This was a brilliant read. I devoured 279 pages in one night. Then, I finished it the next day. The story is told through each of the characters, and the chapters are short, which I personally prefer. The final call is a gripping thriller full of suspense and extremely fast-paced. We meet a woman hell bent on getting answers for what happened in the past, and she will not stop until she has them. She is not afraid of death, jail, or any outcomes. I ended up on her side towards the end. Theres some really nasty characters in this story who think money can solve all their problems, which isn't always the case. I really enjoyed it. Would highly recommend. A well-deserved four stars from me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishing for a copy of “ Final Call “ for an honest review..

Alex Lake’s previous books were really suspenseful and fast paced, and this latest is no exception.
From the start of the story we know that the Pilot of the plane has Issues with one of the passengers, but which one and why ?
It’s the sort of book where you need to suspend belief , and just enjoy the journey
A great quick read

What a complex novel this is and so utterly compelling to read.

Characters that you think are definitely evil, may not be and others seemingly harmless could really have a much darker side to them.

I was never sure exactly who was at fault for anything until it was all revealed.

There are many points of view and it meant we got to a see a very rounded view of everything.

There is a lot going on, but at the same time it all fits together so incredibly well and there was a real sense of peril and intrigue throughout.

Very addictive, I whizzed through reading this, from an auto read thriller author for me. I can't wait for their next book.

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Final Call by Alex Lake was a brilliant standalone psychological thriller
which is about on board a private jet. Everyone from the Food company execs on the jet just thought it was just a simple flight home.

Whilst, heading home after a busy conference, the senior leadership of a global corporation is relaxed on their private jet ahead of their Christmas break, with drinks flowing and they can't wait to get home to their families.

Then a flash of fear.........their happiness and peace is shattered when they all realise their jet isn’t taking them home. Instead, it’s heading east—out over the Atlantic Ocean.

A journey of terror for them all!

They thought it was a simple flight home. The pilot had other plans…

Things now go from bad to worse, when their pilot tells them she is going to crash into the ocean if one of them doesn’t confess to murder…..........But of whom?

So buckle up, it's going to be some turbulence along the way.

Final Call was a great page turner from the beginning till the end. This was a book that kept me guessing till the end, with great twists and turns which made it an excellent book and great for your holidays Maybe not when flying!!!!

Alex's book are always an excellent read but this one kept me on my toes......

I highly recommend Final Call. This book was so Good!

Big Thank you to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If there’s one thing guaranteed to set my teeth on edge when reading a thriller, it’s sloppy plotting. I can’t stand it. And this latest book from Alex Lake is a perfect example. With some baffling inconsistencies and at least one plot hole big enough to drive a tank through, I’m afraid it had amateur written all over it.

And what a shame, as the premise was so enticing.

Food company execs on a private jet are informed by the pilot that they’ve been hijacked, and that unless one of them confesses to murder, their plane will be crashed into the ocean.

Sounds great, right? Confined space, life or death situation, tempers fraying, tension rising, time running out. It seems to have all the hallmarks of a butt-clenching read.

And to a degree, it did.

Lake is very easy to read. Short chapters, dual timelines, multiple POVs. It’s not hard to get drawn into the drama. And for a while I was fooled.

It wasn’t hard to make the connection between the two timelines: the December 2022 hijacking and the 2018 tragedy in Barrow, Maine, where three 5 year-olds die after ingesting a toxic substance. Everything pointed to a mouth-watering revenge thriller.

Until nothing held together.

I didn’t mind that most of the characters on the plane were loathsome, and increasingly so as the story progressed. What I struggled with was the 2018 timeline and in particular the actions of the main protagonist. She simply wasn’t credible. Plus, so much was left unexplained. Even at the end, the loose threads were left hanging.

By all means, read this and make up your own mind. But be prepared to be asked to completely suspend disbelief. Oh, and hold on to those eyeballs. You don’t want them rolling right out of your head.

Final Call is a compulsive standalone psychological thriller set on board a private jet in which Lake ratchets up the tension notch by notch with each turn of the page. Whole Foods is one of the biggest food companies on the globe, so to make life more convenient for their higher-level employees they have a private company jet ready at the drop of a hat when needed. It's coming up to Christmas and the seven seats on board are full as the plane disappears down the runway - heading to Portland, Maine. There is Jill Stearns, the company CEO, who is separated from her husband and has a grown-up daughter, Mila; Charles "Chip" Markham, the CFO who deals with the money side of things; Marcia Fournier, a 60-year-old married alcoholic who was once in a relationship with her boss Chip; Varun Miller is the company lawyer; Kevin Anderson, a 48-year-old Chief Operations Officer and ladies man; Jeff Ramos, who is ex-special forces; and nurse, Mary Jo Fernandez are each on board. However, we learn immediately that their normal scheduled pilot has been targeted by the one now at the helm - she calls herself Sarah Daniels and her plan to take over the plane had been in the making for years. The tension builds as the passengers discover the wifi will not work and then that the plane is going in a direction opposite to the one it should be travelling and panic begins to ensue. It isn't long before Daniels introduces herself and tells them she wants to play a game.

We then transition to chapters set three years earlier in Barrow, Maine in 2018 where Stacy Evanston, her husband Dan and her daughter, five-year-old Cherry, live. The family are about to move to South Carolina in a fortnight and before they leave Stacy is excited to tell Dan she is pregnant as they have been trying to get pregnant again for a while and she had just found out that they have succeeded. One day, she receives a call at work from Carol Smalling, the principal at Cherry's school who said she had taken ill with a fever and vomiting and that had called an ambulance to take her to the hospital as she had become unconscious. From this moment on both plot strands continue to scream with tension, and each continues separately before converging and it becomes clear how they are connected as well as the people in them. This is a gripping, suspenseful read from the moment you pick it up and it doesn't let up with the twists, turns and sudden reveals until the denouement. Lake is in fine form and has penned a fast-paced thriller with short chapters making it very difficult to put down; I finished it within a single night. The characters, like in many stories of this nature, are not particularly likeable for the most part, but that has never bothered me. What matters is they are fleshed out just enough to be engaging. A clever, absorbing read on the power grudges and a need for revenge can have over us.