Book Bites: 3 Sentence Intro About What This Story Is

As a flight attendant, Cassie Bowden gets to experience the glamorous life of traveling, meeting handsome strangers, drinking and partying on a regular basis. When one of her blackout drunk moments leads her to waking up in an unfamiliar bed with a dead man next to her, Cassie struggles to figure out if she was the one who murdered this man. Cassie is forced to honestly reflect on her current habits and how continuing to live this lifestyle may lead her to severe consequences.

*As usual, to see the official book teaser/summary of this, go to anywhere books are found and read up more about what this book is about.

Now on to My Commentary (**May Contain Spoilers: Read at Your Own Risk)

Structure and Pacing of the Book

The Flight Attendant alternates between Cassie and Elena’s perspectives and uses the third person omniscient perspective to build its mystery. We soon learn that Cassie is an unreliable narrator as she’s usually blackout drunk and has a horrible recollection to the events that she may or may not have participated in while drinking. And here is Elena/Miranda who seems to parallel whatever destination Cassie goes next on her job. But who is Elena? And how does she fit into the whole plot?

The killer of Alex Sokolov was quickly revealed so no mystery on the murder. Not to be hyper-critical about this detail, but the genre it has been marketed as is mystery, thriller, and suspense though there’s not a deep essence of any. It’s a psychological drama more than anything as Cassie contemplates her actions and tries to recollect details of what happened during her blackouts. The Flight Attendant is less about the solving who murdered the victim and more about the consequences of Cassie’s behavior. The motive of the killer is developed throughout the book but never explicitly revealed, leaving this to be confusing and open-ended.

The beginning was lukewarm. It is a slow build up on the storyline for the first half of the book. I found more of the thrill happens in the last 100 pages or so. I was expecting more suspense consistently written throughout the book. That first half dragged on about Cassie’s issues and problems and her repetitive unhealthy habits that put her in crappy situations.

I loved the ending and appreciated the epilogue! I wished that I could read faster so I could bypass the beginning chapters and get to the ending because it was the section that held my attention the most and was satisfying.

Character Development/Characters

I found there to be great integration of new characters throughout the plot.

I liked that the main characters are the same in book and in the TV series. However, these main characters were more universally and equally developed in the show as compared to the book, where most of the characters were muted. Nothing interesting stood out about the characters who weren’t Cassie and Elena.

I enjoyed the diversity of characters’ careers. For example, I liked that Cassie’s brother-in-law had a very interesting career that tied into the story well but it also added some confusion due to the complexity and added potential motive that got lost as the story progressed.

Cassie

It’s frustrating how Cassie continues to put herself in horrible situations. But I found this to emphasize her character well. I enjoyed that she was written as a flawed character, not this pristine heroine who successfully manages to sober up each chapter. Because Cassie makes a lot of mistakes, it does build compassion for the character as well as gives a realistic illustration of those who would be trying to reform from addictions.

Cassie’s relationships with the supporting cast are superficial. I felt that her relationships were used to develop and emphasize her character traits (as the other characters always mention Cassie’s unhealthy habits: being an alcoholic, sleeping around, living recklessly without acknowledgment) but didn’t offer much insight into how she connects with others. This could be used to reiterate that her character acts selfishly.

Despite her continuous drinking, she does slowly work to reduce this vice. For example, she tries to stop drinking after incident. She tries to reduce how much alcohol she consumes though she continues to go about her days with the habit of drinking. She still gets drunk but not blackout drunk.

The death of Alex Sokolov was the catalyst to her sobering as this is the first event that slapped her awake into recognizing how much her “harmless” drinking and enjoyment can lead her to unfavorable and potentially criminal outcomes. I admired Cassie’s immense struggle with taking back control from her drinking habits as she strived to develop more self-control and work towards being sober.

Elena

Elena’s background is deeply developed in the book though I wish there was even more depth to her character. We develop compassion for her and her situation even if she’s involved in the overall criminal plot of the book. However, while we get this rich integration of Russian history throughout Elena’s chapter, her individual character overall remained mysterious.

Final Thoughts

The Flight Attendant is an easy read. However, I had expected a mystery and thriller book which I didn’t feel it was. I wouldn’t have read it if I hadn’t watched the TV series adaptation of this prior to reading it. The show did select all the interesting parts of the story to maintain suspense better.

I recommend this to anyone interested in a mystery/thriller with a hint of history.

Check out this book if it piques your interest. Hope you enjoy it as your next read or a re-read!

And remember, “Every story is worth the read. Someone (some poor, overworked, ink-stains-on-the-clothes lovely soul) took the time to write it.”