Noah Hawley

New York Times Bestseller From the Emmy, PEN, Peabody, Critics' Choice, and Golden Globe Award-winning creator of the TV show Fargo comes the thriller of the year. On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs--the painter--and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members--including a Wall Street titan and his wife, a Texan-born party boy just in from London, a young woman questioning her path in life, and a career pilot--the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens. As the passengers' intrigues unravel, odd coincidences point to a conspiracy. Was it merely by dumb chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something far more sinister at work? Events soon threaten to spiral out of control in an escalating storm of media outrage and accusations. And while Scott struggles to cope with fame that borders on notoriety, the authorities scramble to salvage the truth from the wreckage. Amid pulse-quickening suspense, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, human nature, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Before the Fall

Abbie Duggan

I’m too confused to call this book a “thriller” as there was nothing that left my on the edge of me seat, nervous for what might happen next. Overall I felt this book had every potential to be a good read, but fell totally flat. The story had a wonderful climb, but then just ended simply with too many loose ends and nothing of satisfaction. Even the characters, who I hoped to have some meat to them, seemed to be written as stereotypical and predictable. If you’re looking for an exciting read, look elsewhere.

Not what I expected from this book and not what I wanted. The answer to the mystery was so disappointing. It was fine, just very forgettable.

Jillian Roberts

Library Edition

Jayme Bosio

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.

Francis Buggey

I really enjoyed the progression of the story, from the beginning of the “event”, to the immediate after, but also stories about what happened to each person leading up to the event. It ended a lot better than I expected.

Cindy Lieberman

Who was behind a plane crash when almost everyone has a motive? An interesting commentary on the (often-corrupting) influence of media, money and power. The ending was, unfortunately, the least interesting part of the story, which switched back and forth from present day to the background stories of various characters. Kept my interest.

Jill Basilone

I found it hard to get through the first half of the book. For some reason I couldn't get hooked. But I finished the second half in a day because once the story got me hooked I couldn't put it down until I found out what happened.

Sammie Piotrowski

God am I happy to be done with this book. It felt like it took me three times as long as it usually would to read a page, and I constantly found myself losing interest. Many of the different POVs seemed to add absolutely nothing to the story, including the entire plot of Rachel’s kidnapping. There was also an outrageous amount of inappropriate philosophical moments within this book, where a simple thing was turned into some larger thing with an important meaning. For example, when trying to explain the setting at one point, the chapter begins “Where is the intersection between life and art?”. There is a whole drawn out paragraph that does nothing but tell you that there are paintings right next to pieces of wreckage in an airplane hangar. There are more examples than I can count of this weirdly detailed and flowery writing, along with just repeating things in different words for no apparent reason. It makes the book unbelievably dense.

Additionally, there is a DISGUSTING amount of the objectification and sexualization of women in this book that adds nothing to the story. One of the most appalling examples was a scene in which a woman who does not even speak or look at any of the characters, is known as “the blonde with big boobs” and the character thinks about how he could find nude pictures of her if he knew her name. FOR LITERALLY NO REASON. At one point Scott, the main character, asks his friend to keep the woman who has been giving him a place to stay company while he goes on a trip and implies that she will have sex with the friend, despite the fact that they never slept together, and his friend talks about how much viagra he will have to use. It’s disgusting. And don’t even get me started in Bill Cunningham’s perspective. 

On top of this, every female character is either seen as hyper sexual or a miserable housewife, and they all are dependent on men for validation. Literally only one female character sets a man straight and she is dead within the first two chapters.

Aside from this, most of the characters were infuriating, and the end reveal of what caused the crash was so underwhelming and made me angry that I read this whole book. I was promised a heartwarming focus on Scott and JJ’s relationship, but that comprises maybe 5% of the book, and is the only reason this book gets more than one star. Save yourself a headache and don’t read this.

Lauren Attaway

My first thought upon finishing this book was that I wish I hadn't read it all. Now I'll never get to read this one again for the first time. I love a good book where the characters almost breathe. When I wasn't reading this book I was waiting to go back to reading it. Definitely my favorite this year I think in a year of A LOT of books. So much better than I expected and for some reason I just knew I would love this book! I'm running out of good things to say, and it's the middle of the night. Excellent book.

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 ...

Before the fall

Georgia Carr

WOW. This was incredible. Beautifully written. A tale of people, of the choices in life that lead to us to places and to strangers, and how in one second, everything changes. Noah Hawley's writing continues to shock me, and I'm excited to read more of his bold work. 

This book is going to stay with me for a long time. Wow.

Brittany Colquitt

Santosh Singh

Good writing and suspense building but it fizzles out in the end. Surely disappointing for hardened lovers of crime fiction.

Kate Gravelle

This was slow for me up until the last fourth of the book. Then it was a page turner.

Amber Laha

Dnf. Going For a literary approach that I wasn't expecting or wanting. I just wanted a predictable mystery.

Shreerag Plakazhi

Well written and a definite page turner. However, I highly doubt I would remember this book out of a line up.

Jeremy Cote

I thought the writing in the book was stellar, with many good perspectives thrown in that all were different (no trouble figuring out who was who). I did think the book ended a bit abruptly, but it was an interesting read nonetheless. I only gave it three stars because I liked it, but there was just missing a little something at the end. However, I thought the book posed great questions about the media and the role it plays in tragedies such as these.

Michael Hessling

Francine Corry

Sarah Erle

One-time-only printing at a special discount price: the acclaimed, bestselling thriller about the only two survivors of a devastating plane crash from Noah Hawley, author of the forthcoming Anthem (GCP, 01/18/22). On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged residents, one down‑on‑his‑luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs--the painter--and a four‑year‑old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members--including a Wall Street titan and his wife, a Texan‑born party boy just in from London, a young woman questioning her path in life, and a career pilot--the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens. As the passengers' intrigues unravel, odd coincidences point to a conspiracy. Was it merely by dumb chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something far more sinister at work? Events soon threaten to spiral out of control in an escalating storm of media outrage and accusations. And while Scott struggles to cope with fame that borders on notoriety, the authorities scramble to salvage the truth from the wreckage. Amid pulse‑quickening suspense, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, human nature, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Before the Fall

Reviews