This one was mine and Kaths March buddy read, we read Falling together last year and loved it, so I knew we’d enjoy Drowning. Wow, TJ Newman can write. I don’t get how she wrote her books while being on a plane as a Flight Attendant though! Her books are loaded with fear, they keep you right on the edge of your seat or sure. I remember reading a certain part and gettin that awful feeling of claustrophobia, anxiety was definitely up! She knows how to get your imagination going, and I could picture it all so well. I loved the characters, Will and Shannon were great, but Chris was one of my favourites. I can’t imagine working on a disaster like that, let alone knowing your child is down there. Such a brilliant book, I’d honestly recommend both of her books if you like thrillers.

Drowning by T J Newman was an excellent, thrilling and enthralling second novel. It was a book that you kept reading until you got to the very end, wanting to know who survived and who would die. The characters were really interesting and were from all walks of life, the storyline just kept the reader invested in the book from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Highly recommended

Well between this authors 1st book, this one and Will Dean’s The Last Passenger They have really messed up my holiday plans for next year, as now both flying and cruise ships are off limits! Coastal flight 1421 has multiple system failures only a few minutes after takeoff from Hawaii and is forced to “ditch” into the ocean. This happens in the opening pages and the tension just continually gets ramped up from there as the plane begins to take on water and start to sink, still with passengers on board. What follows is a thill-a-page action packed read that you will do well not to stay up into the early hours to finish (in one sitting)

When a flight crashes into the ocean and sinks with passengers still inside, the rescue team above water as well as those in the plane will have to work together to try to save everyone. With time and oxygen running out, all involved will find their relationships and willpower tested beyond their personal breaking points. Author T.J. Newman comes back with her second thriller that outdoes her first book for a summer blockbuster in Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421. Engineer Will Kent is boarding a flight in Hawaii with a heavy heart. He’s taking his 11-year-old daughter, Shannon, to camp on the U.S. mainland., but he and his wife, Chris, have decided to separate and it’s tearing Will apart. A tragedy years earlier left them shattered, and the Kents haven’t been able to figure out how to put their family back together again. The smallest things make fights erupt between Will and Chris. Like this flight. Chris insisted that Shannon could travel with a flight attendant watching her. Will fought for the right to go with Shannon and eventually won, but he knows Chris isn’t happy with the situation. For now he’ll settle for spending time with Shannon on the long flight from Hawaii to the mainland. Chris is the love of his life; he knew that from their first date. Somewhere along the way, though, they’ve lost sight of each other as all their hurts and faults have dominated one another’s view. He and Shannon board the flight and get settled in. Then the unthinkable happens: shortly after takeoff, before they can even leave the islands behind, the plane malfunctions. The plane heads right back down into the water, and one of the engines catches fire. Flight crew members begin preparing their passengers for evacuation, but Will’s training as an engineer makes him speak up and fight to stay on the plane. He and Shannon end up with ten other passengers sinking in the damaged aircraft 200 feet below the surface. Their time, and their usable air, are limited, but panic is in unlimited supply. As soon as word comes of Flight 1421’s dramatic accident, Chris races to help. Her company is comprised of the best welders and crew. It’s literally their job to fix large metallic vessels so they can continue to float safely. Nothing in the world is going to stop her from rescuing her daughter; not government officials, not airline higher-ups, and not even her ongoing feud with Will. Author T.J. Newman returns with an arms-wide-open thriller in the grand tradition of American classics like Die Hard, Top Gun, and, yes, Apollo 13. Newman gives readers the novel version of those types of stories, and every page will keep her audience flipping or swiping pages as fast as possible to find out what happens next. While some comparable books struggle to balance various elements along with the thriller elements of the plot, Newman handles everything like a pro. There’s a little something for everyone in this book. Readers will get glimpses of Will and Chris’s love story as well as the heart-wrenching tragedy that pulled them apart. Gearheads will enjoy the technical aspects of the plane crash and the MacGyver-style rescue efforts. Fans of ensemble casts can pick their favorite character to cheer on inside the plane. Audience members who want a sweeping epic that emphasizes the best of the human spirit and our ability to work with one another in the worst of circumstances will come away believing once again in humanity. Newman’s experience as a flight attendant offers an underlying authenticity to the book that makes it ring true on every page. Even if an idea for part of the rescue feels a little farfetched, Newman offers just enough detail to make readers more than willing to suspend their disbelief. Those who want a grand story to kick off their summer should definitely check this out.

I must say a huge thank you to Polly at Simon and Schuster for being so kind and sending me a proof copy of Drowning! It is treasured!! Now this will be a really hard review to write as I do not want to give anything away! As you can see from the above blurb we join Will Kent and his 11 year old daughter Shannon aboard Flight 1421, 6 minutes after takeoff when the worst thing that can happen, happens, an engine bursts into flames..... OR SO YOU THINK.... This book is an absolute MASTERPIECE of thriller writing, it grabs you round the throat from the very first page and shakes you damn hard all the way through until the end! I cannot explain how marvellous Drowning is, it read like a movie, I could not do anything else but read it, I was totally gripped and needed to know what was going to happen next. There are plot twists, and just when you think things cannot get any worse... they do! I was shouting " Oh No" several times, I cried, I laughed, and I was utterly breathless and wrung out at the end... in fact I felt like I had been on Flight 1421!! TJ Newman is just an unbelievable author and she has found a niche in the thriller market, you can tell from her own experiences as an Air Hostess that she brings those to her writing, but she also researches her subjects well, and this really helps to bring Drowning alive. I would expect Drowning to be made into a movie, like her first book Falling, because Damn, it is THAT good! I think this will be my book of the year as I fail to see how any other author can beat the thrill ride and emotional turmoil that is Drowning! If there's one book you read this year, it has to be Drowning...go and get it pre-ordered now! A huge 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star review from me ( It needs to be 500!