Author: Liane Moriarty
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction
Pages: 512 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): Australia
Summary: Life is full of twists and turns you never see coming. But what if you did?
The plane is jam-packed. Every seat is taken. So of course the flight is delayed! Flight attendant Allegra Patel likes her job—she’s generally happy with her life, even if she can’t figure out why she hooks up with a man she barely speaks to—but today is her twenty-eighth birthday. She can think of plenty of things she’d rather be doing than placating a bunch of grumpy passengers.
There’s the well-dressed man in seat 4C who is compulsively checking his watch, desperate not to miss his eleven-year-old daughter’s musical. Further back, a mother of two is frantically trying to keep her toddler entertained and her infant son quiet. How did she ever think being a stay-at-home mom would be easier than being a lawyer? Ethan is lost in thought; he’s flying back from his first funeral. A young couple has just gotten married; she’s still wearing her wedding dress. An emergency room nurse is looking forward to traveling the world once she retires in a few years, it’s going to be so much fun! If they ever get off the tarmac. . . .
Suddenly a woman none of them know stands up. She makes predictions about how and when everyone on board will die. Some dismiss her. Others will do everything they can to make sure her prophecies do not come to pass. All of them will be forever changed.
How would you live your life if you thought you knew how it would end? Would you love who you love or try to love someone else? Would you stay married? Would you stop drinking? Would you call up your ex-best friend you haven’t spoken to in years? Would you quit your job?
Review: I have liked the other Moriarty books that I've read (links are to my reviews): Truly, Madly, Guilty and Big Little Lies and have heard really good things about the newest one so was looking forward to it.
What a really good book! I read this 500+ page book in only a few days. I couldn't put it down; I wanted to know if the woman's predictions would come true, and I loved that we followed numerous characters throughout the book.
The stories of the plane passengers are told in the third person, but Cherry's story is told in the first. It gives Cherry ownership of the story and the surrounding events, which is clever. I really felt she was connected to each person on the plane and somehow had a major effect on their lives. And she did. I won't say if she is correct in her predictions, but it's fascinating to see how people react to "knowing" their death age and cause.
How would you change your life if you thought you knew when and how you would die? Would you do everything possible to change that fate? Would you quit your job and live it up, giving in to the information? This book really got me thinking about these questions and so much more.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet Author--M
- Alphabet Title--H
- Cover Lovers--A number in the title (one)
- Literary Escapes--Australia
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