The 10:12

The 10:12 by Anna Maloney, 320 pages

Retired art professor Claire was on the titular train between Manchester and London when it was hijacked by a group of armed men. When she encounters one of the hijackers near the restroom, she's faced with a choice: stand by passively or fight back. Claire chose to fight, and for the first half of the book, we have a fast-paced thriller akin to Speed in a train. But once the train reaches London, the pace slows down as Claire navigates the legal proceedings afterward in which she is seen as both a hero and a villain, depending on who's talking. It's an interesting way of presenting a hijack story, and one that I'm not sure I fully enjoyed, especially with the rapid slowdown. Meh.

This book will be published Oct. 20, 2026.

Falling

 

Falling / T. J Newman, read by Steven Weber, 290 pages

This book has a thrill a minute.  Maybe even MORE per minute.  Captain Bill Hoffman's family has been kidnapped, he is instructed to crash his commercial flight into a yet unnamed, but we KNOW, iconic location.  If he tells anyone, his family will be killed.  If he doesn't cooperate, they will be killed.  He is flying a plane with 140+ people on it.  He tries to negotiate.  He tells his good friend and fellow airline employee and head flight attendant Jo, she starts making plans.  She happens to have a nephew in the F.B.I. so gets them involved pretty quickly.  From the start to the finish there is action! Unfortunately almost nothing here makes much sense...but who cares, you can't stop reading (or listening).  Steven Weber did a good job with this thriller.