{Synopsis} – Fourteen-year-old April Mae Manning spent her life on airplanes with her flight attendant parents. When her father dies in a crash, April's mom marries a pilot who turns out to be an abusive jerk, and gets Mom confined to a psychiatric hospital. So April takes off, literally, living on airplanes, using her mother's flight benefits, relying on the flight crews who know she's been shuttling between divorcing parents for a year. Then, there's a hijacking, but why is April's “dad” on board? April flees to the cargo hold with another unaccompanied minor she's met before, and they fight to thwart the hijackers, faking a fire, making weapons from things they find in luggage. At last, locked in the cockpit with a wounded police officer, the boy, and his service dog, April tries to remember everything her parents said to do in a crisis above the clouds. But she knows it won't be enough.
{My Thoughts} – April Manning is a teenage girl that at the beginning of the book doesn’t appear to have a care in the world. When you are first introduced to her she is on an airplane sitting next to her friend Malcolm discussing airplane crash trivia. I have to admit if I were on an airplane, that is probably the last thing that I would want to be discussing with anyone. Malcolm also has in his lap and emotional support animal, his best friend a little lapdog that means the world to him and has began to mean the world to April. April and Malcolm both fly as Unaccompanied Minors in order to get to and from the location where each of their parents live on opposite sides of the States.
Their flight on this particular day along with the events that led up to this day are rather unusual circumstances. It appears that April has run into some bad luck in the karma department. She was recently kidnapped and dropped in a trunk with the corpse of one of her friends. She then boarded this plane while assumed to be on the run. This particular plane, however, was hijacked with her on board. There is a lot that transpires on this plane trip that does eventually end, just not in good favor of all those involved.
I really enjoyed reading this book as it was a wonderful page turner that easily held my interest. I enjoyed reading the story as it was happening and also April’s account of what had happened. April is an interesting character that seems to be caught in the middle of a messy divorce, Malcolm is in the same situation and then there are Flo a flight attendant that April is friends with and a few other special characters mentioned throughout the book. The thing I enjoyed most about the book is that not everyone that you meet at first are who they are in the end of the book. I highly enjoy plot twists and this book handled them exceptionally well and I look forward to reading the next book in the series in the very near future!
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
