The Flight Attendant
Grade : B+

Although I've been a fan of Chris Bohjalian's novels for a number of years, his last few books have lacked that certain something that made the rest of his work stand out. Fortunately with The Flight Attendant, he's back at the top of his game, and I couldn't be happier.

For flight attendant Cassie Bowden, waking up with a hangover is nothing new. She's been a binge drinker for years, and her job has made it relatively easy for her to hide her problem from friends and family. But, when she wakes up in a hotel room in Dubai to find a dead body in bed beside her, things get a little dicier than she's used to.

Cassie's memories of the previous evening are pretty hazy, but she's certain the man who introduced himself as Alex Sokolov was alive and well when she fell asleep. So what happened to him during the night? Is Cassie responsible for his death? Since she doesn't know the answers to these questions, the only thing Cassie can think of to do is get out of Dubai before Alex's death is discovered.

The flight back to the states goes well for Cassie, but she can't keep from looking over her shoulder, expecting someone to tell her they know what she's done. As is usual for her, she drinks to mask her anxiety, but alcohol doesn't have the same gloriously numbing effect it usually does, and her anxiety increases to a fever pitch. She's ready to jump out of her skin when the plane finally lands in New York and two customs agents begin questioning her about the time she spent in Dubai. Not wanting to be linked to Alex in any way, she lies to the agents, confessing only to a passing acquaintance with the deceased man.

As the days go by and the investigation into the suspicious death grows more intense, Cassie's life begins to fall apart. It seems she hasn't been quite as good at hiding her drinking as she thought, and her co-workers begin asking questions that she's afraid to answer for fear of incriminating herself. Soon, she's caught in an ever-expanding web of her own lies with no clear idea how to extricate herself.

Cassie isn't always an easy character to like. She lies at the drop of a hat, and I sometimes wondered if she even knew what the truth was. She's also really quick to use people and she has a ton of one night stands during the course of the novel, usually after she's had too much to drink. She does countless things to sabotage herself, making me wonder if she really wanted to be caught after all. Even so, there's something about her that I found just a tiny bit endearing, and I was really pulling for her to get her life on track.

The reader knows what happened to Alex long before Cassie herself figures it out. This doesn't always work for me, as it's easy to get bored watching a character search for information I already have, but Mr. Bohjalian does a great job keeping the story interesting. He throws in a couple of great twists toward the end that totally changed my perception of things I thought I had completely figured out earlier on, something that doesn't always happen when you read as many mysteries and thrillers as I do.

Chris Bohjalian doesn't usually write mysteries, but you wouldn't know it from reading this one. The plotting was deft and fast-paced enough to keep me glued to my iPad, and I'm happy to recommend The Flight Attendant to those people who have enjoyed this author's past works as well as to those who are looking for a wonderfully suspenseful novel to get lost in.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

Reviewed by Shannon Dyer
Grade : B+
Book Type: Mystery

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 14, 2018

Publication Date: 03/2018

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Shannon Dyer

I'm Shannon from Michigan. I've been an avid reader all my life. I adore romance, psychological fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and the occasional memoir. I share my home with my life partner, two dogs, and a very feisty feline.
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