REVIEW: ‘The Last Flight’ by Julie Clark
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Julie Clark’s The Last Flight is a fast-paced thriller with a heart-palpitating pace and two strong protagonists, all laced with an important social commentary. These 300-plus pages are slick and economical, featuring two main characters embarking on uncertain futures and trying to stay one step ahead of abusive men. For the thrills, The Last Flight packs a satisfying wallop. For the commentary on women escaping male toxicity and violence, this book is one to remember.
Clark’s premise is intricately woven but never feels forced. Claire wants out of her marriage. She is in an abusive relationship with a well-known philanthropist who is also the son of a deceased U.S. senator, and he is the heir apparent to that Senate seat in Washington, D.C. But behind the scenes he berates Claire and abuses her.
As the story opens, Claire, boldly and bravely, has decided to leave her husband, but there’s a problem with her escape. Her husband has his tentacles in too many parts of her life, so she needs to develop her own form of witness protection. She plans to assume a new identity and go underground, hopefully never having to deal with her abuser ever again.
At a similar time, Eva is looking to assume a new identity and go underground herself. Her circumstances are different than Claire’s, but there are underlying factors that prove similar. Eva lives in the Bay Area, manufacturing drugs in her basement and selling them to a local dealer. She got hooked on the illicit industry after her time at the University of California, Berkeley crashed to a halt. The drug business seemed like the only way out of her problems, and she got in so deep, there was no turning around. Now, she wants out, but her boss, a mysterious figure who meets her in crowded athletic arenas and large parks, doesn’t seem too keen on her decision to leave.
Claire and Eva, who don’t know each other and live a country apart, meet at the airport, right at the moment when it seems like both of their plans have gone awry, but they make a human connection and can recognize a fellow person in need. So Eva takes Claire’s plane ticket, and Claire takes Eva’s. They will head off in opposite directions — one to Oakland, California, and the other to Puerto Rico — and the violent men in their lives shouldn’t know where they are and how to find them.
Clark does a masterful job of setting up this convoluted premise in a short amount of time, and she does so quite believably. On its surface, it feels like the story is too fabricated and coincidental. For example, how could these two women with similar end goals find each other anonymously in an airport? Clark has an answer for those doubts, and she is able to fill in any holes the reader might find in the story. This narrative is fairly air-tight.
But even if the story’s elements don’t exactly add up, these complex events are only half of the engagement when it comes to reading The Last Flight, which is now available from Sourcebooks. Claire and Eva are characters who offer important and brave thoughts about their respective lives — lives that have been dominated by men, riddled with harassment and violence. Their stories are not only meant to be crafty and suspenseful; they’re meant to be survivor tales.
As can be evidenced by Clark’s dedication in the book, the events and characters of The Last Flight seem influenced and inspired by the headlines that populated newspapers throughout the #MeToo movement (headlines that continue to this day as more women step forward with their stories of violence and misconduct at the hands of men in the workplace and at home). Claire’s husband in the narrative, who is the embodiment of evil and the story’s main villain, operates in a world of privilege and wealth, a world where he calls the shots and no one, especially his wife, is able to second guess him.
Escaping is Claire’s mission, and she’s willing to go the distance to achieve her goal. To help her stay one step ahead of this abusive husband, she develops several clever techniques — techniques that are classic mystery, but also interestingly modern. One example: She has the password for her husband’s Gmail account, so she’s able to watch his Google Drive, where he shares an ongoing dialogue with his loyal servant. The writing surrounding this textual exchange, and what might happen if Claire even moves her mouse in the wrong direction, is revealing and nail-bitingly intense. It’s an excellent addition to the story.
As far as the characters go, although Claire and Eva are both presented with an equal amount of text, I found myself learning more about Claire throughout the story. Eva remained a mystery. There are reasons for this that are better left unmentioned.
Most fascinating are two supporting characters who enliven the proceedings: one is Eva’s next-door neighbor, who is a professor at Berkeley and clearly cares about Eva, and the other is a barista who befriends Claire and sets her up with a catering job in her new life. Both of these supporting characters help ground the story, and the relationships that each of the protagonists has with them leads to interesting discussions and the sharing of numerous inner-thoughts.
There are undoubtedly ways that a reader can pick apart the plot of The Last Flight. On its surface, it seems a bit outlandish, but these pages are founded in a story that could actually happen (and in the case of the abuse, tragically happens on a regular basis). The world of Claire’s husband — philanthropy, an open Senate seat — is hard to identify with for the average person, but it’s important to show that criminal acts can be found behind the wealthiest and seemingly most peaceful of facades.
The Last Flight is an invigorating read with an important message that lingers far after the surprising finale.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Last Flight by Julie Clark. Sourcebooks Unlimited. $27. Click here for more information.
