The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian Book Review

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian Book Review

The lowdown from Goodreads

Publication 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?

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian Book Review

Cassandra is a binge-drinking, fly by the seat of her pants international flight attendant. While on a flight to Dubai, she meets Alexander Sokolov. He’s a fancy hedge fund manager from Virginia & they hit it off. Throughout the flight, they flirt & wind up staying at the same hotel. Naturally, Cassandra gets super wasted & they have a late night hook-up. No matter, she’s flying back to the US tomorrow, so she heads back to her room.

Except she doesn’t. The next morning, she wakes up in Alexander’s room. Quietly, she tries to leave, but her head is throbbing & she can’t make sense of why she is there. Things get really tense when she looks over & sees that Alexander is dead. Surely she didn’t kill him, right?

Cassandra goes into a tailspin. Her history of poor decisions comes flooding back to her & she cannot be certain she didn’t have something to do with his death. Scared, totally freaked out & on edge, she cleans up the room & leaves. She takes perhaps the longest flight of her life back to the US & things just get worse for her. The FBI gets involved, her crew members talk to the police & she can’t stop drinking. She’s just a hot mess.

THE VERDICT

I am Really Into This book. The beginning started off really strong, super suspenseful & much like Cassandra, I was on edge. Throughout the middle, the story slows down a bit to allow the elements to build. Overall, this is an enjoyable read. Chris Bohjalian is a gifted writer that builds suspense & I love that. I’ve got a copy of The Guest Room on my TBR shelf & I’m hoping to get to it soon. Have you read any of Chris Bohjalian’s other books?

If you’re Really Into suspense, check out Kathleen Barber’s Are You Sleeping, it just released in paperback.

Special thanks to Chris Bohjalian, Doubleday Books & NetGalley for providing my copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: CHRIS BOHJALIAN

Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 20 books.  His work has been translated into over 30 languages and three times become movies.

His brand new novel, “The Flight Attendant,” just landed.

His books have been chosen as Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hartford Courant, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Bookpage, and Salon.

His awards include the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts; the ANCA Freedom Award for his work educating Americans about the Armenian Genocide; the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers; the New England Book Award; Russia’s Soglasie (Concord) Award for The Sandcastle Girls; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Trans-Sister Radio; a Best Lifestyle Column for “Idyll Banter” from the Vermont Press Association; and the Anahid Literary Award. His novel, Midwives,was a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. He is a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.  He was a weekly columnist in Vermont for The Burlington Free Press from 1992 through 2015.

Chris graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College. He has been awarded Honorary Degrees as well from Amherst and Champlain College.

He lives in Vermont with his wife, the photographer Victoria Blewer.

Their daughter, Grace Experience, is a young actor in New York City. Among the audiobooks she has narrated are Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands and The Guest Room.