Last year I was scheduled to fly to New York just a few days after the release of my latest thriller. The bookstore in the Nashville airport had my book prominently displayed on the top shelf right by its entrance. (In the interest of full disclosure, they were arranged alphabetically, which put me on the top shelf…ahead of someone like Dan Brown who sells many fewer books than I do.) After making sure to photograph the display from many different angles, including several that hid my thinning hair, I walked to my gate. But when I looked back, I saw a woman staring at the display. And then…she picked up my book and started examining it.
What was I to do? Simply head to my flight and assume the best—that the woman naturally bought my book instead of someone else’s? Are you kidding? Do you think I’d ever be that emotionally healthy? Of course I turned around and went back to observe this situation, sort of like Jane Goodall studying animals in the wild. I was dying to know—why would someone pick one book over the other? Would it be strange to go up to her and give her my elevator pitch? Would she think I’d been standing there all day?
In the end, she put my book down and bought another one. From the second shelf. (Watch your back, Michael Connelly.) But did that mean that my book was less of an “airport thriller” than Connelly’s? What is an airport thriller after all? At one time, an airport book meant a very specific thing. These were long, entertaining novels that someone could buy in an airport and read during the course of a long flight without being too intellectually taxed. Think Arthur Hailey or James Michener.
But aren’t we due to expand or completely make over the definition of an airport thriller? Is it a book set in an airport? One you buy in an airport? One you read on a plane? My new novel, Layover, partially takes place in planes and airports, but it is also meant to be read at a rapid-fire pace, which has led several reviewers to say it’s “the perfect book for a long flight.” But is that all it takes to make an airport novel?
Or can we make it as simple as possible? An airport book is whatever you want to read to distract and entertain yourself during the time you spend sitting in the terminal or squished into an increasingly tiny seat next to a complete stranger who wants to hog the armrest. Here are some books that entertained me on airplanes. I hope you check them out whether you’re in the air or on the ground:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
This one fits the above definition of a classic airport book. Okay, it actually fits the definition of a Martian landing book because you could go to Mars and back and still not finish this one. It’s that long. But you won’t notice the length at all. You simply won’t be able to put this book down. It’s about all the big things—identity, greed, and, yes, sweet, delicious revenge. When the person in front of you on the plane feels the need to recline their seat into your lap, you can use this book as a guide to how to get back at them. Slowly and painfully. I’m kidding. Maybe…
Tear Me Apart by JT Ellison
What’s the scariest thing for any of us to contemplate? Okay, for me it’s my own mortality, but after that it would be the idea that the people we think we know the best aren’t who they appear to be. In this case, the always entertaining Ellison shocks us first when a couple finds out their daughter isn’t really their daughter. And from there the secrets and lies unravel faster than the girl at the center of the mystery can ski down the slopes. You’ll turn the pages on this one faster than you can knock off a bag of those airline pretzels. And just like the pretzels…you’ll want more!
Who Killed These Girls? by Beverly Lowry
I picked this true crime masterpiece up in an airport because I thought the cover and title were intriguing. I think I read this book faster than any other book I’ve read in my life. This one is perfectly written and deeply researched, a sad but true tale about justice delayed and lives ripped apart. And it will have you completely absorbed as the miles and the minutes tick by.
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer
Okay, so Norman Mailer was a bit crazy. And Gary Gilmore murdered two people in cold blood. Combine the two and you get a riveting epic about crime, punishment, the justice system, the media, the lonely west and the chattering east. One of the best books I’ve ever read.
The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
I’m sorry to report that Olivia does fall. But she falls off a bridge and not out of a plane, so this one won’t increase your aviophobia. However, it will increase your paranoia that the people in your family and in your life have secrets you don’t know about. And McDonald unravels the surprises at a perfect pace. But be warned…you might find yourself gasping out loud or gripping the arm of the flyer next to you. Make sure it’s someone you know…
The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda
This book does what so many great thrillers do—it takes a world that looks idyllic (in this case an exclusive oceanfront neighborhood in Orange County) and strips the top layer off so we can see all the secrets underneath. While the secrets aren’t always pretty, the plot is full of delicious surprises, and the story deals with universal issues we can all relate to—family, community, marriage. Don’t miss this book. But don’t get so absorbed in the story that you miss your boarding announcement.
