I decided to end my year with this fast-paced, popcorny thriller that I originally passed on when it was available for me in Libby... because it came in right before I was due to board a flight. No thanks!

The irony of Drowning is that it would be an excellent airplane read--propulsive prose, short chapters, suspense out the wazoo--if not for the subject matter. The first 13 pages--the ones covering the engine failure and resulting crash-landing in the ocean--are perhaps the most stressful passage I've ever read, and it made me cry while sitting safely on the ground. Maybe there's someone capable of reading it on a plane without having a panic attack, but I am not that person.

One thing I really enjoyed about Newman's writing is that she allows her women characters to inhabit a variety of roles, including being resourceful, knowledgable, and heroic, while experiencing strong emotion and having faults. It reads like the kind of action movie where typically women would be idealized figures in need of rescue, but go figure, when a woman writes this kind of story, that doesn't happen.

I would definitely be getting Drowning as a birthday gift for my dad, who was obsessed with watching TV shows about plane crashes, if he were still with us. As it is, I'll settle for recommending it to my survival and action/adventure readers at work.