Layover by David Bell

Layover by David Bell
Berkley Publishing Group, July 2 2019
Mystery & Thrillers
Review Copy via NetGalley

In this high concept psychological suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter, a chance meeting with a woman in an airport sends a man on a pulse-pounding quest for the truth.

Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person.

What follows is a whirlwind, fast-paced journey filled with lies, deceit, and secrets as Joshua tries to discover why Morgan has vanished from her own life. Every time he thinks one mystery is solved, another rears its head—and his worst enemy might be his own assumptions about those around him.

Review of Somebody's Daughter by David Bell can be found here.

I am enjoying the suspense/thriller genre over the past few years because they aren't supposed to put me to sleep with facts and minutia, but this one was a little more wordy with a lot less suspense. Maybe that is what "high concept" means in the blurb, I am not sure. This story was about a chance meeting at an airport between a totally boring dude who is completely bored with life in general and meets a mysterious girl with a floppy hat in an airport. He becomes a creeper and stalks her and feels like one good kiss means he should ignore the very important business meeting he is supposed to go to with his boring dad and follow this girl from the bathroom to a different flight. She tells him to get the heck away from her and yet he still continues to follow her around.

If you ignore the fact that none of this would happen in real life then you can try and appreciate the other narrative of the detective in charge of tracking down the same person that is the creepy guy's new love interest. Turns out Morgan is a missing girl possibly responsible for the disappearance of her ex-boss and now the creepy dude doesn't know if she is a good person or a bad person or just really good in bed.

All in all, an interesting plot but personally I find it hard to "care" when the characters themselves do not offer any reason for me to root for them. There was no real reason for me to like boring dude, or the person of interest Morgan, and there was not a whole lot from the detective except to hope she gets to see her kid's soccer match someday. If you are on a layover and need a quick read, this one is great for that. Plenty of concourse and terminals for your pleasure.

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