The Flight Attendant: A Novel

Oh My Goodness! Just when I thought Chris Bohjalian couldn't get any better, along comes "The Flight Attendant." What a terrific read! Suspense, fear, paranoia, and the hovering shadow of menaceFor starters, I love the use of the intro-quotation from Margaret Atwood: "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." In this story, people get killed, but not always following Atwood's remark.This book is just flat-out terrific! I have just tried to get this title from the Library for my book club, but I will probably need to wait a year at least. All copies are out - and there is a long waiting list. But I do think this book would be an excellent one for a book club. All members could debate the self-destructive zeal of Cassie, and whether she inspires any sympathy. Yes, Cassie, the main character, suffers to the max with alcoholism - so much so that she is not even sure if she did--or didn't--kill someone while in a blackout. Her addiction is so extreme that it is a wonder she functions at all. She looks at the bottles of alcohol and thinks how "beautiful" they are. With a weapon pointed at her, she asks if she can have a drink first. And she is constantly taking the wrong action, going down dark avenues that will only intensify herdesperate predicament.The charged life of a Flight Attendant was the background that put even more anxiety into the story. These people have a tough job, and I just realized the difficulty of landing in one country, heading for the hotel to eat, rest, and pack again, ready to leave on another flight the next morning. Cassie was always on the run, trying to cut her time to get to the airport, worried about the danger she might be in, terrified that her situation might be a threat to her family.This book was top-flight suspense! Don't miss it!I love the writing style of Chris Bohjalian, who smoothly zaps the reader right into the story. And I thought the book was exceptionally well-plotted with enough twists and surprises to add that extra bit of excitement to satisfy any mystery fan. I don't want to say too much - I don't want to slip and put in any spoilers.

Overall a great, fast read for say....a long international flight. The plot, though far-fetched, and well-researched foreign settings are a big plus. However, Cassie, the lead, is hard to like; she's an alcoholic, prone to blackouts and repeatedly beds men she barely knows - even after waking up beside a corpse. It took some time for me to empathize with her. The ending was rushed and it felt like Bohjalian just wanted to get it over with.

I was turned on to The Flight Attendant by Maureen Corrigan's enthusiastic review in the Washington Post (I've long admired her NRP book reviews) and, having thoroughly enjoyed Midwives, was looking forward to this one.The opening section certainly does drag one in, as does the ensuing escape from Dubai and cat-and-mouse intrigue that follows. The slow reveal of what's really going on and the multiple twists and turns near the end came totally unexpected. In that sense, it's a great romp! So why do I give it only 3 stars?Unlike some other readers, who objected to Cassie's alcoholism and self-destructive behavior, I found all that credibly described, if not a bit over the top. No, my problem with the book was the continual interior monologues of both of the principal characters. This in itself is not inappropriate, but here I found it highly repetitive and boring, so I ended up skimming over much of it. Yes, it did provide some insight into Cassie's mindset and amped up the stress level. And it put Elena's activities into a different perspective, particularly as she morphs into something quite unexpected. But there was just too much of it and it slowed down the action to a crawl at times, particularly when the thoughts interrupt a conversation, sometimes for several pages. Maybe it's just me, as I was surprised to see hardly any other of the reviewers complaining about this aspect. If you like that style, go ahead and read it and enjoy the ride!

A good thriller to try

I always feel a bit bad when I discover a book through TV - after having watched (and loved) ‚The Flight Attendant‘, it was time for a thriller, which is definitely not my usual kind of reading. The series was suspense-packed, tragic, funny and had a stellar cast and I can’t wait for the second season. The book was a bit more toned down, but I loved it all the same, not least because it showed me how differently these genres work. There was more depth, more background, less of the very exciting noise, and I think both were done in the best way possible.The story is of Cassandra Bowden, a flight attendant with a drinking problem and a tendency to forget what happens after a few too many drinks, to put it politely. One morning, she finds herself in a hotel suite in Dubai with a dead man next to her and a very fragmented idea of what might have happened. Between Dubai, Paris, New York and Rome, she tries to put together the real story, all the while assuming to be watched by the FBI and other, less desirable entities.As I’m still no big fan of the thriller genre itself, what I enjoyed most where the characters, especially Cassandra and Ani, her lawyer, and also the research that Chris Bohjalian must have put into the book, which made for a fascinating glimpse into an only seemingly glamourous job.

Easy read. Love the twists. Really enjoyed the switch in narrators. Didn't spot the ending, which is always nice! Really enjoyable

Muy bien libro! Te atrapa desde el primer momento

The Flight Attendant was an enjoyable book to read as it looked at the world and at the events that took place through the main character’s imperfect and damaged lens. It followed Carrie’s, logic which would be different from the logic of most readers and her take on things seemed to be genuine. The premise was very believable with enough twists and turns to make the journey through the chapters interesting. I enjoyed the little details about being a flight attendant and about Carrie’s life and struggles.