October Book Club Pick - The Last Flight

The October book club pick was The Last Flight by Julie Clark, and it was such a page turner. If you are looking for a quick and easy read, with tons of cliff hanging chapters, and a great story, this book is for you.

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

It’s about a women named Claire Cook, who’s the wife of a rich and powerful politician, spending her time contributing to the efforts of her husband’s legendary family, attending lavish events and fundraisers to help their cause. Or so it seems. It may look like they are a loving couple, committed to their work, but behind closed doors, she’s living in fear of her husband’s temper and control over her life. When she finds an opportunity to disappear, she takes it. In the airport, on the way to an event, she’s approached by another woman, Eva, with an equally strong urge to disappear. They decide to switch identities in hopes to start new lives, but Claire comes to find out, that Eva was keeping her own dark secrets.

Oktoberfest Book Club Meeting

The weather was so nice, so we decided to have our October book club meeting at our local brewery. Oktoberfest started that night and we thought it would be great to enjoy our meeting together and then have the families meet us up afterwards to enjoy the event.

We were super excited to talk about this one since we flew threw it and it was fresh in our minds.

Warning, spoilers below this point!

What We Thought of The Last Flight

The book started of strong and the first few chapters we could not put down. A few of us agreed that it got slow in the middle as the plot was starting to thicken, but it picked back up for the rest of the book. The character development was great and the relationships between all the characters felt genuine which made us like them right away. We all fell in love with Liz’s character immediately. The situations and the story felt thought out and realistic, which we appreciated. In our discussion, we talked about the girls switching identities in the bathroom and what it would be like to hand over everything, phone, wallet, purse, and that felt raw and real. There was also the tie in to Rory’s involvement in his ex’s murder that we felt was a good close to the story, although a bit abrupt, we liked it. We also loved that the story tied everything together and didn’t leave any holes. The ending, even though it was rough to read as we all wanted Eva make it, was also really beautiful and a great twist that kept us wondering throughout the story.

We’d rate this one a 4.5 out of 5.

The Last Flight Questions:

This book actually provided questions, which I thought was great! I love to tailor these questions based on how I see the conversation naturally flowing. We rarely ever go question by question, but they trigger conversations and thoughts and so I included some of my favorite questions from the book below, added a few of my own into the mix and reordered them based on how our discussion went.

How did you feel after reading Eva’s final chapter?
Did you believe she made it off the plane? Do you think there was anything different she could have done?
Claire and Eva are both women put into situations that stem from the actions of powerful men. In what ways does the story showcase this and affect the way their stories play out?
How do you feel about Eva’s decision to manipulate Claire?
Put yourself in Claire’s shoes. Would you have made the same decisions as she did when faced with the difficult obstacles in her way? What would you have done differently?
How do you think you would feel if you traded your life for someone who’s lost theirs? Would you feel guilty or fortunate? Why?
What do you think about the relationship between Liz and Eva? What did their friendship mean to Eva, especially during her final thoughts as she boarded the plane.
What did you think about Claire’s decision to go public with her story? Were you surprised by how she handled her situation? Would you have handled it differently?
There are a lot of influential women in this story—Danielle, Petra, Kelly, Liz, Eva, Claire. Was there a character that you felt you connected with the most?