Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the flight of your life! I cannot remember the last time a book had me sitting on the edge of my seat like this. Falling is one of the best debut novels I have read in a long time.

This book looks at the choices, the everyday choices we take for granted and explores what happens when suddenly we are forced to make a choice we do not want to make.

This story reads like a masterpiece written by a seasoned author. T.J. Newman might be a new author but Falling never hints at the work of someone new to the craft. Told from various character’s point of you are drawn into the lives of the characters and allowed to get to know them. I enjoyed the memory flashback the author used to fill in the backstories for each character. It gives you the chance to see who these people are and what drives them and their decisions.

When Captain Bill Hoffman accepts an unscheduled flight to New York his wife, Carrie is annoyed that he once again puts work before his family. After all, he promised to be home for Scott’s, his son, opening little league game. But Bill is a reliable duty-bound man who simply cannot let the airline or his boss down. If only he knew what awaited him on that flight.

When the plane is hijacked, Bill is faced with a choice between saving his family or the plane…. Will he choose? Can Bill save his family and the 149 souls on flight 416?

I know people who work in the airline industry, and I found myself imagining them in the situation Bill and Jo found themselves in. This book left my lip quivering and tears in my eyes more than once. This is an awful story, but one I could see so easily happen. The author had my knuckles white as I gripped my tablet eager to find out what Bill was going to do. This is the edge of your seat stuff.

Both Bill and Jo reminded me of people I know, a pilot and a flight attendant whom I have no doubt would have been as duty-bound as these two people were. This made the characters real. The author added dimension to her characters, and I simply loved them. Big Daddy added a lighter touch and brought a smile to my face. Even the bad guys were hard to dislike as the author added explanations for their actions that left you understanding them. T.J. Newman obviously put a lot of effort into the people in this story and she succeeded in creating a realistic group of people that crawl into your heart.

While I do not usually add a star rating to my reviews, Falling is no doubt a five-star read. The story is gripping, white knuckle reading that I could not drag myself away from. Yes, I loved this book and cannot recommend this highly enough! It is absolutely brilliant!

Anyone who enjoys a gripping, realistic thriller will find themselves unable to put this book down. Be warned, there are scenes in this story that will bring a tear to your eye so this one might not be great in-flight entertainment….