Spiral – Cameron Ward

Published By: Penguin
Pages: 400
Released On: 01/08/2024

You’re on a routine flight from London to LA. Hundreds of people are on board – including your estranged son, Theo.

Ten hours into the flight, something goes terribly wrong. The engines fail. The plane enters a steep dive. You, and everyone else on board, die instantly.

Then, you wake up. It’s one hour before the crash. You can’t believe it – you’re alive. Your beloved son is safe.

Until, terrifyingly, the same chain of events repeats itself. Again, and again, and again. You’re the only one who knows what’s about to happen.

And the lives of everyone on board depend on you.

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I’ve been loving plane-based thrillers recently, particularly TJ Newman’s Falling and Drowning, and Clare Mackintosh’ Hostage. Which is weird as I am scared of flying at the best of times. But I think it’s such a great location for a thriller, the claustrophobia and the natural fear I think we all have about being stuck in a tin can 35,000 feet in the air going 500 mph.

We see Charlie’s story going forward on the plane trip, but we get to know Theo through flashbacks 12 months beforehand, counting down to the present.

There are many characters in this book, but for me, you’re looking at two main characters, Charlie and Theo.

Charlie is our main character and Theo’s mother. Did I like her? Yes and no. There wasn’t any particular reason to dislike her, and I felt she was doing the right thing for herself, her son, and a plane full of strangers, she was just being a mother protecting her son. But there was something about her, something that niggled throughout that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. But by the end she had redeemed herself and those thoughts of dislike had been replaced by pride at her character.

Then we have Theo, Charlie’s son. For the most part we only get to know him through the flashback scenes, and through Charlie’s thoughts and memories, so it was hard to hit on a definite opinion of him to begin with, but it was clear he was troubled. I disliked him in his flashback scenes (for the most part), I felt he was just going round in circles, not listening to anyone. I wasn’t 100% sure how old he was meant to be in those scenes but for me was acting like a petulant child. But he clearly had issues and he got himself in too deep, and by the end I did have empathy for him.

I thought it might be a bit too familiar to the other plane-based thrillers I’ve mentioned above, but this has a twist. Yes it’s a thriller, but we also have a fantasy/sci-fi element, there’s romance, the dynamics between mother and son; which makes it stand out and makes it original enough.

It has been described as a Groundhog Day situation and, I may be the only person to admit this, but I didn’t like Groundhog Day very much. I know it was meant to be repetitive, that’s the whole point of it, but for me it went too far. Instead of it being an amusing and slightly frustrating premise, it became annoying and I wanted to turn it off. And there was a worry this would be similar and I’d give up half way through. But by having the other scenes set in the past and from Theo’s POV help break it up and give great context for what’s happening on the plane.

It’s 400 pages, give or take, which would sometimes take me a matter of hours to read, and others several days. This was in the first category. The first quarter sped by so quickly, and I read it all in one day.

It does contain some difficult topics and scenes: obviously, plane crashes, but anxiety, alcohol problems, debt, crime, death, relationship difficulties, bribery, mob life, gambling etc.

Other reviews say that at about half way through, they figured out what the cause for the time slip in the plane….but I didn’t. I mean, it does get quite scientific and technical, and so I understand what they’re saying at a very basic level, but I can’t dissect it enough to figure out what it actually meant in context to the story. If someone asked me to explain why and how this time slip on the plane was happening, I couldn’t answer them. But maybe that’s just me.

I thought it was very good, very original. I still have a few questions but I think he’s done well. It’s the right side of repetitive, is thrilling, with twists and turns. This is my first Cameron Ward book, but will not be my last.