Starred review from July 15, 2024
A woman upends strangers’ lives by predicting their deaths in the powerful latest from bestseller Moriarty (Apples Never Fall). Travelers aboard a delayed flight from Hobart, Australia, to Sydney are already on edge when a woman stands, points at a fellow passenger, and pronounces, “I expect catastrophic stroke. Age seventy-two.” She moves down the aisle, foretelling the causes and ages of death of several more passengers before the cabin crew intervenes. She then sleeps until landing and disembarks as though nothing had happened. Most assume the “soothsayer” has mental health problems—until one of her prognostications comes true three months later. Everyone is rattled, but none more than the other passengers she hit with premonitions: a nurse apparently slated to get terminal cancer, a young mother and swim instructor whose child will supposedly drown, and starry-eyed newlyweds whose marriage (which their families look down upon) will purportedly end in “intimate partner homicide.” Moriarty’s meticulously plotted tale—which follows each of the doomed passengers as they reckon with their alleged fate—rivets even as it thoughtfully contemplates free will, determinism, and the value of living passionately. The exquisitely rendered characters earn readers’ full investment as they contemplate how much credence to give the Damoclean sword hanging over their heads, and the pinwheeling narrative maintains near-constant tension. Moriarty has outdone herself. Agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group.
Starred review from December 1, 2024
Moriarty's (Apples Never Fall) latest follows travelers stranded on a delayed Australian flight between Hobart and Sydney. Nerves are at a breaking point when an older woman stands, points at a nearby passenger, and states how and when he will die. Without pausing, she moves on to predict the deaths of the others--everyone from an infant (drowning at age seven) to a new bride (intimate-partner homicide at age 25) to a gentle flight attendant (self-harm at age 28) who haplessly tries to put an end to the prognostications. Caroline Lee, a longtime and much-lauded narrator of Moriarty's audiobooks, voices the older woman--Cherry, who, much to her horror, comes to be known as the Death Lady. Lee's depiction of Cherry is a tour de force, capturing her infectious warmth, her sorrow over the predictions she made, and her remembrances of the relationships that shaped her over the years. Geraldine Hakewill portrays the other passengers, sensitively conveying their panic and dread as they try to disprove Cherry's predictions and consider fate and free will. The novel vibrates with tension, sweetened by glimpses into the passengers' lives and tender relationships. VERDICT Unputdownable and entirely affecting, this superbly narrated audio is a must-purchase.--Sarah Hashimoto
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