(19)The Fight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian

Sunday, March 18, 2018


Cassie Bowden loves the lifestyle that comes along with being a flight attendant.  She gets to visit the most exciting locations in the world, she gets to stay in some of the nicest hotels, and she gets to party with some of the hottest men alive.  As an alcoholic, the lifestyle is perfect for her.  She lands, gets a few hours of sleep and then finds the local bars and the local men to entertain her for the evening.  When she wakes up next to a dead man in Dubai, Cassie's world suddenly becomes something out of a spy novel.  She doesn't believe that she killed Alex Solokov, but she was blackout drunk the night before, as she is many nights.  Cassie does the only thing she can think of doing, she gets out of there and on her flight home before the body is ever discovered.  That is when the lying starts.  She lies to her friends, she lies to her family, she lies to her union representative, she lies to the FBI, and she lies to her lawyer.  Only Cassie knows the truth, she was not the only other person in that hotel room that night, but how can she convince the police that she is innocent when she is not entirely convinced herself?

I don't know that a flawed character has ever been written as well as Cassie Bowden.  She is a hot mess, there is no other way to say it.   With her addictions to men (she sleeps with at least four different men in the book) and alcohol, there is only one way that this is going to end - badly.  Even in her hungover state, she had the presence to clear all evidence of herself from Alex's hotel room.  Well, at least she thought she did.   The book is told from different viewpoints, though.  That of Cassie and the viewpoint of the Russian assassin who was with Alex and Cassie that night.  It makes for an interesting look at the different perspectives.  You can sense the paranoia and fear building in both of them, but for very different reasons.   I was a little surprised at the way things ended, especially the big revelation about Cassie's flight attendant friend.  -- CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS   Oh and I loooove that this East Coast author paid homage to my favorite baseball team.  Cassie's brother-in-law wore a faded Royals t-shirt to the zoo! :)

Bottom Line - From an author like Chris Bohjalian you may expect The Flight Attendant to read a like a subdued spy novel, but the reality is that The Flight Attendant is as fast-paced as the most popular spy novels and with much better character development making it a truly unforgettable read.

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