Author: Julie Clark
Genre: Mystery
Published on: June 23, 2020 by Sourcebooks Landmark
Two women. Two flights. One last chance to disappear.
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 bright and he’s not above using his staff to track Claire’s every move.
What he doesn’t know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish. A plan that takes her to the airport, poised to run from it all. But a chance meeting in the airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision.
The two women switch tickets, with 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 crashes, 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.
As premises go, the one in The Last Flight doesn’t seem terribly original, but it’s still compelling. And I haven’t come across many books where two main characters swap identities. That’s the catalyst that starts the story in The Last Flight. The protagonist is Claire Cook, a young woman who’s married to a rich and powerful politician by the name of Rory. They seem to lead perfect lives, though things are vastly different behind closed doors. Contrary to his public demeanor, Rory has a worryingly short temper. You quickly realize that he’s one of those jerks who absolutely doesn’t deserve his wife. Rory also has an overinflated ego, and he believes Claire should be grateful to be married to someone of his caliber.
The situation started to turn dire enough that Claire’s been working on a way to escape. The fortune she has access to helps, but Claire’s careful not to give herself away. This is a feat when you learn how much control Rory has over her life. He’s gone as far as dictating which friends Claire is allowed to have. Fortunately, she has a powerful childhood friend whom Rory doesn’t know about. She’s Petra, who comes from a mob family. No, she’s not a bad person. Seeing how evil Rory is, you’d think he’s the one in the mob. Anyway, Petra is able to help Claire make arrangements to disappear. A last-minute change ends up screwing that plan. Rory is now going to Detroit instead of Claire…where he’ll find evidence that’ll give her away.
Claire has no choice but to go along with the new flight plans. She goes to the airport as she’s supposed to, trying to think of a way to fix things. That’s when the second protagonist shows up. She’s Eva James, a woman in a similar situation as Claire. Eva happens to be there when Claire is voicing her predicament to Petra over the phone. Afterward, Eva makes Claire an offer that sounds like a lifesaver. The two women end up switching tickets. Claire then boards Eva’s flight to Oakland, preparing to start over fresh. When she touches down, though, shocking news await her. The flight that Claire was supposed to have taken went down, ostensibly killing everyone on board. And as she was one of the most high-profile passengers, Claire’s face is being shown all over the news.
If Claire was well-known before, now she’s on everyone’s mind. Because of this, Claire wastes no time in making herself look like Eva James. She thinks it’s her best bet for the meantime. Claire not only has Eva’s ID, but also her apartment keys. While staying there, Claire thinks about her next steps. As she doesn’t have access to her old money, she searches for a job. Meanwhile, Claire keeps her eye on the news to make sure Rory believes she’s dead. Unbeknownst to him, she also has another way to keep tabs on him. As an IT guy myself, this was an interesting plot element. Rory really is an example of the dangers of feeling too safe with your tech.
Eva James, for how little is shown of her, is such an interesting character. Her story is rich and compelling. As Claire settles in Eva’s life, she learns more and more about the latter. And the further Claire sheds light on Eva’s secrets, the more she realizes the woman wanted to flee for good reason. Things in Oakland may be more dangerous than she expected. The adage “jumping from the frying pan into the fire” may apply well here. In the end, The Last Flight was better than I expected. The characters are well fleshed-out, and the storyline is intriguing. I really enjoyed this book, except perhaps for the ending. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s rather not what I hoped for. At least it’s ambiguous enough that you can assume whatever headcanon you like.
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
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