Book Review: ‘The Falling Woman: A Novel’ By Richard Farrell

A plane explodes over Kansas on a flight from Washington to San Francisco and one woman might have survived it. Now the NTSB is on the case trying to figure out what happened to the plane and to identify the bodies.

Charlie Radford is part of the investigating team. He wanted to be a pilot but a medical condition derailed this. He is in charge of identifying and piecing together the bodies. There are 123 total he needs to figure out. Then word comes that a woman has been found on a nearby farm and taken to the hospital. But how could this be? Could she have survived falling from the explosion in the sky? By the time he gets to the hospital she has left and no one knows who she is or where she went.

A few cases over the years have shown that people have survived this fall. Charlie is placed on this case to find the woman and figure out if she really fell or it is fake news. He also has to deal with his wife and a personal issue they have going on. Charlie isn’t having much luck until someone comes forward with information. Now Charlie must decide once he finds her if he will expose her or let her live her life in peace (she has secrets of her own).

Author Richard Farrell is a former pilot and it shows in his writing. This story is intriguing and with well-written characters that you root for. I couldn’t put the book down! A fun summer read.

You can pick up The Falling Woman in stores on Tuesday, June 23rd from Algonquin Books.