The elite have everything: money, cars, private jets and beautiful families. David Whitehead and Ben Kipling are the top of the elite, both influential men with jobs in the media and finance, both travelling back to New York on a private jet after a vacation with their families, and both with secrets that could ruin their lives. Invited on a whim by David's wife, Scott Burroughs, a middle-aged painter, finds himself on their plane - he needs to visit New York for a meeting that could spark a revival in his failed career. But sixteen minutes into its journey the plane crashes into the sea, Scott and the Whiteheads' four-year-old son are the only survivors. With a little boy's life in his hands Scott begins to swim - an epic journey to the coast. In the rectifying hours, he cannot imagine how his life will be changed forever. With the …
The elite have everything: money, cars, private jets and beautiful families. David Whitehead and Ben Kipling are the top of the elite, both influential men with jobs in the media and finance, both travelling back to New York on a private jet after a vacation with their families, and both with secrets that could ruin their lives. Invited on a whim by David's wife, Scott Burroughs, a middle-aged painter, finds himself on their plane - he needs to visit New York for a meeting that could spark a revival in his failed career. But sixteen minutes into its journey the plane crashes into the sea, Scott and the Whiteheads' four-year-old son are the only survivors. With a little boy's life in his hands Scott begins to swim - an epic journey to the coast. In the rectifying hours, he cannot imagine how his life will be changed forever. With the SEC, FBI and National Transportation Safety Board investigating what happened to the plane, and the lives of everyone on board - the Whiteheads, the Kiplings and the crew - it is not long before their secrets start to come into the light. It seems as though the crash might be more than a tragic accident ...
This was actually quite a good story, but because all the libraries are closed I had to read it as an ebook, which for me means the story is harder to hold in my mind, and the parts don’t hang together. I did like the way that the author wove the primary story - the crash along with the efforts 1) of investigators to understand it and 2) of Scott and JJ to live in its wake - with the back stories of all the people on the plane.
The Association with modern day media and life is startling! The "Bill" character is so like Alex Jones, and the station is so like Fox "News", that it's really hard not to make comparisons! And the whole media and FBI agent work so hard to find evil that they're unwilling to see what really is. I really liked the book! I liked the author going off on personal tangents of several characters making the whole thing into one unlikely but realistic story and group of people. And I really hope that the painter and the aunt end up together, but that's just the romantic in me (which I really am, despite the fact that romance books, overall, don't do it for me!)
This is the second mystery I have read in a year, and while the writing made me want to keep reading, the ending made me go, "Really? That person? Ummm...okay, I guess." Maybe I'm not meant for mysteries.
