NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful story about the ways an entire life can change in one night: A flight attendant wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man—and no idea what happened. Now an HBO Max series. 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 … 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, 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?
Set amid the captivating world of those whose lives unfold at forty thousand feet, The Flight Attendant unveils a spellbinding story of memory, of the giddy pleasures of alcohol and the devastating consequences of addiction, and of murder far from home.
A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A NATIONAL INDIEBOUND BESTSELLER
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This was my first Bohjalian novel. I had heard so much about this author. I thought the first two chapters were great! It went downhill thereafter. Did you know Cassie was a drunk? This became so repetitive. I don’t like to give up on a book so I didn’t. Unfortunately for me, it did not get better. I wasted many hours listening to the story!
Perfect book for that time when you need to open up to the first page and not look up till it’s done. I always love a Bohjalian book–this one grabbed me from the first word.
It was ok read mostly about cassie who was a flight attendant who drink alot and sleep with different men and woke up next to a dead man who I guess was park of Russian spy they think cassie did it she lied about were she was that nite can’t remember advents cause she was drunk said another woman should up too goes on to me quite boring But I thought this was going to be Feb book club book for the month which was not The ending I sorta got sorta did not get at all even reread back again this is not one of his books I did not enjoyed
The Flight Attendant: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian
March 2018
Adult fiction
I received this digital ARC from Doubleday Books and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Another captivating novel of suspense and mystery. The author takes a seemingly “ordinary” person and shows how easily a bad decision can snowball into disaster. This story weaves the story of a reckless alcoholic flight attendant with the chaos of international spies and murder.
Cassandra “Cassie” Bowden lives alone in Manhattan and flies out of JFK airport as a flight attendant. Despite her poor life decisions and periodic blackouts from over indulgence of the wild life, she still manages to keep a dysfunctional relationship with her sister, Rosemary McCauley. Her brother in law is a Major in the Chemical Corps with extremely high security clearance due to his work with chemical weapons. She takes pride in his important work as it seems to be of interest to many people she meets.
Cassie has always known her lifestyle is dangerous and unbecoming for a woman of her age. Her drinking is out of control which makes it easy for her to fall into bed with strange men and not remember anything the next day. She likes to dull the pain of her past and deny any similarity to her drunk father who caused the family embarrassment over the years.
Reality starts to sink in when Cassie wakes up in a hotel room at the Royal Phoenician in Dubai next to a dead man. Of course, she was intoxicated and blacked out so she couldn’t recall the exact events of the evening. Alex Sokolov was an attractive hedge fund banker who also lived in New York she discovered when serving him in first class on the flight to Dubai.
It wasn’t the first time she separated from her flight crew to party with strangers. This time was definitely different. She never woke up in bed with blood pooling around her, wondering if she was capable of committing such a heinous crime. As much as she lived a life of debauchery, she never had so much to lose. She begins lying to cover up the blank spaces in her memory as well as for the random flashes that slowly come to her.
I hate spoilers so I will not provide any here. Sometimes people really need to hit rock bottom before they realize the desire to live.
Great main character. Two HUGE twists at the end. Lots of action to keep the reader engaged and interested.
Tight psychological thriller. Great vacation read.
A great beach read. For young people, teaches them to be very weary of strangers.
This was average for me. It was just so slow. The first half of the book is Cassie ruminating on whether or not she’s the type of person who would kill someone when she’s blackout drunk. There’s a few chapter about her childhood and some mentions of volunteering at the cat adoption society but otherwise there is very little that is redeeming about her as a person. The ending did have some unexpected twists but the epilogue was ridiculous. I had much higher hopes for what this book would be than what I actually got.
“Remember that person you wanted to be? There’s still time”…All the high praise for The Flight Attendant is well-deserved. Chris Bohjalian pilots a mashup of lies, murder, disappointment, childhood trauma, and unrealized potential to a satisfyingly smooth landing. At once intriguing and identifiable – Bohjalian is a brilliant master of the literary thriller.
one of his best- and characters had a lot to offer
I’m sorry to say that I found The Flight Attendant to be slow-paced and unemotional with a highly implausible ending. I feel it would have been more readable if it had featured only Cassie’s story and left Elena a mystery.
another great one from Chris Bohjalian
This book was very realistic and fast paced. It was addictive and I didn’t want to stop reading it. I was surprised by the twists at the end.
It’s not one of his best, but an entertaining read none the less. Even though you may dislike the central character, continue past all of her bad decisons…I could see someone doing the same in real life if in that situation.
I haven’t actually finished it, but I find the characters (especially the title character) believable and sympathetic, if flawed. Some books I abandon when the going gets bogged down, but not this one.
Well written imaginative story with interesting twists in story
I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it and the narration enhanced the experience. It’s fast paced, twisty and it fills you with a decent amount of anxiety at how it’s all going to end. The main character is a mess, a barely functioning alcoholic, who is seriously self-destructive but somewhat self-aware. She awakens from a one night stand fueled by blackout drinking to find her bed-mate murdered. What follows after that isn’t predictable. This isn’t a book where the heroine is preternaturally smart, you don’t have to suspend belief to make this story work. The most moral character isn’t obvious either.
This was a really fun read. Highly Recommend.
This is my second try with a Chris Bohjalian book (I DNF’d the The Sleepwalker)… and it came as quite a surprise to me. Watch here to see what I thought: http://www.carlalaureano.com/2minbookreview-the-flight-attendant/
Loved this book. Keeps you wanting to read page after page until the end,
This was a very interesting book. I really enjoyed it.