In contrast to all those Liane Moriarty fans out there, I cannot muster much enthusiasm for ‘Here One Moment’. The author takes the ideas of determinism and fate and explores them through the development of the lives of a group of random travellers, all confronted with their own mortality – possibly – during a plane flight to Sydney.
The opening section of the novel introduces us to various individuals as they respond to news of a flight delay. Once airborne, Cherry, an innocuous-looking woman in her sixties begins to walk down the aisle, pronouncing on the age and circumstance of death for each traveller. Not only did I find this beyond unbelievable; at times this part of the novel also feels like a self-conscious creative writing exercise with an irritating over-reliance on repetitive form and structure. Very surprising for an author as experienced and skilled as Moriarty.
Rather than looking forward to uncovering how the many different characters would live their lives, after specific knowledge of their own mortality, I found myself caring very little about any of them. I’m not sure what Moriarty was hoping that the reader might learn from this novel. Certainly, we are encouraged to embrace the motto ‘carpe diem’ but there’s nothing new about that.
My thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I always enjoy Liane Moriarty's books so looked forward to this one immensely. I was not disappointed. Yes there are quite a lot of characters to get your head around and I did find it a little irritating initially that the narrator changed almost mid sentence in some cases. However, this aside 'Here One Moment' stole my heart. I waited with each person on that plane to see if their death date arrived as predicted. I cried with Cherry as she cried with each of life's disappointments. And the ending just broke me. A beautiful, life affirming, sad story you would be silly to miss. Easily 5 stars from me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

A friend had the perfect description by saying it’s like a John Marrs thriller, combined with the superior writing from Liane Moriarty.

Imagine getting on a flight and mid-way, you get given your time and cause of death instead of warm nuts and a glass of wine. The “psychic” making these predictions is a harmless fellow passenger who is probably just having a breakdown.

No one really believes her, right? Right?

Lots of characters, lots of ways to die. Part mystery, a bit of introspection, a lot of thrill and just a teensy dramatic. The further I read the more I loved it.

I will definitely actively recommend this to my Goodreads community as well as Bookclub

On a flight from Hobart to Sydney a lady walks through the aisles of the plane sprinkling predictions on each passenger like fairy dust. This earns her the title Death Lady. Upon landing, the passengers are trying not to take the foretellings too seriously and navigate through life.

Liane Moriarty's easy, effortless flow style of writing drew me right in from the very beginning. And this book, being a Liane Moriarty read, didn't disappoint. Each character is written with compassion, understanding, and intelligence. I utterly adored it.

Liane Moriarty is an auto-read for me, and thousands of others I am aware. That said, while she came out strong with The Husbands Secret and What Alice Forgot, I did find she fell a bit flat around Nine Perfect Strangers and Truly Madly Guilty (I am Truly Madly Guilty of not recalling the plot for that one at all). But she came back kicking with Apples Never Fall which I love loved so I had high hopes for Here One Moment, anticipating it would be another well rated read for me - and it WAS. Boy, could I not put this novel down. Ultimately, Here One Moment is a surprisingly heartwarming read: a portrayal of loss, including but (surprisingly given the plot) not limited to death, as well as hope, resilience and our innate ability to get through anything and everything life throws our way. The plot was fascinating, both Cherry’s life (a character I adored) and those that were dealt their age and cause of death. Throughout this I kept thinking HOW is Moriarty going to conclude this, other than everyone dying as predicted; surely that’s not what’s going on here. Well, what a fantastic way to have me up reading til 3:30am! No spoilers here but all I can say is wow, what at ending; a clever but not-too-perfect way to wrap this up that kept the surprises coming until the very last page. 5 very well deserved stars!

I always enjoy a Liane Moriarty book but was unprepared for how much this one would pull me in. The characters were well developed, with the growing feeling of impending doom following the predictions, really began to matter. I thought it was well plotted and well resolved. Thanks to .

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title.
I have been a long time reader do Liane Moriarty and always hope that the next book will be amazing, unfortunately I haven’t been wowed recently.
The story is lacklustre, the characters don’t feel interesting and the concept just doesn’t draw you in.

It was laboured and some of it felt a little clumsy (the mental illness of the mum of the young child). I did finish it, and it would be a fine holiday read but it’s not one I would rave about.

Having loved Liane Moriarty's books for years, I was quite disappointed by her latest offering. The slow pacing in Here One Moment means the exposition lasts for over a hundred pages and so many characters are thrown at your with minimal distinctions that it becomes a headache to follow. The constant switching of perspectives and the high volume of voices meant that this book was challenging to settle into. I found myself reluctant to pick it up and whilst I enjoyed the concept of the 'death dates' and the lengths people will go to when faced with mortality, this book almost put me in a reading slump. The ending was the best part!

The narrative starts on a flight with a long delay, introducing us to the array of passengers who are all eager to get to their destination, most irritated, some very disgruntled, by the delay to their plans and commitments. As the plan finally asscends, an older inconspicuous woman, begins to make her way down the aisle, pointing at each passenger, and calmly predicting their age and cause of death. The reactions are mixed—shock, skepticism, disbelief. Once the plane lands, the story shifts into an exploration of what happens next. We follow several of the passengers and see how these chilling predictions begin to affect their lives. The narrative also shares the backstory of Cherry, the mysterious “death lady,” shedding light on how she came to possess such a strange ability—or belief.

This book is a thought-provoking look at how we live our lives. It delves into questions of fate versus free will, and whether knowing our end would change the way we live. It’s an exploration of whether we choose to live in hope or let fear take over, and it does so in a way that’s both engaging and unsettling. It is certainly a book that lingers in your mind.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Liannw Moriarty and Penguin Random House UK for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book as an ARC.

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
A really fantastic book that combines wonderful storytelling with a touch of the fantastic - or is it? It’s very much up to the reader to take what they want from the story, and I suspect different people will come away with different views on it.
If you enjoy fredrik Backman and the way he writes deeply colourful characters with interlocking stories, you will surely enjoy this also.

This is my favourite Liane Moriarty for a while, she really hooked me from the first page and I absolutely loved reading everyone's different stories as time passed, and how they converged at times. It speaks to this age of internet hype and the way we let things get into our heads and dominate our decisions, and change what we see as rational. It also speaks to those whose beliefs are more spiritual - not necessarily religious, but with regard to the spirits and to psychic phenomenon.
I had such fun reading this book, as well as thinking a lot about my own interests and beliefs, that I now have this on the list of books I will be gifting at Christmas - it's just one of those books that keeps you rolling right to the end.

When a plane from Hobart to Sydney is delayed, the passengers are obviously disgruntled. But when the plane finally takes off, and a random older woman proceeds to walk along the plane, pointing at each passenger and predicting age of death and cause of death, people are sceptical, shocked, surprised.
When the plane lands we follow the fortunes of various passengers and see the impact the prediction has on their lives.
Interspersed with this, is the story of Cherry (not Cheryl), the “death lady” on the plane, which explains how she came to be making the predictions.
The whole book is an interesting study into how we live our lives, whether things are predetermined, do we live in hope or fear of the future.
As with other of her books all the disparate stories come together to a satisfying conclusion.

To quote Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, at the end of the book “ It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth -- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up -- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had”

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK for the opportunity to read this book.

This was really hard to get into I found myself really struggling there are far too many characters.Each chapter is told from a different characters POV, which I do enjoy normally but this was too many making it very difficult to latch on to any particular person.
I kept putting it down and then going back, but after 40%, I made the decision to DNF.
I'm sure others will enjoy more than I did.
Thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph Penguin for the ARC.

I really enjoyed the unique plot of this book and I thought it was very cleverly written with how all the characters linked together. The amount of characters did get slightly confusing so I liked how each one was pinpointed (the bride, the mother, the elderly couple) as this made it easier to follow. I did find this book dragged in parts, there was a lot of information that could have been left out and it would have still made sense.

The ending also felt quite anticlimactic, I was waiting for a big revelation that never came. Although it did tie up the loose ends nicely.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I absolutely loved this book. It is such a complex and engaging story that encapsulates such a powerful message. A beautiful and moving story with a great cast of characters that I became so invested in. I was not expecting this book to be so deeply meaningful but it truly was. Highly recommended. 5 stars.

A really special book! I’m a huge fan of Liane Moriarty’s writing and was excited to see there was a new release. What I liked most about Here One Moment was that the plot is totally unique and like nothing I’ve read before.

The story centres on Cherry and her predictions made on a fateful flight. The lives of the other passengers and weaved throughout the storyline.

Like other reviews, I did find the start a little tricky with so many characters but it’s worth persisting. I also liked that story introduced some interesting concepts around time and fate.

So fabulously witty, vibrant and intricate. It really makes you think about how you’d respond if someone predicted your cause and age of death - how knowledge of your death would impact on your life. Very cleverly written in Moriarty’s inimitable style, with three-dimensional characters who quickly start to feel like friends. A great read.

This is the latest Liane Moriarty offering, a powerful, engaging read that shifts direction to become more philosophical, reflective book that will have you thinking about life and how you might choose to live it. The delayed Hobart to Sydney flight is short, under an hour long, but it is to become momentous for many on board, when an older woman, there is nothing about her that makes her immediately stand out, comes soon to be referred to as the 'Death Lady', as she starts to point to the travellers on the plane. Her name is Cherry Lockwood, and she goes on to predict the time of death for them. How could anyone take her seriously? However, Cherry's bizarre act is to have rippling repercussions, particularly for some as the date of their expected demise is close.

Cherry's predictions of the age and death of those on board begin to have a ring of truth attached to them, when they start to come true. In a narrative that covers a diverse and wide ranging cast, through multiple perspectives we are given insights into many of the characters, including the background of the intriguing Cherry herself and how she came by her 'psychic' knowledge. There is loss and grief, a maelstrom of feelings and emotions, as the focus moves to the consideration of fate and destiny, death, statistics, and the nature of determinism itself. It is likely that the book will have you turning over the issues raised here.

Moriarty skilfully raises the tension and suspense, whilst nudging us to consider the fundamental questions and nature of life and death, providing odd connections, and the reality of how there is a limit in how much we are able to control life. This is rather different from the author's usual fare, it is an interesting direction to take, it is likely to appeal to her many legions of fans and to many new readers too. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Wow!! I have never read a book that gripped me from the first page like Here One Moment. It was such an unusual start that I really was drawn in to find out what was going to happen. We follow Cherry, an older lady, as she embarks on a flight and as it progresses we learn all about the other people on the flight and the impact Cherry will come to have on their lives as she predicts when they will die and what the cause will be. This creates massive ramifications especially when a couple of the predictions come true. The story keeps you gripped from the start to the finish and learning about Cherry and the other travellers lives and the effect that the predictions have on them. This book really makes you think about how you would react in the same situation. We really get to know the other characters and I have to say I felt quite bereft at the end of this book as I was enjoying it so much! 5 stars - highly recommended!!

I enjoyed this book and have read all Lianes other books, as always it’s a very character based book, the story is told by multiple characters and of course by Cherry herself who’s story becomes so fascinating that I could not put it down. The storyline of being told when and how you would die had drawn me to this and the little twists and turns wer very good and I would highly recommend this. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this early copy.