Drowning – T.J Newman

Published By: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 320
Released On: 08/06/2023

Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.

More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives.

Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent – Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife – who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff.

There’s not much time.

There’s even less air.

With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family’s desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them – against impossible odds.

*****

Okay, let me just prepare you by saying this book is absolutely amazing!

I could just leave the review there. But I’ll give you a bit more detail.

What I like about a T.J Newman book is that you’re thrown into it from the very first word. There’s no preamble. It’s very clear that you’re in a thriller and you’re in it for the long ride.

I was crying by page 14. I don’t know if it was the content or the beauty of the writing, but it really moved me more than I expected. I even had to stop reading for a bit. I can’t even explain it. Why it moved me so much. I don’t usually cry at thrillers, but this had such a heart that it was impossible not to.

I hate flying at the best of times, always have. I found Falling okay to read because the chance of an aviation terrorist attack is, thankfully, low. But a plane crashing? Into the sea? Being stuck in what is essentially a large tin can? That seems more feasible and that’s a definite no no.

I would say probably don’t read it if you’ve got a plane trip booked soon, or if you’re claustrophobic, or if you suffer from submechanophobia – the fear of manmade objects under water.

Whilst I hope that she didn’t have experience of exactly this situation, you can tell Newman has knowledge of planes. Everything to the last detail is considered. I mean, I know nothing about planes so she could be making it all up, but it feels so tangible and real that it can’t be anything other than real.

There’s a bit more technical jargon in this one than in Falling, if my memory serves me well. That could have made it unfriendly and difficult to read. But it somehow worked. I didn’t always understand every technical aspect but it didn’t matter. It flowed so well into the story that you just understood it and it helped you value the main plot points. And that takes some precision balance.

The entire book – bar the occasional flashback – is set over a few hours. It takes an incredible writer to get that pacing right. To have enough to fill 300 pages, but to also make it quick and thrilling and not bogged down with detail. I can only applaud her.

For me, this packs a serious punch. Not only is it thrilling and scary and all of those things that we want, it is unbelievably emotional and moving and touching. I can’t think of another in this genre that has made me cry as much, or given me such a lump in my throat, as this one.

There are some fabulous characters. After the event, we’re left with about a dozen of them. Crew and passengers, the elderly and the tiny, the mums and dads, grandparents, husbands, children, friends. And they’re all wonderfully created. They’re not all pleasant, I will say that, but brilliantly written and developed. I think every reader will be able to identify with at least one of them and put themselves in their very wet shoes.

I’ve seen the odd reviewer ask if Newman will branch out and write non-plane related stories. But I don’t think that’s an issue because they’re so different. And there’s a heart and a soul and a passion behind every word. Whether she chooses to write another 10 plane-set thrillers, or goes off-piste for the next one, I don’t care. Her writing is spectacular and I’ll read it no matter what form it comes.