutions are ingenious. Courage, fear, and a developing camaraderie define the atmosphere.

There is also a backstory about Will and his wife and why they became estranged. These chapters humanize the two and give the reader a much-needed break from the emotional and intense life-or-death airplane story. 

The whole book is agonizing and fascinating, as those both above and below the sea race against time and as the oxygen on the plane steadily dissipates. 

I loved this book. I think it is even better than the author’s excellent previous 
novel. I raced through it, always eager to find out what happened next. 

I rate this book a strong ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, and I can’t wait to read the author’s next book. Available now. 

My thanks to the author, T. J. Newman, to the publisher, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, and to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book.

Wow! Just wow! This is an “edge of your seat” book! Masterfully written by
T.J.Newman, I couldn’t put this book down from the first page to the last!

The plane took off from Honolulu, and 3 minutes into the flight, they were in trouble. Nothing was working with the controls, and one jet engine was on fire.
The pilot couldn’t turn around, and couldn’t control the deep dive the plane was experience. With 95 passengers on board, what was the chance of survival?
Although some passengers survived the water landing, the rescue efforts were difficult. Brilliant minds went to work!

THIS will make a fantastic movie!!
5 stars!!
Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster for the ARC, in return for my honest review.

I am an uneasy flyer in the best of times. I'm just really glad that I haven't got a trip planned anytime soon. This book was scary, chilling, and thought provoking in the "What would you do?' and "This could really happen." way. It was so hard to put down and I'm betting that it rides the best seller lists for quite a while. The family at the center of the plot had suffered a tragedy that has torn them apart and it takes this catastrophic event to bring them back together. It is really hard to believe that this is only Newman's second book.

Will Kent and his daughter, eleven-year-old Shannon, are on Flight 1421 heading to San Francisco from Honolulu. Shortly after takeoff an engine explodes, and the plane has to ditch. Most of the passengers evacuate, but 12 people, including Will and his daughter are trapped on board as the plane sinks.

Trapped two hundred feet under the water, the situation is dire. Will, as an engineer, knows just how dire the situation is. Shannon shows a strength of spirit that is rare in an eleven-year-old and puts some of the adults to shame. They are trapped and they have to face what led them to this point and Will vows to fix his family, if he can only have the chance.

On the surface, Coast Guard, Navy and a private contractor crew are working to find a way to save those trapped in the plane. Will's soon to be ex-wife, Chris, is the head of the private contractor crew and no one has more to lose than she does. As Will and Chris work together to save the people trapped in the plane, they each realize that what happened to their family before the plane crash was tragic, but the real tragedy is that they let it destroy their family.

My thanks the Publisher and the Author for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for an ARC of Drowning. What else could go wrong? This page-turning, nail biter novel had me from the start. A lovely flight from Hawaii, turns into everyone’s worst nightmare. A lot of interesting characters.. I am glad I wasn’t reading it while inflight. Kudos to T.J. Newman on her second winner.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC of Drowning.

I am definitely in the minority here and really struggled with how to rate this. I would give it 2.5 stars for the following reasons. The majority of this story was telling, not showing. Hardly any interiority. Too much head hopping (which is omniscient POV but I didn't feel like it was done well enough for me to get lost in the story).

It did keep me turning the pages and in anticipation of what was coming next. The characterization was pretty good, although I found it hard to believe the military would even give a civilian the time of day. I could tell the author knew what she was talking about in regard to planes and whatnot (even though there was almost too much detail).

I wouldn't say it was a waste of my time, and I would recommend this to people who aren't avid readers. I just wanted to feel more. Missed the mark for me.

A fast paced, tension filled action novel. I have never read a book with such urgency!
There was no dull moments, only emotion and fear within all the characters.
What a rush!

Thank you NetGalley !

Ok, wow! What a ride! This book is non stop action, it makes you want to keep reading long after it’s time for bed. I love how much research went into writing this book, it really made it come alive. I should start off saying, I cried pretty much from the beginning. Knowing what was about to happen was incredibly sad. Ms. Newman writes in a way that really lets you get to know the characters, especially those narrating. I found myself rooting for everyone and yelling (something I do when watching TV) not to do anything that would get them in trouble. If you love fast paced thrillers that make you want to finish in one (long) sitting, this is the book for you. This is Ms. Newman’s second book and the first is just as good, also set on a plane. (Which makes sense with her Flight Attendant background) Can’t wait for the next one!

Didn’t think another book could be more exciting than FALLING but this is definitely a page turner and a beach read for the ages. I literally read it on a flight, and loved it

WOWZA! Drowning is a fast paced, gripping page turner. The action starts on page one and doesn't let up for the next 300 pages. It's rare that I read an entire book in one day, but I could not put this down. I started it with a coffee in the morning and stayed up late finishing it because I could not go to bed without knowing what happened. What a great reading experience!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second TJ Newman, but I read her first book falling and loved it. I feel like this book surpassed her first book. The book starts off right in the middle of the action and it doesn’t back down throughout the whole book. I love how well researched this book clearly was about various procedures and techniques for deep sea rescue. I feel like I was entertained, but also learned some things. This book made me cry. Unlike some thrillers, I believe I will re-read this one, so it will be on my purchase list for this year.

This was a NONSTOP thrill ride and I loved every second! This was even better than "Falling" in my opinion. So pulse pounding and intense all the way to the end. HIGHLY recommend!!