Books: Falling By T.J. Newman (2021)

“You just boarded a flight to New York. There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard. What you don't know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot's family was kidnapped. For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die. The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane. Enjoy the flight.” 

Over the decades, there has been a lot of fiction set on airplanes, from the melodrama of Airport (and it’s mostly silly sequels), to the action films like Passenger 57 and Snakes on an Airplane, to the sobering tale of United 93, and to parody classic that is Airplane!. Unfortunately, Falling becomes a parody of different kind. Former Flight Attendant T.J. Newman wrote this book during her years flying red-eyes, and in the post 9/11 world, she brings a great eye for detail and some action, but the premise is so problematical and unrealistic, that you can’t help but wonder if maybe she should’ve just worked the idea out more. 

Now, I was sort of expecting this to be a bad book, but for $1 at the Friends of the Library here in Culver City, I thought I would give it try. The characters are right out of Stereotypes R Us, all thinly-drawn, all shallow characterizations you expect from 1950s B films. The heart of the books many problems is the motivations of bad guys (I didn’t really think of then as terrorists, but I’m sure the Universal movie version will pump that up). It’s a huge and problematic plot hole. I guess it can be hard for any American who has lived the last 100 years in a fairly stable country with no wars and no real sacrifices of family and home life, but both Sam and Ben’s choices for why they’re doing what they’re doing seem not that deeply explored. 

The books also uses the trope of flashbacks (which pop up is the weirdest times), which sets up a plot point that somehow is usable in the present. Which itself not bad, but it’s so paint-by-number that I swear this book came out the same factory James Patterson uses to push his trashy tomes out of. 

Yes, it is a good book to read on a long flight, but you won’t remember much of it once you’re done. And would also be remiss if I didn’t add that I give a lot of kudos to the publishers of Falling for creating a great marketing for what is, in the end, an utterly dull action novel.