A commercial airline pilot has a widow-maker heart attack while at 35,000 feet. There are 295 souls on board, when the plane crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minneapolis. This sets off a terrifying chain of events that will take the combined courage, ingenuity, and determination of a brave few to save not only their community and loved ones, but the fate of humanity at large.

I love this author's books. She writes the best thrillers, hands-down. I can not only say I definitely don't want to ever fly again, but right now, I don't even want to leave my house. I couldn't put this book down. I got chills from some of the scenes, I shed tears, I was on the edge of my seat through the entire book. Now I just want to hug every member of my family and tell them I love them. This is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time. I can't give you a higher recommendation than that. You are going to want to read this....trust me!

Pros: T.J. Newman's books are so much fun to read because they are plot heavy but are also filled with characters who are easy to root for. Like her other books, Worst Case Scenario feels like a situation that could happen and is grounded in reality . . . but hopefully will never happen. I read this book both on Kindle and audiobook and thought it was great in both formats.

Cons: I am the con here because I timed my reading of this book just a few days before flying. T.J. Newman's books probably need to be read with distance from flying.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read this book.

I have become a huge fan of this author. Her books are heart-pumping, fast paced and edge-of-your-seat stories. This third book did not disappoint. The synopsis was terrorizing enough......What would happen if a plane crashed into nuclear plant? We get our answer.

A small community with a nuclear power plant is rocked by catastrophe and the residents are called to action. The story has a countdown clock as the disaster continues to elevate and difficult decisions are made to save lives. While the story itself keeps you engaged because of the incredible detail of risks and containment of this type of scenario, it is truly the characters that are developed through the timeline that you connect to and hope that their efforts meet the moment. Normal people ascend to a choice of sacrifice to save lives and worst case, all humanity.

This is a thriller of a story that has so many twists and turns until the very end. The prior two books were also great thrillers and worth the read. Buckle Up!!

This is my third book from T. J. Newman and just as the others this one started out at full speed and kept going the whole way through. Great story and great characters with fast paced action. She is definitely someone to check out. All of her books have been ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reads!

I received a complementary ARC of this book from NetGalley on behalf of the author and the publisher.
This book hit the ground running with an emergency situation on a plane. As the pilot is in distress things go from bad to worst. As in her other books Newman keeps the pace and the anxiety fast and furious. My heart broke for these characters and the heroes that we meet in our everyday lives that aren't heroes until put to the test. Brace yourself for this one!

From the first page, this book grabs you and doesn’t let go until the very last page. What an absolutely gripping, heart stopping rollercoaster of a read that left me absolutely bawling on the beach where I read it and immediately rushed to GoodReads to give it 5 stars and designate it as one of my top 3 books read this year!

This book starts off with a plane crashing towards the Clover Hill Nuclear Power Plant, and let’s just say things only continue get worse from there. The world has only ever seen 2 level 7 nuclear reactor meltdowns, but after this jet strikes the earth, America is set on the path to experience the first level 8.

Newman has this incredible skill of world building while also folding scientifically accurate elements into the story that lend itself to the books realism, while simultaneously never feeling like learning, while actively steering away from predictability at every possible turn. I don’t even know how to describe this book other than ‘gripping’. Newman’s first two books (also fantastic reads) are already becoming movies, and throughout reading I also couldn’t stop thinking what a fantastic blockbuster this story will make. .

Thank you Net Galley, Little Brown & Company, and TJ Newman for allowing me an advanced copy of this amazing book!

Unlike her first two novels, the action on the plane ends in the prologue. The aftereffects of it crashing in a small town's nuclear power plant is potentially life altering for mid-America and maybe the entire country.

This is a book about a perfect storm of circumstances and the hard choices that have to be made to protect those we love. It's sad and inspiring at the same time. While it isn't as heart pounding as her last novel (Drowning is still the best action thriller I've ever read), this one will make you think about what is important and what you would do if faced with a similar situation.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think you will too. Recommended for everyone who loves a good story.

Not family friendly due to profanity and subject matter.

I have enjoyed the heart pounding reads of T.J. Newman and this one is no exception. Even thought the catastrophe event was caused by a plane falling partly into a nuclear power plant, I am glad it wasn't another story with passengers stuck in a plane. The story literally stars with a bang and doesn't light up from there.
It totally reminded me of the show 24 with the count down on how much time left they have to fix the break at the nuclear plant. I enjoyed the side story of the plane parts landing on the bridge and causing problems there.

The downside to this story is that it's very surfaced without really knowing any of the characters. It was a story about saving the power plant and the kid stuck on the bridge.

The narrator, Joe Morton, did a great job on the pacing and keeping the story super intense.

Thank you @littlebrown @hachetteaudio for a copy of this book.

Read if you like books with:
#️⃣ Multiple POV
⏳ Countdowns
✈️ Plane Crash Plots
🆘 Emergency Response
💨 Fast Pacing

Omg the production of this audiobook was so unexpectedly good with the sound effects with the radioing parts to make you feel like you are listening in on a crackling radio line!

I really enjoyed how the book opens with the POV of the plane crashing and then the on the ground reaction to not knowing what happened even though the reader knows, but watching it unfold and the decisions that are made when accidents occur and we don’t really know anything behind the how or why… also, the way the story looked at the tricking impact in various ways, was so well done especially in the emotional aspect and the many times of decision making and how do you decide with the moral question about one or many being saved.

All in all, this was a thrilling and emotional ride through a tragic accident and it’s impacts and as someone who was in elementary school with 9/11 it definitely brought up those feelings of the omg what happened and what else is coming for me in the well done emotional parts of the plot.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC and ALC copy of this one! I highly recommend it to someone who wants their next bingeable book/audiobook!

TJ Newman does it again. Another thrilling novel and keeps you guessing. A medical event, plane crash and nuclear event seem so unlikely but wow.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

I am a big T.J. Newman fan; I came across ‘Falling’ in the Kindle store, and stumbled upon the ARC of ‘Drowning’ by chance in the break room at work (back when I worked at B&N). Both were amazing, so I was super stoked to hear about this latest release. And WOW, does it pack a punch!!

Worst Case Scenario hits the ground running with an in-air medical emergency at 35,000 ft of the pilot flying a 747 carrying 295 people. We then spend the rest of the book finding out what happens when a plane hits a nuclear power plant. As you can probably guess from the title it’s a Murphy’s Law situation. Anything that could go wrong, does, and jut when you figure out one problem, you get hit with another. Which, in a doomsday, possibly extinction-level event is very very bad. It’s something that you hope to never have to face in your lifetime, but is actually more of a possibility than I was ever aware of.

I honestly could not put this book down. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading. The time countdowns to “zero hour” at the beginning of each chapter made the suspense and anxiety extra high. I really enjoyed the character-development, as it caused me to get super-attached to them. That made it all the more heart-wrenching as I realized one or more (or possibly all of them) would die. Warning: the final few chapters are real tear-jerkers!

I absolutely recommend this book. To everyone! One of my favorite new books published so far this year, and that I’ve read so far in 2024. Go check it out! You won’t be disappointed!

What’s worse than a plane crash with no survivors? When it hits a nuclear power plant.

Anyone interested in Chernobyl like events would love this one. The science of it was all little over my head. Fortunately there were a few exciting events going on at once, including the rescue of a young boy. I was more interested in that than the actual nuclear event but there was enough in the story to keep me interested. The characters were all well done and I was invested in their stories.

“It couldn’t get any more horrific than a plane crash like that, he knew they were all thinking. He knew they were wrong.”

Worst Case Scenario comes out 8/13.

“When a pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, which becomes ground zero for a catastrophic national crisis with global implications.”

Sounds kinda’ terrifying huh?

If you make this your first T.J Newman read/listen, you’re going to love it. High hold-your-breath action, danger in every single chapter and a real nightmare inducing storyline. It’s a freaking heart stopper!

But (in my opinion 😉) if you’ve read Newman’s earlier novels FALLING and DROWNING, you may feel a little like we’ve been there-done that already.

While I love the real-life aspect of terror in these thriller stories, and I’ll probably keep reading whatever horrific scenes she comes up with next, I’m also hoping Newman spreads her writers wings and gives us something scary but ‘new’ next.

A pilot in a commercial airliner has a heart attack and crashes his plane into a partially decommissioned nuclear power plant near a small Minnesota town, and the resulting damage could cause a level 8, extinction-level, nuclear accident. There's no time to wait for help, the people on the ground have to make decisions and take action to save their town and potentially, the world. Newman proves she can do more than thrillers on a plane with Worst Case Scenario, because most of the action happens on the ground in the aftermath of crash that happens in the first moments of the book, and and I devoured it in one day. Expect ticking-clock pacing, interconnecting plots, and complex, three dimensional characters. Thank you to Little, Brown & Company and Netgalley for digital review copy.

4.5 heart stopping stars!

Man, TJ Newman knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat while simultaneously cheering, crying or rescheduling your next flight to be a train trip instead!

Every moment you don't know what is going to happen next - you think you've had it sorted and something else happens.

I adored watching this small town come together and while the main plot is what I was there for, the small town and its people is really the stars of the show.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown & Company for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This was another HIT by T.J Newman! Read it in a day, loved it💕 The characters were the best part of this one, and I was definitely not expecting it to be a tear jerker, but it was!
Read if you are looking for a quick read, great characters and love thrillers!

I am a huge flyer and loved the author's first two books. This was just as good. I loved the idea of incorporating the plane but the story being more about the power plant unlike the last two books. My brother used to work in the control room of a nuclear power plant so I will be fact checking for grins and giggles but only for my benefit. The suspense will get to you.

3.5/5 stars. Although this was a very tension-filled story, I enjoyed the author's other 2 books a bit more. I just didn't find myself on the edge of my seat when reading about the scenes at the nuclear power plant. They read a bit slow and technical for me. However, the second storyline at the river had my heart racing! Overall a good and quick thriller.

I read both Drowning and Falling so I’m obsessed with anything this author writes but this one .. it blew off the roof. From chapter 1 on I was anxious and scared in the best way possible. I am not a big reader of tension filled books and now I know why. I had to stop every few pages and remember that this wasn’t real and I wasn’t there in those situations. But darn it it sure felt real.
TL/DR READ THIS BOOK NOW!!

3.5/5 - I really liked Newman’s first two books and this one was almost on the same level, but not quite. A drawback for me was that because it dealt so much with nuclear power and radiation, a lot of the book felt a little too technical for me to follow. I was confused at times as to the risks and what would happen to characters in this situation, etc. With that being said, I liked the characters that were featured and it was truly heartwarming to see the way the community came together. I didn’t see the ending coming, but thought that it was fitting and I appreciate Newman trying to make things realistic in a lot of ways. Overall, a tense read in all the best ways (just not quite as good as her first two).

Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.