The Flight Attendant {Chris Bohjalian}

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She’s a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, already counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police–she’s a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home–Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it’s too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did?

My Thoughts:

(Disclaimer: I will never post spoilers in my reviews HOWEVER the comment section is completely fair game to discuss any and all specifics including spoilers)

2 Stars

I waited months for this book to come out…and then felt like it took me months to finish reading it (although I read it in less than 1 week).  This book felt LONG. Everything about this book seemed to drag on…the various storylines, the character developments, the unanswered questions, all of it.  I don’t think I have ever read a book with a more unlikable main character. I kept wanting to root for Cassie throughout the story but as the plot thickened so did my dislike for her.  How is it even possible for 1 person to make so many completely horrible and questionable day to day life decisions??? I wish more could have been written about the short time that she spent with Alex in Dubai (including more of a character development of Alex).  The entire book was spent discussing and referencing that very short amount of time yet the reader was only given a very quick and surface glimpse into what actually happened and the man who he was. A great deal of this book involved topics which are of little interest to me…FBI, CIA, nuclear weapons, spies, etc. If these are topics you enjoy, you will definitely enjoy this book more than I did!  I gave this book 2 stars because of 2 reasons: 1. I found myself enjoying the behind the scenes glimpses of flight attendants and learned some very interesting tidbits about their profession. 2. There were a few interesting twists at the very end which I did not see coming.

Bottom Line:

How in the world is this book only 354 pages?!?  It. Felt. So. LONG.

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