Rushing back to her seat, Makayla Rossi is relieved that all’s still quiet. But when she checks on her sleeping baby, relief morphs into fear. The bassinet is empty.
Liam is gone.
It was a long flight from Anchorage to New York, and with every flight attendant busy, Makayla reluctantly ran to the restroom, asking a seat neighbor to watch her son. She stepped away for just a few minutes. Yet at thirty thousand feet, he still vanished.
Passengers and crew scour the plane to no avail, and since no one recalls seeing her with a baby, suspicions begin to mount about Makayla’s mental state. She’s certain this is nothing like her mother’s on-air memory meltdown. If only Jack, her husband, were there. He would believe her. A high-profile banker featured in Forbes, maybe he could even help.
But Makayla is squarely on her own. And she’ll have to think fast in order to find her son—before it’s too late.
Missing in Flight is an edge-of-your-seat locked-room thriller centered on a baby going missing during a flight. The story follows Makayla Rossi, who boards a red-eye flight from Anchorage to New York with her infant son, Liam. After briefly using the restroom, she returns to find her baby missing. The crew and passengers deny ever seeing him, leading Makayla into a nightmarish scenario where she has to prove that Liam was real and that she is not losing her grip on reality. When the FBI gets involved, they learn Makayla’s late mother suffered from transient global amnesia and her husband manages investments for the ultra-rich—and suddenly the case becomes more complex.
The novel is fast-paced, with short chapters and a suspenseful plot from beginning to end—the high-stakes drama, psychological tension, and the need to know the outcome of the missing infant make this one unputdownable! The confined airplane is a unique setting for a locked room thriller, and coupled with Makayla’s hysteria, it creates a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere!
The story is told from multiple POVs, including that of Makayla, Jack (husband), Jane (FBI), and Anna (co-pilot), allowing readers to analyze the reality of events from a multi-dimensional perspective and in different locations. Makayla is the epitome of an unreliable narrator. From the first chapter, she comes across as an exhausted mother who’s indecisive. When she realizes Liam is missing, she is quick to point fingers, making her appear somewhat unhinged.
Through Makayla’s frantic inner monologues, readers get to question the suspicious passengers alongside her—and knowing who to trust becomes more difficult as the story unfolds. As the crew searches in vain and then learns of Makayla’s mother’s transient global amnesia, they start to doubt Makayla, and the search isn’t taken as seriously, sending Makayla further spiraling into panic and eventually getting herself in trouble.
Narrator Renata Friedman does a great job voicing this audiobook. She uses a tone infused with tension and uncertainty to portray Makayla, combined with well-placed emotional outbursts and good pacing to maximize all the drama. Friedman also provides distinct character voices and makes POV switches very seamless.
As you may expect from the synopsis, you’ll have to suspend your disbelief at several plot points, especially with the far-fetched conclusion. Putting that aside, the engrossing story and relentless pace make this book entertaining and a perfect binge read. If you’ve enjoyed Audrey J. Cole’s previous books or are a fan of locked room mysteries, psychological suspense, and you don’t mind suspending your disbelief for high-stakes entertainment, then you’ll really enjoy this book!
