Member Review

I’ve had a reoccurring nightmare for as long as I can remember. I’m a passenger on a plane and the plane crashes. We don’t go careening into a hillside, or fatally plummet to the ground, nor do we explode mid-air into a hundred million little pieces. There are thousands of things that could go wrong in an aviation disaster, and I’ve never dreamt of a single one of them.
No. In my reoccurring nightmare we ditch.
We float.
We slowly take on water.
And then I wake up.
It’s the same every, single, time.

Perhaps this was the beginning of my morbid fascination with plane crashes…

Hey, wanna know when my birthday is?
January 15th. Yep, the same date that Sully famously and successfully landed his plane in the Hudson.
Creepy, right???

I loved T.J. Newman’s debut novel Falling, coupled with the plane in water element of my nightmare, Drowning was right up my alley.

Newman’s follow up novel is a doozy. The stakes are undoubtedly higher, the tension is off the chart, but the human element is just as strong as her first book. And when I had time to sit and read, I absolutely blasted through the story like I was one of the divers and my oxygen tank was running low. Tears were brought to my eyes by certain actions, dialogue, and storylines of some of the characters. But nothing made me feel more than the massive coordination, dedication and determination of those above the water trying to get the passengers out. It’s The Martian’s “Get Him Home” level kind of stuff, and it gets you right in the feels. The technical information coupled with humanity reminds me of Andy Weir’s novels.
I found myself thinking about how I would react if my nightmare ever came true. About what I would do if I were one of the passengers trapped in a plane at the bottom of the ocean.
I’d probably freak out, and then get busy surviving.

If you like plane disasters, faced paced action, and suspense in spades, read this book.

I had a wish granted for an arc of Drowning by the publisher - thanks heaps to T.J. Newman, Simon & Schuster (Australia) and NetGalley for this awesome opportunity. My opinions are my own.