This one’s a thriller…you’ll want to read it on a beach, or late at night in bed (you’ll stay up late to find out what happens), or on the train (you might miss your stop if you get too absorbed in the story), but definitely not on a plane. A small private jet crashes on a trip from Martha’s Vineyard to New York City, with two survivors, JJ Bateman, a four-year-old boy (now the sole heir to a huge fortune), and the man who saves his life, Scott Burroughs, an unsuccessful artist, swimming with the child on his back for miles in the night to make it to shore. Before the Fall is about what happens next and the relationships between the two traumatized survivors and the others impacted by the tragedy, this alternating with the backstories of the people who died, as the investigation takes off and the suddenly famous hero becomes the object of suspicion.

Before the Fall is also very much a book of the moment…it holds up a mirror to our society and shows us a lot of what is truly ugly: the 24-hour news cycle’s pernicious effects, toxic masculinity, wealth inequality, scandal mongering, the perils of celebrity, violence and the threat of violence, fake news. It puts me in mind a bit of Eric Bennett’s A Big Enough Lie with its implicit criticism of our current cultural preoccupations. But it’s not entirely a cynical project; there’s room for hope here, as Scott navigates his way through this crisis (and delivers a very satisfying comeuppance to a bully in the process).

This could (and I hope will) make a fine film. But for now, read the novel. The best writing is towards the beginning, the powerful description of the desperation and force of will that saved two lives, the disorientation of being lost at sea. The end of the story is perhaps a bit rushed, leaving a few loose ends. Or perhaps I’m just being greedy: I would have liked another hundred pages to find out what else happened and how Scott and JJ were doing after the firestorm of publicity died down.

NOVEL: Before the Fall

AUTHOR: Noah Hawley

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2017

IMAGE: book cover, Grand Central Publishing