Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

This is another book club title. It is not something that I would normally read, but I just loved it.  The novel is beautifully written with a cinematic sweep, and the author sets up a truly compelling story line.

A private jet crashes into the water shortly after taking off from Martha's Vineyard on a short commuter flight to New York.  On board is the CEO of a controversial cable news network, his wife, two children and body guard; the senior partner of a financial firm who is currently under investigation by the Treasury Department and his wife; a recovering alcoholic painter who is hoping for a comeback; and the crew.  Only two people survive.

Representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, the Treasury Department, and the plane's manufacturer, all try to establish the reason for the crash, but each comes to the task with their own biases. And media outlets are circling the crash and its survivors like sharks sensing blood in the water.

The brilliance of this novel is that it combines a compellingly page-turning mystery with a thoughtful (and sometimes hilarious) indictment of the 24 hour news cycle and info-tainment entities similar to Fox News, the emergence of the super-wealthy, and celebrity culture. Along the way the author also manages to muse on the essence of heroism; the nature of truth in the age of artifice; and the role of art in the age of truthiness.

However there was much debate in my bookclub on whether the final explanation of the crash and resolution of conflicts were satisfying.  I personally thought the ending was logical and illuminated many of the themes in the novel, but others in the group felt that it was too abrupt or not psychologically convincing.  Any novel that tries to encompass so much will inevitably leave some unsatisfied, and I don't necessary think it is an indictment of a writer's craft for the reader to wish that he had spent more time exploring a particular character or theme.

Four and a half out of five smileys. 😀😀😀😀😶