2 out of 4 stars
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Passengers boarded a long flight to Buenos Aires, but that plane will never reach its destination. Thomas Neviaser brings us a suspense thriller where nine survivors of the Flight 2222 go through a literal Hell after the plane crashes at sea. Will they escape it? The horrors they endure will make you turn page after page, and the detailed descriptions will make you a participant in this game of fate.
Meet Frank Mason, a stock analyst who takes business trips often. His pregnant wife, Kate, is helping him pack because he always forgets something at home. Then there is Helen Hampton, a divorced woman who treated her mother-in-law badly when she was ill. She felt guilty when her mother-in-law died, so now she wants to pay her respects at the funeral in Argentina. Helen and Frank sit next to each other on the flight. Because Helen was afraid of flying, Frank proposed they played an innocent game to help her relax. They had to pick seven people from the plane and guess their age, their nationality, occupations, relationship status, and their names. But who knew that the seven people they picked were going to be the only survivors of the crash along with them? Is it coincidence or fate?
I devoured the majority of the book in a matter of hours. It had a great start, detailed descriptions of Frank and Helen’s lives and personalities, a lot of griping moments where you didn’t know how the survivors could make it, and the shifting points of view that added multiple perspectives to the story. However, Frank and Helen are the only ones who benefit from a description in the beginning. You would expect the multiple perspectives to bring complexity to the other characters, but they basically exist to show how Frank and Helen guessed right in their little game. The lack of character development makes the characters seem superficial.
I would have changed some things at the ending of this book. I felt that the characters were not really interesting because their stories were barely touched. The Epilogue brings light to this problem, and the characters are showing a surprisingly new face, but it’s too late. Some of the characters have died in the book, and I felt nothing for them because I didn’t know much about their personalities, their lives. I think the author should have chosen to respect his characters and tell their whole story properly instead of just shocking the reader with an unexpected ending. It’s important to know a character’s story before they die, so the reader can empathize with him. Otherwise, the reader quickly forgets everything about the character.
However, to point some good things, the plot is unexpected and well-thought. The events stay in your head long after you finish the book. I think the end of the mystery suits the book, but that doesn’t change my previous opinion.
I am a hardcore fan of the TV series “Lost”, so I was immediately attracted by the cover and the title. I enjoyed the action of the book, which is why I recommend it for that, not for the characters. If you like the basic plane crash setting and you are interested in how people react and survive during such a traumatic experience, then this book might be for you. I warn light-hearted people that some scenes are a bit disturbing. After all, people tend to become quite barbaric when they are faced to a life or death situation.
I consider the weak characterization to be a serious issue that prevents this book from earning the highest rating. Unfortunately, the book isn’t doing better concerning the editing. There are places where the writing suddenly increases size, some commas were missing, and some words were added, for example, “Well, you done did a good job”. As these mistakes can’t be overseen, I will take away another star in hope of some more editing. Without anything left to be said, I give The Mystery of Flight 2222 2 out of 4 stars.
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The Mystery Of Flight 2222
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