10/10

In this thriller, a group of
strangers find themselves bound together in the aftermath of a catastrophe
that’s reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks.

Caleb Drake takes the train from his
residential suburb to Manhattan for work each day—a routine that’s typically
uneventful. But on Oct. 10, he notices two small planes flying uncommonly low
over the Hudson River, which turns out to be a harbinger of trouble. The train
suddenly stops, and the frazzled passengers quickly discover that almost no one
has cellphone service—and they’re certain that something terrible has happened
when the train’s conductor, Charlie Murray, announces an order from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security for everyone to remain on board. Unconfirmed
rumors swirl like swarms of bees—maybe there was an explosion, there are
evacuations underway—sending the train’s passengers into a spiraling panic. James
Roth, one particularly agitated man, flees in defiance of the lockdown, intent
on closing a billion-dollar deal in the city. Others quickly follow his lead,
including Caleb and Rachel Silver, a real estate agent who seems to have the
only working cellphone. Debut author Mott impressively unfurls a complex, suspenseful
plot that launches with what turns out to be a terror attack. Caleb and
Rachel are later drawn toward each other romantically, as both feel stuck in
marriages that have lost their luster. Also, the death of Charlie’s father—who
has a heart attack after someone steals his car—pulls the characters into
what’s effectively a murder investigation. The author cleverly braids the lives
of the various players into a coherent narrative tapestry, and he astutely
dramatizes how crises can inspire promises that are abandoned later on. Caleb
is tortured by his failure to fulfill his own pledges (“Don’t be trapped inside
a haphazardly built life, a mind-numbing routine scraped together with bits and
pieces of detritus from other people’s lives”), and Mott movingly depicts his struggle. However, Roth comes off
as more of a cartoonish caricature—pure hubris incarnate—and readers may
find his shallowness hard to believe.

A gripping and psychologically sharp
crime drama.