The plot of "Missing in Flight" sounded a lot like the movie "FlightPlan" (2005) with Jodie Foster, and I found the premise intriguing and terrifying. Unfortunately, the book moved slowly, and seemed repetitive. The action doesn't start until more than halfway through the story, but if you have the patience and are an Audrey J. Cole flan, you may like it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I liked this book. I've been going thru a funk lately where I'm having a hard time really getting into a book. This book fixed that.

Makayla and her son are flying back to NYC from Anchorage when her son goes missing on the plane. How can that even happen?
Jack is Makayla's husband who is having issues at work. Serious issues.
Anna is the co-pilot with secrets of her own.
Tina is the single mom FBI analyst who is called onto the case.

Each chapter is told from one of their perspectives and it works.

Makayla had a famous mother who suffered from a rare and serious form of amnesia. Is that happening to Makayla? How can a baby disappear on a plane or did the baby even get on board.

All the threads of these characters are drawn together nicely, the book has a lot of action and it was a good read.

There’s something about books and movies that take place on airplanes that I love and this book did not disappoint! There were a few points in the book that had me stretching my head but overall it was a very enjoyable read. Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a fast quick read and as usual this author does not disappoint. Highly recommend this book.

Audrey J. Cole, you clever, clever woman! This story has a plot twist that I guarantee you will not be see coming! I sat with my mout open afterwards, and I am already planning on re-reading this story just so I can catch all the little clues she leaves for the reader.

It takes a bit to get into, because you wonder if Mikayla really did bring her baby, Liam, onto the plane? Did the co-pilot have something to do with it, or is she hiding something else? Did her husband, Jack’s appearance on Forbes magazine make their baby a target? Did her husband’s boss’s fraud have anything to do with her baby’s disappearance? What about Jack’s old girlfriend, who is also his boss’s daughter? The FBI is involved. The plane is searched more than once, including people’s carry-on luggage. Mikayla becomes so frantic that she has to be restrained. Then it becomes an adrenaline-rush to keep reading until you find the answers to all these questions. Definitely a page-turner!

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tropes, etc: Missing Child, Everyone’s a Suspect, Mental Health In Question
POV: Multiple, 3rd Person
Cliffhanger?: No

The Praise: I really liked this! It was interesting, action-packed, and kept me guessing. I also loved that the relationship issues between Makayla & Jack and Anna & Carter were resolved by the end, it made my little romance reader heart happy.

The Critique: The motive behind the kidnapping was a little flimsy to me.

Final Thoughts: Twisty, frustrating, and unexpectedly sweet. I’ll definitely be recommending this to my friends who are mystery/thriller fans.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview Missing In Flight. Wild ride! This is a fast paced novel centered on a woman traveling with her son Liam. Macaulay has been suffering. She lost her mother tragically and her marriage is not stable. Her husband Jack is an investment banker who is detached and does not pay much attention to his family. Macaulay is on a flight from Alaska. She takes a quick bathroom break and when she returns her son is gone.
How can this happen?
This suspenseful and tense novel will have you guessing till the end.
Well written and although I thought I had it figured out the ending was satisfying.
4 stars

This was a fast paced read that gave me TJ Newman vibes. The story had me hooked quickly but by the end when we learn what happened to Liam, I was skeptical. It just all seemed very far fetched. Compared to the build up it also seemed kind of rushed. That’s all ok though, I still really enjoyed the quick read!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat!

It was a guessing game, very intriguing and smart, very entertaining and the twists were sharp.

I love Audrey’s writing style, and she turned out to be one of my auto buy authors for sure.

I really loved the twists and turns that kept me invested since the first chapter. It was also a fast paced thriller where the main character Mikayla is a desperate mom looking for her son, where she shows her vulnerability and determination.

Thank you Audrey J Cole for this heart pounding thriller, I loved it and definitely recommend.

Also thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Day 01/07/2025

Wow!!!!!! This is such a clever storyline. I was absolutely hooked from the start. I was on holiday so I managed to finish it in two days. Absolutely brilliant. Highly recommended.

This was such a heart pounding thriller. To start with, the majority of the setting is on a plane, so you have a sense of claustrophobia and that a missing child shouldn't be that hard to find with such limited space.

I loved the multiple POV in the book, however the aviation terminology within the pilots' POV was completely lost on me.

It started as a slow burn, but around 60% of the way through the plot really picked up and left me needing to reach the end.

So although it had a slow start, it definitely gets extra points for the original plot of the missing child storyline.

Definitely one to read!

Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole is a twisty suspense novel about a woman faced with the unthinkable when her infant goes missing aboard a plane to New York.

The story is told from multiple points of view, which worked okay for the most part. There were a few parts where I felt I had to suspend my imagination on events that occurred. Overall, there were some good twists and the tension of the story held my interest. The mother's plight to find her missing son was heart-pounding.

A good story from Audrey J. Cole. I would recommend this book.

#MissingInFlight #NetGalley @AmazonPub

Makayla is on flight with her infant baby, Liam. When she comes back to her seat from the bathroom, his bassinet is empty. After searching the plan, crew is shocked to find the baby missing.

I sped through this one in an afternoon as it’s very fast paced and entertaining. You can tell that alone from the plot. There’s mystery to keep you going and halfway through it turns into constant action. You will have to suspend belief a lot, especially when it’s all said and done but no one can say it’s not entertaining.

Missing in Flight comes out 1/7/25.

This book was intense and a great thriller that kept you turning the pages. The fact that a baby goes missing in the flight and can’t be found leads to all sorts of possibilities and not what I was thinking at all.
There was a lot drama throughout that kept the story interesting especially at it related to the 2 main characters of Jack and Makayla. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Missing in Flight by Audrey J. Cole
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5 Stars
I was hooked on this story from the first chapter and was sat wondering what was going to happen next. I read this in 24 hours.

Mum, Makayla is flying from Anchorage to in New York alone with her baby Liam. The flight is going well until she reluctantly leaves Liam in his bassinet to go to the toilet. It is only for a few minutes she tells herself, that is until to her horror she returns to find the bassinet empty.After the flight crew search the plane there is no sign of him. But how can a baby go missing at thirty thousand feet? Soon suspicion is cast onto Makayla was the baby ever on onboard or did she make it up?

The story is told from multiple POV’s, the mother, the pilot, the father and the FBI Agent. The book jumps back and forward between them throughout the story.

I had a-lot of theory in my mind about who could have done it and just as I thought I had solved it a new suspect would be thrown into the mix and I was proven wrong. This book had a lot of red herrings. I was kind of hoping for more conspiracy.

I admit I had to suspend my believe by the end of the book and I now have a lot of questions about aviation.

The book is due for release on the 7th January 2025 . I received an ARC of this book from Net galley in exchange of a book review, all options are my own.

After a slow start, which was necessary to build tension, the story becomes a thrill ride (flight) as the race to find a baby missing on a transcontinental flight ramps up. Where could the baby be? Didi the mom even bring a baby? Who would take him? Why?

Audrey J. Cole always writes the most ridiculously implausible stories. They are the ultimate fictional popcorn thrillers. Her books remind me of work by T.J. Newman. If you're a fan on one you'll probably like the other.

This started off intense, became a little slow and repetitive in the middle and ended with bang - literally. The story centred round three main female characters, with the story bouncing back and forth between them. The mother of the missing baby, the pilot and a FBI analyst investigating the case from the ground.

New mother Makayla acted like any mother would if her baby went missing. I find it hard to believe people wouldn't care or help her find the child in an enclosed space. I felt sorry for her the whole time and was rooting for her vindication. Her husband was also a key player and possible suspect, even though he wasn't on the plane. The story was giving me 'Flightplan' vibes when they started to question whether the baby was even on board. Personal pet peeve; I hate an amnesia storyline. It seems like lazy writing but this time it felt right for the story.

The pilots POV was less interesting and unnecessary to the story. If her chapters were cut out completely the story would have ended the same.

I loved the FBI analyst and the whole investigation on the ground. Those chapters were the most plausible parts.

Overall, it was a pulse pounding thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. I had no idea how it was going to end and look forward to more work from this author.

Makayla asks a a fellow passenger to watch her baby while she uses the bathroom and then the baby is gone on her return.... everyone claims they never saw her with a baby. Get ready for a bumpy ride. This is told through lots of different perspectives which is my favorite. While this book was more of a slow burn it was still enjoyable and there was lots of action towards the end. I give it a 3.5

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings: child abduction, murder, cheating, accidental death, death of a parent

After getting up to use the restroom on her flight, Makayla returns to find her 3-month-old Liam is missing. Despite thoroughly searching the plane, Liam is nowhere to be found. As tensions increase and passengers prove more and more unreliable, Makayla must do everything in her power to find Liam before it’s too late.

This book seemed like the perfect thriller for me. The closed system of an airplane abduction and the question of Makayla’s sanity should have been the perfect storm for me to love Missing in Flight. However, Makayla’s character was so incredibly unlikable that I found it difficult to sympathize with her. While her actions are completely understandable when you consider the fact that she is missing her child, I still found a lot of them incredibly annoying and self-sabotaging. That sounds horrible, but I did promise an honest review. Additionally, as other reviews have stated, the first 60% of the books provided endless recounts of information you are able to get from the synopsis and provided very little plot. Lastly, without spoiling anything, the twists became a bit unbelievable around the 75% mark. I can appreciate a little bit of absurdity in a thriller when it’s done well, but it seemed very sudden and rushed. Regardless (and that word holds a lot of weight here), I still had a fun time reading this and was able to fly through it (get it?) in less than 24 hours. 2/5 stars.