T.J. Newman returns with a novel that’s on par with summer movie blockbusters

Time is a precious commodity and some readers need to be hooked from page one. T.J. Newman ‘s 2021 debut novel “Falling” begins with a sentence that blasts out of a cannon: “When the shoe dropped in her lap the foot was still in it.” The novel — about a pilot whose family will be killed if he doesn’t crash the plane he’s flying — had an equally fast trajectory to the bestseller list. With Newman’s second book, “Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421,” out Tuesday, she again starts with a bang: “Will Kent opened his eyes just to see the engine explode.” In “Drowning,” a plane crashes into the ocean shortly after takeoff and its survivors, including a father and his young daughter, race against the clock to be rescued before the plane sinks. The events unfold from various points of view because, as Newman says, “every person is the lead character in their story, you put them in an enclosed environment on a plane, add a central conflict, and you’ve got a rich, fully fleshed-out.” Newman says she’s “obsessed with the reader experience” and feels satisfaction if her books are devoured in big gulps. Newman gets to work closely on the adaptations, too: She is writing the screenplay for “Falling” and will be an executive producer on “Drowning.” In an interview that’s been condensed for clarity and brevity, Newman discussed why women in the action-thriller space are rarities and how working as a flight attendant for 10 years informs her writing.