The Flight Attendant by Chris BohjalianMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Flight Attendant is another well-written book by Chris Bohjalian. This time he's chosen to write a thriller, focused on a woman whose self destructive behavior has put her in a dangerous position. Cassandra Bowden wakes up in a Dubai hotel room next to a murdered man after an alcohol fueled one night stand. She experienced a black-out during the previous night, can't recall exactly what happened and doesn't trust the local police. The only thing she's got going for her is the fact that her flight back to the states is scheduled for that day. So Cassandra cleans up as well as she can and leaves the scene. The novel takes off from there.
The Flight Attendant is written primarily from two points of view: Cassandra and another woman, Elena Orlov, who had been tracking the victim before he met Cassandra. Both these women have self destructive aspects to their characters, but also have aspects to their personalities that draw a reader to them. I found Cassandra to be particularly well-written and interesting. She uses alcohol and sex to forget her self loathing, but it is those two failings which cause her to hate herself. I found myself rooting for this flawed woman, which is why the thriller worked so well.
I thought the ending was somewhat contrived, but it worked and the book still deserves a five star rating.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment