Falling is a prime example of writing a nail-biting thriller without the shootouts and car chases mostly found in the best of the genre. Instead, readers are treated to an intense situation 35,000 feet in the air onboard a plane piloted by a man who has to choose between saving his family and saving the souls on board his aircraft. T.J. Newman spins a captivating yarn full of deeply grounded characters standing up to challenging dilemmas no reader would ever want to face. It isn’t often you see a debut novel written with such finesse as Falling.
One of my quicker reads, I finished Falling in two days. The story moves at a breakneck pace without faltering or dragging. There is always something happening that pushes the story forward. The driving forces of the narrative are the highly relatable characters. Each character feels like someone you may cross paths with without even realizing. It is only when the going gets tough and the situation takes a nosedive (pun-intended) that the characters are tested and their true natures revealed in displays of unflinching bravery ( or betrayal for some ). Even the antagonists are painted in a shade of gray rather than a simple ‘evil’ label. I felt for the bad guys just as I did for the good ones when Newman aptly highlights their painful desperation. This is the brilliance of Falling. Flashbacks and powerful dialogue are brilliantly used to convey the gravity of the hostile situation, always keeping readers on their toes to be prepared for anything to happen, much like how the characters in the story feel.
I am glad I read Falling safely on ground and not in the air because I would have been a nervous wreck for the entire flight. Void of cliché agendas for bad guys and highly elaborate conspiracy stories, Falling opts for a character-driven escapade with a personal message for all readers in a race-against-time setting to drive home the gut-wrenching stakes of the narrative. It is only a matter of time before we see a big screen adaptation of this exquisite debut, so be sure to read it ASAP!
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