Oh boy, does Cassie Bowden have baggage to check. The title character of The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday. $25. www.chrisbohjalian.com), ushers readers into a turbulent behind-the-scenes look at the lives of cabin crew members and a pitiless profile of a woman destined for a psychological crash landing.
After a drunken blackout during a layover in Dubai, Bowden wakes up naked in a hotel bed next to the throat-slashed corpse of a passenger from her last flight. Now a suspect in the murder of a potential Russian agent, she spins herself into a web of intrigue across three continents, still finding time to hook up with more handsome strangers, steal souvenirs from hotel rooms, and impulsively lie to her friends, family, and lawyer.
While structured as a thriller, the novel is strongest as a character study Cassie is a hot, frighteningly believable mess, as endangered by alcoholism as by espionage. Bohjalian nails the floating loneliness that can affect flight crew members and all business road warriors amidst their untethered schedules; mixed with a splash of self-loathing it can lead to a life on the rocks.
