The Last Flight by Julie Clark

4 stars | The Last Flight | Julie Clark | June 2020

Claire is married to a man who is from a rich and famous political family and he also has major political goals for his life. However, he is cruel and physically and emotionally abusive. Claire carefully plans an escape for months but her plans go awry and she feels the dread of her future as she is sent to Puerto Rico instead of her original planned itinerary. At the airport to go to Puerto Rico, Eva, our second character, who is running away from danger, approaches Claire and convinces her to trade tickets. They look alike and could easily trade identification. Claire agrees and heads to Oakland. When she gets off the plane, she discovers that the flight she was supposed to be on to Puerto Rico has crashed with no survivors. Claire proceeds to step into Eva's life since they also traded keys and wallets. Of course, you realize that this is probably not safe! The story is told from alternating view points of the two women and with different time lines.

I typically don't pick up thrillers but this sounded intriguing. It wasn't so intense that I couldn't sleep...but I also could not put it down! The women in these stories are enslaved to lives they desperately want to change but it is almost impossible for them to find their own happiness and yet they try anyway. I really liked this book and rated it 4 stars. It was a great vacation read. .