Contemporary fiction
Here One Moment
by Liane Moriarty
Quick take
In her latest, Liane Moriarty poses the question: what would you do if you knew how and when you’d die?
Good to know
Emotional
Fast read
400+ pages
Multiple viewpoints
Synopsis
If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?
Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
Content warning
This book contains mentions of suicide.
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of Here One Moment.
Why I love it
Jerrod MacFarlane
BOTM Editorial Team
When I spend quality time with friends, I love jumping into long conversations and debates about big “What If” questions. It’s a fun way of sharing the unique and strange ways we each see the world, and it often takes us into some very interesting directions. In her latest novel, Liane Moriarty builds a story around the ultimate what-if: What would you do if you knew when and how you were going to die?
Here One Moment begins on a domestic flight that is briefly delayed but otherwise seemingly unremarkable. That is, until one passenger begins sharing oddly specific predictions, letting other passengers on the flight know exactly when and how they will take their last breath. Nobody can recall her boarding or much about her appearance, but her prophecies quickly take on real gravity. Many people’s deaths she predicts far off in the future, but not everyone…
A few months after the flight, one of the passengers dies exactly as foretold. Then two more in quick succession. Suddenly no one is joking about the woman they now call “The Death Lady” or her predictions. These revelations send many of the passengers from the flight into grappling with how to respond to their destiny and questioning if fate can be sidestepped.
In classic Moriarty fashion, Here One Moment is a big book chock-full of interesting characters and unexpected twists and turns that will have you pondering what you might do if forced to confront destiny head-on. Don’t miss out.