Publication Date September 10, 2024

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

I’ve enjoyed some of Liane Moriarty’s work (including 2021’s Apples Never Fall, which was a four-star for me, and which was the unusual title where I enjoyed the movie/series at least as much as I did the book – Annette Benning was awesome). So I was happy to receive a copy of Here One Moment from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

It’s an interesting premise: on a passenger airplane filled with travelers, a random woman starts going down the aisle saying things like “2027 – heart attack” or “2031 – car accident,” thereby telling people their date and cause of death. Most dismissed it as some wacko…until people who had been on that place started dying WHEN and HOW she said they would. 

So would  you have wanted to be a passenger on that plane? And if you had been, and were given that little tidbit from a complete stranger, would you change anything about how, where, with whom you spent your life? My initial reaction was along the lines of “no f-ing way.”

And maybe I have just had too much death and dying around me recently, but I was personally pretty creeped out by the whole thing. And to make things worse, I found I didn’t really care about any of the people, so for at least the first half of the book, it was a struggle just to read it. I finally decided to just go with it, and give my honest opinion. Not for me! But she has many fans and there are many people for whom this will be a top favorite, I’m sure. (I haven’t worked in public libraries for years, but I could immediately think of at least three of my former frequent library users to whom I would recommend this one!). Only three stars, just because of my personal reaction, but an entertaining read.