The Flight Attendant

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Pages: 499
Overall: 3.5/5
Setting: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot and Themes: 3/5
Cheers Factor: 3/5
Pairing: Not My Vacation
This tropical drink fits this book because it’s a great summer travel read. I also like that it’s a tropical inspired drink that someone traveling would be expecting, only Cassie is the one who would be serving said drink because she’s not the one on vacation she just does her job at 35,000 ft.


Ingredients
-2 ½ oz Empress Gin
-2oz Pineapple Juice
-2oz Lemon Juice
-1oz Orgeat Syrup
-Ice
-Optional Pineapple Wedge

Instructions
-Combine pineapple juice, lemon juice and orgeat syrup in a shaker with ice and shake
-Strain into a Tom Collins glass over fresh ice
-Layer gin on top
-Optional Garnish with Pineapple wedge or edible flower (if it’s not edible just don’t eat it)
-Enjoy responsibly!

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“The truth was, there was nothing casual about casual sex.”


Take a Shot: Cassie is a flight attendant that lives the lifestyle to the fullest. With no ties she finds herself living dangerously and drinking her free time away. That is until she wakes up in the bed of the cute guy from 2C in the first class cabin on her route to Dubai and rolls over to find him dead and herself covered in his blood. To make things worse she has no recollection of the night before due to her blackout and she knows she has to leave or be charged in Dubai for his murder. 

“In the meantime, she would brace for impact.”

Setting
I really love the idea of having a flight attendant be the main character because of all the fun places the book can take place. Like I loved that we go from Dubai to New York then to Italy. I also love the travel references of first class cabins and all the joys that come from fun international travel. It reminded me of the fun times that I have had while internationally traveling prior to the pandemic.


Characters
I hated Cassie. Like really almost the entire time I didn’t feel like I was rooting for her. It pissed me off the way she acted and the way that she was so immature about a lot of serious situations. I did like the depiction of her addiction because that felt real and I guess it influenced her personality and her decision making, but it still made me angry. I really loved Enrico though and he saved it for me. I would love to date a cute Italian bartender who is as sweet as him.


Plots and Themes
I liked the plot of this book, but it kind of had me bored. I have a feeling that the TV show made it more sensational than the book did. A lot of the investigation made me hesitant to believe that it was accurate. It just felt predictable and slightly boring.


Conclusion
If you are a fan of The Girl on the Train or anything by Gillian Flynn you will like this. It’s a good thriller type mystery novel that I did really like, but it wasn’t entirely my favorite. It was, however a good vacation read.
Reasons to Raise a Glass: Easy travel book, thriller aspects, murder mystery
Too Strong: Cassie’s personality, seemingly low stakes despite it being a murder?


Warning spoilers ahead if you click read more. Do not click read more unless you want spoilers!
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“A smart girl is nobody’s pushover and nobody’s foe.”


    I know I said this in my non-spoiler section, but I want to reiterate that I really didn’t like Cassie. She annoyed me with everything she did. Like DO NOT make yourself look more guilty when you’re really innocent? I was also very upset about her allowing her friend to call his family at the funeral? I’m also confused as to how that had zero repercussions. That’s so egregious I can’t even put words to it. 
    Also what was the point of the military addition? Like why did we never have any interactions between her brother-in-law after he was questioned? I wanted some closure to that. It really bothered me that we never got to really see it from any other angle than Cassie’s. The whole thing just kind of fell flat when it never panned out to anything that had consequences for any of the involved parties. 
    Lastly, I was pissed off by Elena’s death. I was shocked, but annoyed she didn’t get to speak to Cassie at all. I was also shocked about Buckley and him being the guy following her. I should have known because why else would he have been added as a character, but I was shook nonetheless. I appreciated those twists, but it still fell flat when at the end Buckley pretended Cassie killed him. It’s also not believable that the Cart-Tart Killer could then change enough of her appearance to still be a flight attendant and also be an informant? Just doesn’t make sense to me.

“I’m sorry I was unlovable or incapable of being loved.”