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tl;dr Review:
A fast-paced thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, a spicy subplot, and a protagonist you both question and empathize with.
Full Review:
I really wasn’t expecting this book to be this good. I had just come off of reading The Red Word and The Fisherman’s Daughter, so I was ready for a bit of excitement. I knew this book was supposed to be a thriller, so I gave it a shot.
And I’ll be damned if it didn’t keep me glued to my seat for the next two days. I was even happy that my husband and his parents got lost meeting me for dinner at a restaurant because it meant I had more time to read. (Normally, I’d have been none too happy that he hadn’t listened to me about directions LOL)
You know this is going to be a whirlwind of a tale from the publisher’s description alone:
Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She’s a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport.
She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police – she’s a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home – Cassie begins to lie.
She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it’s too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did?
I didn’t expect to sympathize with Cassandra as much as I did. First reading the description, I thought, “Who just gets up and leaves a dead body behind?”
But as the story unfolds, and you learn more about how Cassandra got to where she was, you realize how she could have made that decision. There’s also a delicious subplot occuring at the same time and it adds another layer of sizzle to an already blazing storyline.
There were so many surprises and twists that I would have to stop, go back a bit, and reread parts to make sure I understood what was going on.
If you’re looking for a book that will grab you from the moment you start reading it and make you want to stay up way past your bedtime to finish it, then The Flight Attendant should be your next read.
I give it 5 out of 5 thumbs up.