Worst Case Scenario

T.J. Newman has taken her years of experience as a former flight attendant and made a name for herself as an author who can deliver quick moving, action-packed, edge of your seat stories featuring airplane settings that also include poignant, human elements. 

Worst Case Scenario, her third novel, strays a little bit from her previous books (Falling and Drowning) because it focuses not on people stuck on plane, but on the aftermath when a commercial airliner hits a nuclear power plant. 

This disaster thriller hits the ground running and includes a very large cast and a few side stories t'boot. Narrated by Joe Morton (from TV's Scandal), the story has many characters' POVs, each of whom are trying to survive and/or manage the crisis on the ground. 

To be honest, it was hard to keep track of who was who and I could have done without a couple of side stories that interrupt the action. But I appreciated how Newman includes background to her characters which make certain scenes all the more poignant for the reader. There's a lot of research that went into this book so if you enjoy more technical descriptions of nuclear power plants, then you'll enjoy the detail Newman provides.  

Vivid descriptions, tension and outlandish scenes, this entertaining and well-researched story reads like a Hollywood disaster movie (enter Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis). I enjoyed this book but not quite as much as the first two, but I look forward to Newman's next book and hope that it strays a bit farther from the disaster stories she's becoming known for.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Little, Brown and Company for the digital audiobook which was given to me in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: T.J. Newman

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: eAudiobook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Audio)

First Published: August 13, 2024

Run Time: 8 hours, 13 minutes

Narrator: Joe Morton

Read: Aug 4-7, 2024

Book Description from GoodRead: Following her explosive debut thriller Falling and its harrowing follow-up Drowning, #1 internationally bestselling author T.J. Newman is back with Worst Case Scenario.

When a pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, which becomes ground zero for a catastrophic national crisis with global implications.

The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks nuclear disasters. It has seven levels. Level 7 is a Major Accident, with only two on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a Level 8. Until now.

In this heart-stopping thriller, ordinary people—power plant employees, firefighters, teachers, families, neighbors, and friends— are thrust into an extraordinary situation as they face the ultimate test of their lives. It will take the combined courage, ingenuity, and determination of a brave few to save not only their community and loved ones, but the fate of humanity at large.