Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* On a foggy August night, a private plane flying from Martha's Vineyard to New York City crashes into the ocean 16 minutes after takeoff, killing nine of the 11 persons aboard. The corporate jet was being used by David Bateman, multimillionaire founder of 24-hour news network ALC, traveling with his wife, Maggie; their children, Rachel, nine, and JJ, four; their friends Ben and Sarah Kipling; a Bateman security guard; a crew of three; and last-minute passenger Scott Burroughs, an artist friend of Maggie's. Because Burroughs had recently turned his life around and resumed swimming, in which he excelled as a youth, he survives, along with JJ. As the narrative weaves between the aftermath of the crash to the backstories of those who died, conspiracy theories abound about Bateman's fame and wealth (which led to Rachel's being kidnapped as a toddler), Kipling's pending indictment by the SEC, even the catastrophic scenes that are the subjects of Burroughs' recent paintings. Hawley (The Good Father, 2012) ramps up suspense as the investigation into the crash proceeds, along with the level of the commentary by ALC headliner Bill Cunningham, who goes to illegal ends to gather information. A pulse-pounding story, grounded in humanity. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
Library Journal Reviews
An Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning screenwriter/producer, as well as a novelist (The Good Father), Hawley is also creator of the smashing new TV show Fargo. Here he sends a ferry to the sea bottom off Martha's Vineyard, with a down-and-out painter and a small boy—now the only member left of a powerful media mogul's family—the sole survivors. Rights sold to Sony Pictures; with a 100,000-copy first printing.
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Emmy-, Golden Globe–, and Peabody Award–winning television producer and screenwriter Hawley's fifth novel is a masterly blend of mystery, suspense, tragedy, and shameful media hype. When a corporate jet carrying 11 crashes into the ocean just 16 minutes into a nighttime flight from Martha's Vineyard to New York in August 2015, only two people survive—Scott Burroughs, a middle-aged former drunk and minor artist, and a four-year-old boy. Scott saves the boy, swimming to shore and into a frenzy of media-shaped hero worship, federal investigations of terrorism and criminal activity, and sudden media-driven accusations of financial exploitation. Hawley cleverly uses flashback chapters for each of the passengers to reveal that one victim was a wealthy mogul, head of a 24-hour cable news network that didn't just report the news, but proudly manufactured it; one victim was a Wall Street financier about to be indicted for money laundering; and the other victims, including an armed bodyguard, also had curious pasts. Scott's life is an escalating nightmare of media hounding and federal suspicion. His only salvation is a thoughtful, deliberate NTSB investigator who focuses on facts, not speculation. This is a gritty tale of a man overwhelmed by unwelcome notoriety, with a stunning, thoroughly satisfying conclusion. (May)
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