Summary
Cassandra Bowden, a flight attendant on a lay over in Dubai, wakes up with a hungover in a hotel room next to a dead man. As she tries to piece together what happened the night before, she must decide what she will do next: will she call the authorities to report this murder, or will she go home to New York without telling a soul? Moreover, who was the victim, and why was he killed?
Quote
“Remember that person you wanted to be? There’s still time.”
Interesting Facts
- Chris Bohjalian got the idea for the book while he was waiting for a friend in a New York bar, after flying from Armenia earlier that day. Three threads came to his mind: alcohol, the miracle of aviation and Russia. Before his friend arrived, he had written the first 3 pages of The Flight Attendant on napkins.1
- In the book, the main character, Cassie Bowden, watches an episode of The Big Bang Theory in her hotel room in Rome. Chris Bohjalian is a big fan of the series, and Kaley Cuoco ended up playing Cassie in the limited series The Flight Attendant. She was perfect for the role.1
- The author started writing stories when he was 8 years old. In addition, his mother was a voracious reader, and he became one too.1
- His first novel, A Killing in the Real World, was published in 1988, and James Patterson wrote the blurb on the back cover.1
- Chris Bohjalian talked to a lot of flight attendants for his research, and learned crazy things about the behaviour of passengers on planes: people trying to climb over the food cart to get to the bathroom, celebrities asking flight attendants not to look them in the eye, naked passengers strolling in the aisle of the plane, etc.2
- The author recommends 5 books about air travel gone awry on Goodreads.
- To learn more about the Chris Bohjalian’s books, plays and bio, check out his website here.
1 Source: About the Authors TV
2 Source: My Talk 107.1
