On a foggy summer night, eleven people–ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter–depart Martha’s Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are the painter Scott Burroughs and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul’s … family.
Was it by chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something more sinister at work? A storm of media attention brings Scott fame that quickly morphs into notoriety and accusations, and he scrambles to salvage truth from the wreckage. Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.
Kristin Hannah raves, “Noah Hawley really knows how to keep a reader turning the pages… a complex, compulsively readable thrill ride of a novel.”
Winner of the 2017 Edgar Award for Best Novel and the 2017 International Thriller Writers Award For Best Novel
From the Award-Winning Creator of Fargo Comes “One of the Year’s Best Suspense Novels” (New York Times).
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This book held my interests all the way to the end. Very well written. I would definitely read another book by this author.
Well-written, spell-binding, fully developed characters, can’t put it down. Everything an avid reader could possibly want in a book.
The most gripping and satisfying read of my year so far, with Noah Hawley’s earlier novel The Good Father running it a close second. I first encountered Hawley’s work in the short-lived TV series that he created, The Unusuals; he went on to be the writer-producer behind the shows Fargo and Legion, and he’s one of that rare band of scribes whose novels are the equal of his screen work in class and craft. So obviously I hate him.
Wow! Had trouble putting this one down. Welll written, keep me interested.
I loved the way the author tied the events together. It made me realize how so much of what a person does can have a greater effect than the original purpose of the doing; and for this reason the book was actually inspirational. Sometimes there is a greater purpose to the great and the mundane, and sometimes out of this a hero is made.
“Life is a series of decisions and reactions. It is the things you do and the things that are done to you. And then it’s over.”
This is my first read by Noah Hawley and it will not be my last!
11 people aboard a private plane for what should be a quick flight from Martha’s Vineyard to Teterboro. A family of four, a couple who just days before met their daughter’s perspective in-laws, a down on his luck painter who just happen to befriend the right person and get an invite to fly on a private plane instead of taking the ferry; a security guard and crew of 3.
This story revolves around that fateful night where everything changed and there were only 2 survivors who form a bond but, only is going to be able to tell you what happened BEFORE THE FALL. It goes back; each telling their own story, each helping you understand what their lives were like before.
Have you ever remembered something but, knew there was something not right about that memory? Something is missing, a big chunk that would make sense of it all; sense of the timeline and the moments, the minutes before, during and after. Just sense and understanding so, you try your hardest and you think and try to replay the day or the moment in your head like a movie. This is what that 1 survivor is trying to do throughout the book. Trying to make sense of that day, what led him there; to that plane, to that moment in time where everything changed while at the same time he had to continue living.
I was looking for a fun vacation read, and this did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the story and the characters and found the format of the book unique and fun. I’d definitely recommend it.
This book reads like a film screenplay. I spent most of the book casting the actors for the movie. However, it is entertaining , has a twisty plot, and the characters are interesting enough to keep me invested. I recommend this one!
A very entertaining read with moments of existential insight (intentional or not). A private jet leaves Martha’s Vineyard for New York. Midway through the flight, it crashes and of the 11 or 12 passengers and crew, only a 4-year-old boy and a male painter survive.
The book surveys the backstories of all the passengers and the future possibilities of the survivors and the families of the deceased. Modern day media tries to find the evil behind the good, harassing the hero and the family of the other survivor. This is a tense well-crafted novel that held my interest throughout. This is not classic literature or great writing. This is a good story, well told.