Book Review: "The Last Flight" by Julie Clark
“The Last Flight” by Julie Clark
Bookshop | Amazon
Publisher Synopsis: Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.
A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets—Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.
For fans of Lisa Jewell and Liv Constantine, The Last Flight is the story of two women—both alone, both scared—and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.
Rating (out of 5): 4
Trigger Warnings: physical and emotional abuse
Review: I love a suspenseful novel, and this one, centered around two women attempting to escape their circumstances, is a great one. (It’s similar to what I thought “The Wives” would be, and what it should have been tbh—click for my review.)
Claire Cook, married for 10 years to her charming, famous, abusive philanthropist husband, has concocted a seriously intricate plan to escape from him. When everything goes haywire, she has a chance encounter at JFK with Eva. Due to the novel’s switching back and forth between POVs, though, we know it’s not just a chance meeting, but their connection isn’t clear until the end. The two women swap flights, and when the flight Claire was supposed to be on crashes with no survivors, her death is widely reported in the news.
The novel flip flops back and forth between present day, in which Claire must lay low with basically no resources (her plan went wrong and she’s publicly presumed dead) and the events of Eva’s life leading up to her encounter with Claire at JFK. Both women have good reasons to want to escape their lives; they both have no close family, a reliance on the abusive men in their lives, and few options available to them.
I flew through the novel as we slowly become more acquainted with Claire and Eva and the events that brought them together. There were definitely a few twists I didn’t see coming, and some heartwarming secondary characters that demonstrate how important female friendship is. Both Claire and Eva wouldn’t have been able to change their circumstances without their friends. As someone whose BFFs literally had an intervention to help me get out of an emotionally abusive relationship, I definitely related.
Definitely recommend this book; it’s a quick read, the writing is strong, and you’ll have trouble putting it down.
TL;DR: A fast-paced portrait of two women trying to escape their circumstances. Suspenseful, but not in a super scary kind of way–you’ll empathize with both Claire and Eva, want the best for them, and cheer them along as they attempt to break free from the abusive men in their lives.
If you liked this, try:
“A Good Marriage” by Kimberly McCreight (Bookshop | Amazon) (my review here)
“The Herd” by Andrea Bartz (Bookshop | Amazon) (Moira’s review here)
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