Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
This is not normally my favorite genre, but I was intrigued by the description. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself unable to put the story down. The premise – struggling artist meets wife of multi billionaire is invited to hop a flight to the main
land with the rich folks. The plane crashes, leaving the artist and a 4-year old boy as the only survivors. Why did the plane crash? Was it murder? Accident? The artist can’t remember the details and the boy isn’t talking.
While an interesting mystery, the novel also explores relationships, the flip side of fame, and the tenuous hold we all have on this life.
The main character (an artist) tends to be a bit too introspective (verbally), so at times I felt his actually voicing his thoughts aloud was not exactly believable. But then again, I’ve never met an artist, so perhaps there are really people who act this way. Regardless, he makes some excellent points.
The narrative itself tended to cliche occasionally (the deadbeat husband, for instance), but overall, I didn’t really pay much attention to those because I was caught up in the mystery. The resolution took me by surprise (which is hard to do!).
Overall, I recommend this novel for a quick, entertaining read.
Lifetales Media 