“They are flying. And
as they rise up through the foggy white, talking and laughing, serenaded by the
songs of 1950s crooners and the white noise of the long at bat, none of them
has any idea that sixteen minutes from now their plane will crash into the sea.” That’s the closing sentence of the preface to Before The Fall by Noah Hawley. His book is easily the most riveting I’ve
read in ages, and far from spoiling the
suspense, the sentence merely sets the stage.
Hawley is not a stranger to writing for suspense. He’s a bestselling author who has penned four
other novels: The Good Father, The Punch, Other People’s Weddings, and A
Conspiracy of Tall Men. If you aren’t
aware of that portfolio, try this one: he was the writer/producer of the television
hit show Bones. He’s also the creator
of Fargo, which won an Emmy for Outstanding
Miniseries in 2014. Hawley knows both how
to make you turn the page, and tune-in next week.
As the title implies, Before The Fall, is about the lives
of the passengers and crew on a private jet which mysteriously crashes into the
Atlantic as it is flying to NYC from Martha’s Vineyard. All but two will die in the crash; the
survivors will be a less than successful painter, and JJ, a four year-old who is the son of the multi-millionaire television CEO whose company owns the jet.
In telling their pre-flight stories and reporting on the investigation
of the crash, Hawley’s book creates a thriller that includes high-finance international money-laundering, offshore bank accounts, political corruption, wire-tapping, the working dynamics of airline professionals, and the on & off-screen workings of
editorial “news” programming of the Fox News variety.
Recommendation: If
you are looking for something to take your mind off “real” news and maybe lower
your anxiety level, look no further.
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