Laine Moriarty
March 2024
ISBN:9780593798607, 0593798600
About
Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
My Review
Written in the voice of Cherry the lead character in the story, she narrates her way through the pages. At times its confusing to work out if Cherry is still the narrator or if another character is talking.
Cherry Lockwood grows up with a fortune telling mother and a sceptical Aunt.
A young girl not particularly interested in her mums skills and not until her mother is dying does she ask for a reading.. whilst not a believer she lets her mum do a reading and thinks no more of it.
Cherry’s personal life is sad and happy in equal measure, her marriage to David confusing, mainly around his needs whilst she spends a lot of time with his parents, who she adores, whilst he goes off on his new found hobby of scuba diving. Her second marriage to Ned is a happy and adventure full one until his sudden death on a flight to a European adventure.
Struggling with grief and her devastating loss Cherry finds herself on the Hobart to Sydney flight.
On this seemingly ordinary flight Cherry becomes every flight attendants nightmare. Walking through the cabin seemingly in a trance casting unwanted premonitions upon unsuspecting passengers.
Cabin Manager Allegra’s in the cabin on her own, her team are elsewhere on the flight leaving her to try and stop Cherry. Today is her birthday, she hoped for a calm and easy flight from Hobart to Sydney but as she makes her way up the aisle she can see a mother of two small children distressed as Cherry casts a prediction on her and her children, the older of the two who Allegra can see is about to throw up. It all appears to have in slow motion as Allegra frantically tries to reach Cherry, the child unleashed the contents of her stomach over Allegra. Not the birthday she envisaged as she’d just turned 28.
Cherry it appears has gone into a trance and is dishing out predictions to every passenger on the age and diagnosis of their death. Has Allegra makes here way further up the cabin trying to reach Cherry, with many distressed and confused passengers halting her course with requests and questions, Cherry turns and Allegra gets her prediction.
What follows after the flight takes on its own entity with people trying to find out who Cherry is.
Whilst some passengers take it with a pinch of salt the young mother who was told her baby son will drown aged seven becomes obsessed with the need for him to learn to swim. Enrolling him in swimming lessons with different swim schools several days a week. This obsession with his need to learn to swim ultimately proves to be his salvation.
The author doesn’t fully explain what actually has happened to Cherry on the flight but does try to provide a logical explanation.
This story provides the reader with food for thought. How words can do so much damage to others.
This is the first book of Laine Moriarty I’ve read, though I’ve seen the TV series of some her books.
