Sunday, March 11, 2018

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian


Title: The Flight Attendant
Author: Chris Bohjalian 
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: March 13, 2018





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?







Gosh, I went into The Flight Attendant hoping to enjoy this suspense novel. Sadly, the main character made it impossible for me to like it.

I'm going to be giving spoilers, so if you don't want to know, stop reading now...


*****SPOILERS*****
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Cassandra Bowden is an alcoholic. She's also a flight attendant. She likes to get drunk and sleep with different men in whichever city or country she's visiting. She has had many blackouts and there are times where she's not sure she has consented to have sexual intercourse. 

During Cassandra's recent flight to Dubai, she meets a man in first class, Alex and they decide to meet at his hotel. Cassandra proceeds to have sex with him while they are drinking heavily. In the morning, when she wakes up, he's dead. Someone has slashed Alex's neck. Instead of staying and trying to figure out what's going on, she runs away and boards the next flight with her crew, taking her away from the crime.  But, when she lands in the USA, the FBI is waiting for her. What follows are Cassandra's failed attempts at lying and avoiding the FBI questions. 

Cassandra was a very difficult character to like. She kept on getting drunk, sleeping with strangers and lying to everyone. I found her annoying, immature and irresponsible. You will think that by waking up with a dead man next to her, she would have learned her lesson but nope, she didn't. She keeps on repeating her mistakes over and over. Almost every scene, she was drunk. How she was able to escape the people interested in silencing her, is beyond me. Not only that, she enjoyed stealing from hotels and giving the stolen items as gifts for her family. In my opinion, there was nothing redeemable about her. 

Of course, the epilogue was just too cookie cutter perfect and completely unbelievable to me. 

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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