The Least Thriller, Thriller

I had a conflicted reading of this book. Part of it was that the book was billed as a mystery/thriller and that’s not what was delivered.

The book starts with some New York elites preparing to leave their summer homes on Martha’s Vineyard on their private jet. We quickly meet the characters who will become the crux of the story: the media mogul and his family, banking scheister and his wife, the pilot, co-pilot, flight attendant, and the struggling artist.

The plane crashes (not a spoiler, it’s given away on the book jacket) and only the artist and the media mogul’s son survive. From there an investigation is launched into why and how the plane crashed.

While the plot moves forward regarding the investigation we get flashbacks of each of the individuals’ lives and how they came to be on the plane.

Mixed in the plane crash investigation plot line is a sub-plot about how the media, specifically a Fox News-like cable news channel and how a Bill O’Reilly/Alex Jones type character spins the story to find “the truth”.

The big takeaway from this book is the danger of toxic, privileged masculinity. In each layer of the plot, the men who feel they are “deserved” of the things they deem theirs cause the most damage. The author subtlety works this message in and it allows the reader to come to this conclusion on his or her own.

An enjoyable read, with important social critique, better editing and organization could’ve improved this read, but I’d still recommend it.