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It amazed Patrick that there were so many people in this small town he did not know. Ambulance call after ambulance call was for a family he had never heard of; a house he had somehow never noticed. Houses lurked behind thick stands of maple trees; driveways sneaked out from behind granite outcroppings; new people moved to town without notifying Patrick. In fact, if he went by the last names of ambulance calls this year, the entire town consisted of sick strangers.
Patrick is an eager 17-year-old EMT. Heidi is a directionless rich girl who feels like a disappointment to her parents, who are currently traveling for their glamorous jobs. When a plane crashes behind Heidi’s house and Patrick is the first rescuer on scene, the two teenagers experience six hours that change their lives.
This book both fulfilled everything you want from this premise—the snapshots of the passengers and their families pre-crash, the ensemble of people from completely different lives suddenly forced to interact, the intensity and suspense of the rescue, the fascinating details and difficulties of how the rescue works, people pulling together (or not) under intense pressure—and also had something I wasn’t expecting, which was a really charming narrative voice.
The details of how a rescue like this would work under these circumstances and the psychology of rescuers were absolutely dead-on. I've worked on first responder teams. The way they all leap to show up at a potentially exciting call and delight in it even while feeling slightly guilty that their crowning moment is someone else's worst day ever was absolutely accurate, and not something often shown in fiction.
All the characters were vivid, even in brief sketches, and there were moments of humor, dark or otherwise, whenever possible. Despite the large amount of death, the depiction of the many people working together was uplifting without being saccharine.
I loved Heidi's time-compressed transformation from an under appreciated girl drifting through life to a girl who rises to the occasion and finds her purpose. I especially liked how her many crowning moments of awesome all involved logistics rather than life-risking traditional heroics. She knows her parents' property inside and out, and comes up with clever solutions to problems like "how multiple large rescue vehicles get to a crash site whose access is blocked by a bunch of stone walls, a steep icy slope, and a very narrow driveway?"
If the premise appeals at all, I promise you will enjoy this. It was so much better than I expected, with so many fun little touches and human moments that lifted it above just being what it needed to be—and many books don’t even reach the latter bar! I now want to read more of her books. Her style was just so enjoyable.
Engagement with premise: A+. Delivers everything it promises, and does it better than it really has to.
Contains non-graphic dog and child death.
Caroline Cooney wrote a ton of books in multiple genres, all of which I missed as a kid except the Girl on the Milk Carton. I'd like to read more by her. What do you recommend or dis-recommend?
Flight 116 Is Down (Point)
Patrick is an eager 17-year-old EMT. Heidi is a directionless rich girl who feels like a disappointment to her parents, who are currently traveling for their glamorous jobs. When a plane crashes behind Heidi’s house and Patrick is the first rescuer on scene, the two teenagers experience six hours that change their lives.
This book both fulfilled everything you want from this premise—the snapshots of the passengers and their families pre-crash, the ensemble of people from completely different lives suddenly forced to interact, the intensity and suspense of the rescue, the fascinating details and difficulties of how the rescue works, people pulling together (or not) under intense pressure—and also had something I wasn’t expecting, which was a really charming narrative voice.
The details of how a rescue like this would work under these circumstances and the psychology of rescuers were absolutely dead-on. I've worked on first responder teams. The way they all leap to show up at a potentially exciting call and delight in it even while feeling slightly guilty that their crowning moment is someone else's worst day ever was absolutely accurate, and not something often shown in fiction.
All the characters were vivid, even in brief sketches, and there were moments of humor, dark or otherwise, whenever possible. Despite the large amount of death, the depiction of the many people working together was uplifting without being saccharine.
I loved Heidi's time-compressed transformation from an under appreciated girl drifting through life to a girl who rises to the occasion and finds her purpose. I especially liked how her many crowning moments of awesome all involved logistics rather than life-risking traditional heroics. She knows her parents' property inside and out, and comes up with clever solutions to problems like "how multiple large rescue vehicles get to a crash site whose access is blocked by a bunch of stone walls, a steep icy slope, and a very narrow driveway?"
If the premise appeals at all, I promise you will enjoy this. It was so much better than I expected, with so many fun little touches and human moments that lifted it above just being what it needed to be—and many books don’t even reach the latter bar! I now want to read more of her books. Her style was just so enjoyable.
Engagement with premise: A+. Delivers everything it promises, and does it better than it really has to.
Contains non-graphic dog and child death.
Caroline Cooney wrote a ton of books in multiple genres, all of which I missed as a kid except the Girl on the Milk Carton. I'd like to read more by her. What do you recommend or dis-recommend?
Flight 116 Is Down (Point)
