Book Review
Drowning by T.J Newman
Thriller | Suspense
If you’re looking for a book to read on your next flight to Hawaii, grab something else off that airport bookrack. But if you’re safely settled on the ground and looking for a compulsively readable, heart-pounding, aviation thriller that you just can’t put down? You’re in the right place.
Reader’s Thoughts:
Drowning is the second novel by T.J Newman, a former flight attendant whose debut (Falling) was a New York Times Bestseller. And while the author’s personal experience certainly adds an air of credibility to the story, it’s Newman’s talent for crafting an anxiety-filled, high-adrenaline plot that kept me furiously engaged until the very last page.
Drowning is literally the stuff that nightmares are made of. (If you already have a fear of flying, I would suggest skipping this book!) And part of what makes it so terrifying is the extensive amount of research that Newman went to, to get the details just right. While there is a fair amount of technical descriptions, it enhances the story and adds to the authenticity, rather than bogging down the suspense. There was a great balance between the technical and the emotional, leaving readers with a story that felt both highly improbably and utterly believable.
I also really enjoyed the characters within the book. There is a large cast of individuals within the novel but there was just enough backstory to make you connect with each of them. (Enough so that I had to commit a cardinal sin and peek ahead to see who — if any — would survive. I couldn’t handle the stress!) But not to worry, despite the fact that I cheated by looking at the ending, this book still had me in tears and gave me another twist I didn’t see coming. For creating that level of emotion, I’m giving this book all the stars!
For fans of explosive thrillers that will keep you on the edge of your seat, I highly recommend Drowning. An excellent aviation thriller, I would not be surprised if we saw this one on the big screen sometime in the future!
Recommended for:
Readers who enjoy action-packed, suspenseful reads.
This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Advance copy of the book provided courtesy of the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the book:
Flight attendant turned New York Times bestselling author T. J. Newman—whose first book Falling was an instant #1 national bestseller and the biggest thriller debut of 2021—returns for her second book, an edge-of-your-seat thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean, and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside, and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them.
Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.
More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives.
Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent—Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife—who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff.
There’s not much time.
There’s even less air.
With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family’s desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them—against impossible odds.