Chris Bohjalian’s The Flight Attendant (Double Day) features perhaps the most screwed-up heroine in recent crime literature. Cassandra Bowden is a flight attendant who has just completed the run from Paris to Dubai and either picks up or gets picked up by a charming younger man in first class. They go to a sumptuous wine-filled dinner at his expensive hotel (the rest of the crew stay at a much cheaper place) and eventually wind up in his room. There he makes wonderful love to her and completes things by shampooing her hair ever so slowly. Sweet, huh?
All seems to be going smoothly for a sex-addicted alcoholic like Cassie. She’s had so much to drink that when an acquaintance of the man knocks on the door and enters carrying a bottle of expensive vodka, Cassie contemplates a threesome. And more alcohol. But after a while the woman who has introduced herself as Miranda, leaves and the two return to bed.
In the morning Cassandra wakes up, finding blood all over her — blood belonging to the guy she has just met and had sex with. Upon closer inspection she discovers someone has cut his throat. Beyond drunk, Cassandra has essentially blacked out the night and can’t remember anything beyond the shampoo and the intrusion of Miranda.
She wonders if she could have killed the man. In panic she wipes her fingerprints where she recalls touching, dresses, and leaves the hotel. She manages to reach her own hotel shortly before the crew is picked up for the airport and makes it to the return flight bound for Paris. But she cannot disguise from her crew mates her miserable condition, her crying, and her guilt. She’s had many affairs, many one-night stands, but no one has ever died in her bed, nor has she killed anyone.
The FBI meets the plane when they return to New York from Paris and Cassie is quizzed, but at that point the authorities don’t know that Cassie is the one who was with the dead man and the questions are routine. She doesn’t volunteer anything, and hopes she got away, since she had tried to cleanse the room of her presence.
Eventually the FBI contact her again since they don’t believe she slept in her assigned hotel. Again, Cassie dodges their questions. She is one of those delightful heroines who are both likable and frustrating. Her fibs and explanations only get her into increasingly more difficulty, which she fends off with more booze and sex. She seems headed for a major breakdown.
Bohjalian occasionally switches the narrative to Miranda and we soon realize that she is a paid Russian assassin and her next assignment is to kill Cassie. Cassandra thinks she’s being followed, but never tells anyone. You want to scream, “Tell the truth!”
All this weaves into a wonderful mystery and an exciting thriller. The final confrontation between Miranda, Cassie, a gallant bartender she has picked up, and the mystery man following her is totally unexpected and quite satisfying. I give The Flight Attendant a solid A and recommend it heartily. I just hope my daughters don’t read it.
Steve E Clark as seen in the New York Times is Author of Justice Is for the Lonely and Justice Is for the Deserving, Kristen Kerry Novels Of Suspense. You can purchase his books via SteveClarkAuthor.com/BuyBook or request it at your local book store. Want to know more about Steve Clark, read more reviews or speak directly with Steve? Learn more about Steve at SteveClarkAuthor.com
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