Saturday, August 26, 2017

Before the Fall

This is a compelling novel by Noah Hawley. One foggy Summer night eleven passengers - ten wealthy, one painter trying to begin anew - and three crew members leave Martha's Vineyard on a private jet for the short hop to New York. Within sixteen minutes, the plane crashes into the ocean. There are only two survivors; the painter, Scott Borroughs, and JJ, the four year old son of a rich, powerful media mogul. The story of their survival is harrowing, heroic, incredible! What happens after the survival is just harrowing, for they are chased by the media. The "objective" news reporters won't wait for investigators to tell them what happened to the plane; they begin speculating what could have happened based on the people on the plane. And reputation means nothing to the media - when Scott refuses to answer questions they begin destroying his. Some go beyond those kind of tricks... Meanwhile, the bond between Scott and the boy, JJ, grows.

Parts of this book were beautiful; parts were caricature. Characters, mainly. As though Hawley has been writing screenplays so long he can no longer write an unlikeable character without overdoing it. A shame. It's a good read, otherwise.

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