Book Review: "Falling" by T.J. Newman

If you’re looking for a thriller that reads like a movie, here’s one for you: T.J. Newman's upcoming debut thriller, Falling!

Are you a good flyer or a nervous flyer? If you are a white-knuckle flyer you’ll probably want to skip this one so it doesn’t give you something else to worry about when you get on a plane!

Captain Bill Hoffman is ready to fly 143 people from Los Angeles to NYC for Coastal Airways. He’s done his preflight checks and his favorite flight attendant, Jo, is in charge of the cabin. Bill and his first officer are ready to go, and they expect a smooth flight across the country.

Then he receives an email message: his wife and two young children have been kidnapped and have bombs attached to them. If Bill doesn’t crash the plane, the kidnapper will kill his family. His choices: kill everyone on board (including himself) or let his family die. And he can't involve the authorities, because his family will suffer the consequences.

Falling was written by a former flight attendant who wrote most of this during cross-country flights when her passengers were asleep. It definitely reads like a book written by someone who knows her s—t!! (Plus, I've heard from two friends who are flight attendants that it's pretty authentic.)

This was one of those books that you frantically turn the pages of, as you can’t wait to see what unfolds. It’s a tremendously entertaining thriller, fast-paced in many ways, with a diverse and enjoyable supporting cast. As I was reading it, I was totally casting the movie in my head!

If I had any criticism, I felt the kidnapper was a little too stereotypical, but as my friend Phil and I discussed in our impromptu buddy read, it could’ve been problematic any way Newman went. But the book had more emotional depth than I expected, which was great. I devoured this in one sitting.

NetGalley, Avid Reader Press, and Simon & Schuster provided me a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Falling publishes 7/6.

Book Review: "Swipe Right for Murder" by Derek Milman

Swipe Right for Murder is utterly preposterous, possibly more prescient than I'd like to acknowledge, and immensely sensitive. It's an homage to classic films where the mostly innocent man finds himself caught in a web of suspicion and trouble, yet at the same time it reads more like a movie with someone like Shia LaBeouf.

Seventeen-year-old Aidan is a high school senior, desperate to find someone to love. His parents have kept their emotional distance since he came out of the closet, allowing him to go to boarding school. He has good friends, yet he always feels that they treat him like a kid and don't take him seriously.

With a free night at a posh hotel in New York City, Aidan does what any horny teenager might—looks for a hookup on a "dating" app. After a disastrous encounter with a closeted classmate, he finds an older man. And when Aidan wakes up in the man's hotel room in the middle of night, everything has gone awry—the man is dead, Aidan gets a mysterious phone call from a man addressing him as someone else, and he threatens Aidan and his family if he doesn't "give it" to him. But as menacing as the call is, the man also seems to know more about the issues that Aidan struggles with emotionally, and taps into his greatest regrets and fears.

The phone call catapults Aidan into a severe case of mistaken identity, putting him on the run from the authorities (who may or may not be the good guys), his family, and a shadowy terrorist group with an interesting set of priorities. Along the way, he meets a handsome stranger whose loyalties are confusing, he struggles with his own fears and issues, and he has to tap into his inner action hero more than a time or two. Will he help save the day? Does he want to stop the terrorists from their mission—which at its core isn't wrong, even if their methods are?

Swipe Right for Murder is full of twists and turns, double crosses, and lots of jarring action. But at the same time, there is a lot of raw emotion in this book, too, as Aidan is forced to confront some of his greatest anxieties, fears, and regrets. Many of the feelings Aidan has are familiar to those whom have come to terms with their sexuality and/or struggled with self-esteem and the desire to be loved. There are some tremendously powerful scenes interspersed with the craziness.

"I hate this thing inside myself, this need to become attached to people, this brutal loneliness that drives me, drives all my mistakes."

This book really reads like a movie, but it was very uneven for me. At times it was just so utterly ludicrous and complicated that I considered stopping but then there would be a powerfully poignant scene and I just kept on with it. I think if you can completely suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride, it may be a fun book for you. There's no disputing Derek Milman's ability to tell a good story; there was just far too much going on for me here.

NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

This book will be published August 6, 2019.

Book Review: "The Real Michael Swann" by Bryan Reardon

One moment, Julia Swann is on the phone with her husband, Michael. He's calling from New York's Penn Station, where he's waiting to catch a train home after a job interview, but the trains are significantly delayed. Without warning, Julia hears a noise in the background and then Michael's call is dropped.

She tries not to worry, but as the hours roll by, she still hasn't heard from Michael, nor can she reach him. That evening she finds out that a major incident occurred at Penn Station which left countless people dead and injured. Julia needs to believe Michael is okay, so she decides to drive into New York City to try and find him herself. Even though the city is in the midst of massive chaos, she is determined to get answers as to where he is, and whether or not he was injured. She, like many others, puts up flyers all over the city, asking for people to get in touch with her if they see Michael.

Julia is pleasantly surprised when a woman calls her and says she may have seen Michael. But that surprise quickly turns to uncertainty and fear. Why hasn't he called her or responded to her texts? Where is he heading? Unable to get answers from the authorities, who suddenly view Michael as something other than a victim, Julia knows she must find her husband and get him whatever help he needs, even if she's not sure what to expect anymore.

Julia's efforts to find Michael are juxtaposed with her reminiscences about their relationship, from their meet-cute at a beach party just after college, to their falling in love and building a future together. She also remembers their struggles, as money problems, job struggles, and the responsibilities which come with raising children took their toll on their marriage. But Julia cannot envision a life without her husband.

"In the end, it seems like the moments we thought we messed up were nothing. And we can't even remember the stuff we really screwed up."

The Real Michael Swann is part thriller, part love story, as Julia desperately searches for her husband and for answers to the questions she is afraid to voice out loud. All of this is played out against a backdrop of national terror, political unrest, and a fractured society, all of which seem eerily too real in today's world.

I enjoyed this book and found it grabbed me from the start, although at times it moved a little slower than I expected. There are some other plot points that I didn't want to mention for fear of spoiling them, so hopefully you don't read too many other detailed reviews which might give some of it away, but suffice it to say there is a third narrative which adds another fascinating dimension to this book.

Let yourself get immersed in this story. Bryan Reardon is a terrific storyteller and he knows when to push the suspense and when to slow it down a little bit so things don't get too intense. Definitely one of those thrillers perfect for devouring on the beach, on a plane, or in a hammock somewhere.

Book Review: "True Fiction" by Lee Goldberg

Hollywood, instead of "rebooting" a franchise for the umpteenth time, adapting another television or Broadway show into a movie, or launching another comic book character, I have your next property right here. Lee Goldberg's newest novel, True Fiction already reads like a movie, combining a little bit of television shows like Castle with movies like the Jack Reacher series. It's a quick read, with appealing characters and a frenetic pace.

Ian Ludlow is an author of a best-selling series of thrillers featuring Clint Straker, a James Bond-esque action hero who always knows how to save the day—and perhaps the world—and, as you might imagine, is quite popular with women all over the globe. But as much as he'd like to think there are lots of similarities with his character, no one would mistake Ludlow for Clint Straker.

"What they saw was a guy on the dark side of thirty with the soft body of someone whose idea of exercise was walking into McDonald's rather than using the drive-through."

When a passenger plane crashes into a busy Waikiki hotel, Ludlow is horrified, because he knows this wasn't just some tragic accident, and he knows who is behind it. He knows because several years ago, he was part of a group of thriller writers tasked by the CIA to dream up the unlikeliest of terror scenarios, ostensibly to help the agency prepare for any potential disaster. During that group meeting, Ludlow was the one who dreamed up how something like this could happen.

After he puts together some facts about recent occurrences in his life, he realizes his life is in danger. With Margo, the woman hired to escort him to a few local book signings, as his only companion, Ludlow must figure out how to stay one step ahead of the shadowy political conspiracy that needs him to disappear. It's not too long before the pair realizes that to survive, Ludlow needs to think like his famous character—which shouldn't be too hard, since he created him, right? But the enemy they face has more resources at their disposal, and they'll stop at nothing to get rid of these dangerous nuisances.

This is a crazy book—even though so much of the action at first glance seems far-fetched, given what's been going on in our world lately, it's scary to think that at least some of this—especially the use of technology to track Ludlow and Margo's escape attempts—might actually be possible. Sure, you probably know how things will resolve themselves, but Goldberg does a great job getting you hooked on the plot from the get-go, and you can't wait to see where the story will go.

I didn't realize how prolific a writer Goldberg is—he's written more than 30 books, including 15 Monk mysteries. This was a terrific introduction to his storytelling talent, and I practically devoured this book. It was great to read a book that felt like a movie, and didn't let up on the action and suspense until the end. Hope to see this on the big screen someday, and I hope there's another Ludlow book on the horizon!

Book Review: "The Association of Small Bombs" by Karan Mahajan

"And you know what happens when a bomb goes off? The truth about people comes out."

Dense and well-told, although a bit meandering, Karan Mahajan's The Association of Small Bombs is a thought-provoking look at the causes and effects of terrorism, the human cost even "small" bombs can exact, and how a terrorist can be "grown."

One day in 1996, two young boys, Tushar and Nakul Khurana, are sent by their father to a crowded Delhi market to pick up the family's television set. While they were supposed to drop off their friend Mansoor first, they convince him to join them on the journey to the market. And then disaster strikes—a bomb detonates in the marketplace, killing the brothers instantly, and injuring Mansoor. Bleeding and in pain from his injuries, Mansoor finally makes it home, to the relief of his overprotective parents, but finds himself in the midst of the Khuranas' crushing grief.

The Khuranas try to understand why their sons were killed, who was responsible for the bombing, and what cause they were trying to further. But the course of Indian justice rarely runs smoothly, and while there is suspicion that the perpetrators arrested for the bombing were even responsible, there are continuous roadblocks and delays in the prosecution, which frustrate and sadden the couple. The grief, the anger, the guilt starts to take its toll on their marriage, their health, their future, and not even positive events can help them for long.

Meanwhile, Mansoor, physically and psychologically scarred by the bombing, feels smothered by his overprotective parents as he grows older. He dislikes the stigma of being one of very few Muslims in his part of India, so he chooses to go to the U.S. for college, to pursue a career in computer programming and put the past behind him. But his injuries are compounded by carpal tunnel syndrome, so he has no choice but to return home to India.

Back in India, rudderless, he becomes friends with Ayub, a passionate activist who is determined to change the world. But although he projects a confident exterior, Ayub, too, is rudderless and easily persuaded by forces looking to use him. Through Ayub and Mansoor's eyes, you see how quickly situations and perceptions can change in a post-9/11 world. Their stories are juxtaposed with that of Shockie, a master bomb maker from Pakistan who has sacrificed relationships and a real life for his devotion to his craft.

While terrorist attacks have increased across our world in recent years, The Association of Small Bombs provides the perspectives of those who live with the threat of these attacks on an almost-daily basis. It is fascinating and horrifying to watch the callousness of some who witness these bombings and are more focused on how their livelihood can continue rather than the loss of lives. Watching as an activist is influenced until they become motivated to kill is equally disturbing.

I thought this was a well-written and powerful book. Mahajan does a good job shifting narrative perspectives between the affected, the aggrieved, and the perpetrators. I don't think I can say, however, that I particularly liked the book; despite the raw emotions it examined, it felt strangely cold to me. But in the end, this is an important piece of fiction, one that makes you think, especially when you hear news of bombings in other countries.

Book Review: "You Will Not Have My Hate" by Antoine Leiris

"So, no, I will not give you the satisfaction of hating you. That is what you want, but to respond to your hate with anger would be to yield to the same ignorance that made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to see my fellow citizens through suspicious eyes, to sacrifice my freedom for security. You have failed. I will not change."

I, like so many people across the world, was riveted to my television the night of November 13, 2015, as we learned of the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, particularly the massacre at the Bataclan Theater, which left 90 concert-goers dead and countless more injured. Among those killed was Hélène Muyal-Leiris, a young wife and mother who was attending the concert with a friend.

Three days after his wife's murder, Antoine Leiris wrote a letter to her killers, which he subsequently published on Facebook. He let them, and the world, know that while he had every right to be angry, to hate the terrorists for taking his wife from him and his young son, he wouldn't allow them the luxury of his hate. His post went viral, and Leiris became an inspiration not only to others who lost people in the Paris attacks, but to anyone struggling with a senseless loss at the hands of another. This new role became as much a burden at times as it did an honor.

"Since then, I have been lost: I don't know where I'm going, I don't know how to get there. You can't really count on me...I think about all the others who have written to me. I want to tell them that I feel dwarfed by my own words. Even if I try to convince myself that they are mine, I don't know if I will live up to them. From one day to the next, I might drown."

You Will Not Have My Hate is a short, powerful account of the days and weeks following Hélène's murder. It is raw, emotional, and utterly mesmerizing how Leiris was able to find the strength he needed to face raising his young son alone, handling the rituals alone which he and his wife once performed together. It is also a portrait of a love story and a testament to a woman who left her indelible mark on two lives, although one never really had the chance to know her.

I thought this was beautifully written, emotional without being maudlin, fiercely courageous, and, as you'd imagine, totally moving. But beyond that, I found this really inspirational, both as an account of overcoming a sudden loss and a paean to finding strength and resolve at a time when you have every right not to.

Between this and Paul Kalanithi's exceptional When Breath Becomes Air (see my review), I've found two books to turn to when life's challenges may seem insurmountable. Because if these two men could find the strength to soldier on, I know I will be, too.

Book Review: "Cold Barrel Zero" by Matthew Quirk

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for making it available!

Matthew Quirk's third book, Cold Barrel Zero, almost literally begins with a bang.

John Hayes was once an elite soldier in Special Operations. He and his fellow soldiers were trained to infiltrate targets by completely immersing themselves in their midst, essentially becoming one of them. They performed many deep cover missions, eliminating enemies of the U.S. by whatever means necessary, and their very existence was disavowed by the country they were fighting to defend. When one mission goes wrong, Hayes and his cohorts are labeled as traitors and are disgraced, forced to go into hiding and leave their loved ones behind. But Hayes knows at some point those who betrayed them will come after them again, and he must be ready to fight with everything he has.

Tom Byrne once knew Hayes, once fought by his side as a combat medic, and even helped patch him up after a firefight. Yet the two followed different paths—after a particularly difficult time on the front lines, Byrne makes the decision to leave the military and become a surgeon. But the memories of his time as a soldier haunt him, making it difficult for him to stay in one place too long or commit to a relationship.

Much to his surprise, Byrne finds himself enmeshed in Hayes' plans for revenge despite not having seen him for years. He isn't sure whom he should trust—a soldier he fought with years ago who seems utterly capable of the crimes of which he is being accused, or the U.S. government, who is allegedly protecting Byrne but yet isn't sure whether he is to be trusted either. Whatever choice he makes is a dangerous one, with significant repercussions for everyone involved, including the woman he's starting to fall in love with. This is a battle with the highest of stakes, for both life and liberty.

I first came upon Quirk a few years ago when I read his debut novel, The 500, which really impressed me. I missed his second book (but will have to pick it up, as it was a sequel of sorts to the first) but in the ensuing years, Quirk has definitely matured as a storyteller. He has a real knack for action sequences—I felt my pulse racing during some of the fight scenes. He also has a created some very interesting characters, although he doesn't develop all of them fully, leaving some of them to be a little more rote than I wished they were.

There is definitely a lot going on in this book—too much at times, in my opinion. Between the use of a lot of jargon and acronyms I'm not familiar with, and the large cast of cohorts on both sides of the battle, I found myself having to re-read passages to be sure I knew which side I was reading about, and who did what to whom. This is definitely a book that keeps you guessing, and while that makes for a suspenseful read, there was a lot of double- and triple-crossing to keep track of.

If you like action and espionage, I think you'll find Cold Barrel Zero a really compelling read. Quirk's talent makes you want to keep reading, and while it is a little confusing from time to time, your heart will be pounding as you race through the book.

Book Review: "You Should Pity Us Instead" by Amy Gustine

The characters in You Should Pity Us Instead, Amy Gustine's powerfully moving story collection find themselves in the midst of all kinds of challenges or emotional crises. But while reading 11 stories about people at emotional crossroads may sound harrowing, many of these stories also have a little bit of suspense, some have traces of sly humor, and all are tremendously compelling.

I had never heard of Amy Gustine before finding a mention of this collection in one of Book Riot's weekly emails highlighting new releases. I love finding story collections by new authors, and find that some of the best writers out there are generating such power and emotion within the confines of short stories. Gustine now has a fan in me, that's for sure.

The characters in these stories deal with both everyday and unusual problems. I honestly liked every story in the collection, but my favorites included:

• "Prisoners Do," in which a radiologist is torn between his loyalty to his wife, who lives with the aftereffects of a stroke, and his lover, who is also a doctor;
• "AKA Juan," which follows a young man whose adoptive siblings want him to be their ailing mother's caregiver, but he wants to live his own life;
• "When We're Innocent," in which a man travels to pack up his daughter's apartment after her death, and meets one of her neighbors, who is dealing with his own crisis;
• "All the Sons of Cain," the story of the mother of a kidnapped Jewish soldier who travels to Gaza to try and find her son;
• "Half-Life," which follows a young nanny as she cares for a couple's children and navigates the memories of her own troubled childhood; and
• the title story, about a woman whose life is affected by her husband's book about the hypocrisies of religion and her children's desire to understand what religion is.

Gustine's ear for dialogue, characterization, and language really shows through in these stories. Not all of the stories are perfect, but they do pack a punch, and leave you thinking about them long after you're finished. Not everyone is a fan of short stories, I know, but this is a collection worth reading and savoring.

Book Review: "I Am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes

Holy crap. This was an intense, terrific read that still has my heart pounding.

There's a man whose real name is known by very few people. Call him Pilgrim. At one point he was the head of a secret intelligence force within the U.S. government, but after retiring from that job, he is forbidden to speak about what he did, where he was, or for whom he worked. He wrote a book about some of the most notorious cases he dealt with, some of the most ingenious criminal minds he encountered, but he had to publish it under a pseudonym.

Asked by a detective friend to observe a crime scene, he finds something tremendously disturbing—the murder was committed using techniques from his book. It seems nearly impossible to determine the identity of the victim or the killer. But little does he realize that this will be the least of his problems.

Pilgrim is called into service once again by the government, after traces of a bio-hazard are found within the smoldering remains of three bodies in Afghanistan. This investigation sends him to Turkey, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, even Saudi Arabia, in search of a "cleanskin"—a ghost, a criminal with seemingly no past he refers to as the Saracen (the nomad). The Saracen has plans for full-scale destruction, plans that he has been nurturing since childhood. And Pilgrim has no idea just how he is connected to other cases, other events in his own past—and he isn't even sure if the sharpest minds in the intelligence community are good enough to find the Saracen before disaster strikes.

There's so much more to this book than I've described, but it is better to let these things unfold as you read them rather than lose the elements of surprise and suspense. Pilgrim is a fantastic character, and some of the supporting characters are equally as fascinating and well-drawn. I Am Pilgrim is a sweeping thriller with intelligence and heart. It's the story of an immensely clever man on the hunt of someone who might be even more clever—and infinitely more dangerous. It's the story of friendship, of loyalty, of bravery, of trying to do right by those who believe in you. There's some fantastic action and suspense, but it is so well-written as well. This is a big book, over 600 pages, but I flew through it as quickly as I could (and if I could have just sat and read uninterrupted by life, I would have finished it a few days ago).

It's the first day of 2015, and I have little doubt that this will make my list of the best books I'll read all year. And as I read it, all I kept thinking was, I am so sad that my father is no longer alive, because he would have loved this book as much as I did.

Movie Review: "Closed Circuit"

Remember that line from Rockwell's 1980s hit with Michael Jackson, "I always feel like somebody's watching me"? At the start of Closed Circuit, you see camera after camera focused on what appears to be a regular day at London's Borough Market. Couples fight, friends gossip, parents reprimand their children, people walk through the crowds talking on their cell phones. A random panel truck pulls into an alley where it shouldn't be parked, but no one really suspects a problem. And then the truck explodes, killing 120 people.

A Turkish suspect, Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto), is arrested for masterminding the bombing, and awaits trial. Attorney Martin Rose (Eric Bana) is appointed to lead Erdogan's defense team after the first attorney's death. But because the government's case against Erdogan includes information so sensitive it could impact national security, Rose will not be able to hear this evidence; instead, a special advocate for the defense, Claudia Simmons-Howe (The Town's Rebecca Hall), will be the only one to hear the evidence and argue whether it should be used in the trial. There's one small problem: Martin and Claudia once had an affair, from which they both still bear emotional scars. And as you might imagine, the two attorneys swore there was no impediment to them working together.

The more Martin digs into the evidence surrounding his client the more he realizes the case against him is not what it seems, yet Erdogan has no plausible defense. Both he and Claudia grow ever more paranoid that they are being watched and manipulated, especially once they uncover a major aspect of the case. But where do you turn when it seems like everyone is watching you, everyone is trying to steer you away from doing what is right? How far will you take your principles, even if doing so may put you and those you care about in danger?

Closed Circuit is a highly intelligent thriller that seems scarily plausible given what we've learned about our governments over the years. While I always question thrillers in which the "bad guys" are always one step ahead, always know exactly what it is that is happening, the movie definitely kept me intrigued (if not completely buying all of it) from start to finish. With movies like these, you wonder just how the plot will tie itself up, and I wasn't disappointed here, even if I wasn't entirely surprised.

This movie works in large part because of the performances and the chemistry of Bana and Hall. Bana, while sexy as hell, has always struck me as a cerebral hero, which may be one reason his performance in Hulk didn't work as well, but that thoughtful passion and simmering rage works here. And I don't know why Rebecca Hall isn't a bigger star; she's proved her mettle using both her native British accent and gone American in movies such as Vicky Cristina Barcelona, plus she's gorgeous to boot. I loved the way these two played off of each other, and you could feel the emotional history between them.

I've been fairly vague in my plot synopsis because I don't want to give anything away. But suffice it to say Closed Circuit (which I keep referring to as Short Circuit, which is a wholly different film) is a complex, compelling, and well-acted movie that may stretch your plausibility meter a bit, but it's still worth a watch.