Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421 by T.J. Newman
Fiction
2021
Narrated by Steven Weber and Laura Benanti
Finished on June 5, 2024
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)
Publisher's Blurb:
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.
Ugh. Once again, had I been reading the print edition of Drowning, I probably would have quit after a few pages, but since I was listening to the audio, I stuck it out and finished the book. On the other hand, maybe if I had been reading the print copy, the story wouldn't have felt so melodramatic and soap opera-ish. It didn't help that the second reader (Laura Benanti) was too emotive and that her voice grated on my nerves. (I also have a hard time believing an eleven-year-old with a peanut allergy would mistake a cracker with peanut butter for one with cheese...)
I listened to Falling (T.J. Newman's debut) in 2021, and thought it was very good, but her latest suspense novel was a big disappointment. I don't plan to read her upcoming release, Worst Case Scenario, which comes out in August. I've had my fill of plane crash stories for a while.
I received a complimentary copy from Libro.fm. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
