The murderer’s perspective scenes are relatively underdrawn, and for all the globetrotting the characters experience, from New York to Dubai to Rome, there’s little vivid scenery to take in.Īs a thriller genre writer, Chris Bohjalian’s doozy writing style makes the plot intriguing.

Sometimes, the novel’s speedy narrative can be a fault. The frantic ending is a fireworks display of redemption, disclosure, and good old-fashioned gunplay. He’s stacked the story with twists, ranging from early hints to unexpected surprises. He’s mastered thriller mechanics, seamlessly transitioning from Cassie’s private paranoia to the complexities of spycraft and mercenaries to the lurid character she turns out to be. This novel marks Bohjalian’s 20th literary piece. Is Cassie framed for the murder, or has she committed the crime herself? During her layover in Dubai, after a drunken night, she wakes up, terrified, beside her hookup, who has had his throat cut open. Cassie is an alcoholic and party animal, a flight attendant who lives a glamorous and spontaneous life. The narrator describes Cassie’s internal dilemma as she tries to remember what happened the night before. Both are haunted by their fathers' legacies: Elena's father was a high-level KGB agent, Cassie's father struggled with alcoholism and died in a car accident.The renowned novel “The Flight Attendant” by the bestselling Armenian American author, Chris Bohjalian, starts with a killer hangover scene. In the book, Bohjalian makes parallels between Elena and Cassie. When the Russians find out that Elena is a double agent, they dispatch another spy to kill Cassie and Elena: Buckley (Colin Woodell), the man that Cassie has a one-night stand with in the first episode. In the book, Elena spares Cassie's life because she would prefer not to kill an innocent American, and figures she's too blackout drunk to be a threat.

What is surprising is that Elena is a double agent, who is working for the FBI.

She has already demonstrated her ruthlessness. For viewers of the show, the fact that Elena/Miranda killed Alex won't come as much of a surprise. In both the book and the TV show, Elena/Miranda is stalking Cassie to fix her own mistake from that fateful evening: Namely, sparing Cassie's life. She's a Russian spy, and she's sometimes known as-wait for it- Miranda, the name of the sharp-eyed and mysterious woman played by Michelle Gomez in The Flight Attendant. The book introduces Alex's killer in the second chapter.Įlena makes her grand debut early on in The Flight Attendant.

Novel the flight attendant