Title: Missing in Flight
Author: Audrey J Cole
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pages: 285
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐
At first glance, this book reminded me of
the Jodie Foster film, Flightplan, where Foster’s character, flying home with
the body of her husband who was killed in combat, wakes up from a short nap
only to find that her daughter has disappeared from the plane, mid-flight, and
no one has even seen her. But this book wasn’t a novelization, so I was curious
to see how this one would turn out.
Makayla Rossi is flying from Hawaii, where
her father lives, to New York, her home, when an hour or so into the flight,
she returns from a trip to the bathroom to find her baby, Liam, missing from
his crib.
Because Makayla’s mom, famous actor of the
yesteryears, Lydia Banks, died in an accident caused after the sudden onset of
Transient Global Amnesia, the FBI investigators, the crew and other passengers
believe that Makayla is confused and that she might have contracted the same
disease. Also, no one has seen her board with the infant. Nor has anyone seen
or heard the infant.
The only person who believes Makayla is
her brand-new best friend who is providing her support via text from New York.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Jack’s boss,
Lionel, has trapped him into taking the fall for a lot of fraudulent activity
on his own part. Lionel’s daughter, Sabrina, who is Jack’s childhood friend, is
threatening to tell Makayla about a one-night-stand that never happened.
The book was written in the 1st person
present tense PoV of Makayla, Anna, the co-pilot, Tina, the FBI officer, and
Jack. Anna's story is completely unconnected with that of Makayla, and was
unnecessary. Instead the PoV of another passenger on the flight might have been
more helpful. Most of the action takes place aboard a flight from Hawaii
to New York, and simultaneously at other locations during the same period.
The premise, a missing infant on a flight, is strong and tugs at our emotions, and the image on the cover, a frayed seat beat, is a nice touch, but the pace in this book flags with the many flashbacks and the constant repetition. For a large part of the book, not much seems to be happening. Some of the flashbacks, as when Makayla’s mother, Lydia, teaches her how to ski, were completely unnecessary. The fact that Lydia loved her daughter was completely irrelevant to the story of Liam’s disappearance.
Once the baby is taken, there is no
escalation in the conflict, no call for ransom, nothing. The stakes just don’t
get higher.
This was more women’s fiction than
thriller. A big part of whatever thrill there was came from the weather
conditions and the turbulence.
The resolution raised a number of
questions and wasn’t properly explained.
The investigation lacked lustre.
Ultimately, this one didn’t hit the right
spot for me.
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