Ellen’s Pick of the Week: Before the Fall

A private jet ferrying eleven people from Martha’s Vineyard back to New York City one summer night  plunges into the water sixteen  minutes after takeoff and only two passengers survive—-Scott Burroughs, a last-minute add to the flight and the ten-year-old son of another passenger, the head of a controversial television news station about to be indicted by the Feds for money laundering. Despite his own injuries,  Burroughs, a gifted artist and a former college swimmer, carries the boy on his back  across the dark waters to Manhattan. In the absence of hard facts, reporters working the 24-hour news cycle hound Burroughs and create nonstop conspiracy stories, which change and deepen as the real facts trickle in from those investigating the accident. Or was it an accident? A bomb, perhaps?

The reader wants to believe that Burroughs is a hero and simply a man caught up in circumstances beyond his control, but the reporters are less interested in the facts than they are in creating a sensational story about his motives and his mysterious last-minute addition to the passenger list. He MUST be guilty of something, right?

This is a great summer read with lots of twists and turns, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for your next airplane trip!