A plane is delayed on a flight from Hobart to Sydney. There are a mixed bunch of passengers each reacting to the inconvenience in different ways. Eventually they are airborne. An unremarkable woman in her sixties stands up & moves down the aisle. She points to various people stating the age at which they will die & what will be the cause of death. Needless to say this really upsets the receivers of her 'prophesies'. They try to shake it off with the thought that she is obviously a disturbed woman- that is until people die as she predicted!

No-one knows who the 'Death Lady' is, but needless to say Social Media has a field day speculating about her identity. The reader knows who she is because a large part of the story is the story of her life. The rest is taken up with the passengers & what happens to them.

This book had a rather confusing start & was unlike most of Liane Moriarty's books where you get to know the characters very early on. I struggled to keep reading but I'm glad I did because it turned out to be a fascinating exploration about destiny & self determination. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

"Later, not a single person will recall seeing the lady board the flight...Nothing about her appearance or demeanour raises a red flag or even an eyebrow."

That's how the story begins, as a random group of citizens boards a routine flight between Hobart and Sydney.

But on that flight everything changes when the seemingly innocuous woman stands, trance-like and makes her way through the aircraft, informing everyone of her unsettling predictions.

"Age of death. Cause of death."

What would you do if you'd been told when you were going to die? When your children were going to die? The cast of characters try to brush it off as a fit of insanity or old age, but when a sudden, young death occurs soon after the flight, it hits a little too close to home.

What unfolds after the flight is a fascinating exploration of human nature. Empathy, grief, love and more are all deftly dealt with in this established author's hands. Some characters make lifestyle changes in order to escape their fate, while others become determined to track down the 'death lady' and ask for a new prediction. But, can fate be fought?

There's a large cast of characters in this story, from all walks of life. From a newlywed couple to a tired, overworked father and a young flight attendant, the narrative switches between them at a swift pace. But despite the breadth and ambition of this novel, I never found the characters difficult to keep track of. Whilst I preferred some to others, they all felt engaging and authentic.

Meanwhile, the 'death lady' has her own first person narrative weaved through the story. The seemingly harmless elderly woman has an incredible story to tell, and she's perhaps the most compelling character out of the entire cast. It'll keep you hooked, questioning whether she's a clever con-artist or a misunderstood victim of circumstance and, as she unravels her complex life story for the reader, I was rooting for her along with the rest of the bold, eccentric cast. A thought-provoking book full of drama and intrigue - highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This has taken me such a long time to read - unfortunately the story, whilst and intriguing concept, just didn't grab me. I think this was largely down to the formatting of the arc which didn't separate the chapters properly so you didn't know which character you were reading about as the paragraphs just suddenly jumped from one to the next.

Not my favourite by this author - may try again with the paperback release.

Such a fabulous read! Very intriguing. A lady on a plane starts telling everyone when they will die! Read it to find out more!

An interesting premise whereby a lady on a flight starts to predict fellow passengers deaths and cause of death. So what happens once the flight lands and everyone gets on with their lives. Many of those who received predictions are concerned about their futures (which is reasonable). I really enjoyed how the story unfolded.

What an opening for a novel and what a premise. The book starts at an airport with the passengers and crew boarding a flight. The flight appears unremarkable, the cast appear unremarkable - until one particular passenger makes her way down the plane and seems to predict every passenger’s age of death and cause of death.

What follows is the aftermath of this incident and the effects it has on the passengers, the crew and their lives. We also learn about the events which lead up to ‘The Death Lady’, as she is referred to, making her startling predictions.

This book has one of the best opening chapters I’ve read; it was engaging and I was invested from the start. I had to know ‘why’ I had to know ‘what next’. I had the same questions as the passengers on the plane, who is this woman? Is she psychic? Should I believe her?

The book digs deep and poses complex questions. Would you want to know when your life will end? Would you believe someone if they told you? Is our future pre-determined or do we have the power to change it?

I was fascinated by how the different passengers reacted to their experience and how a seemingly frightening episode could ultimately have positive outcomes on some of their lives and trigger the start of new relationships. I felt for all the characters and was moved by their individual stories.

With such a dramatic opening I was unsure how it could reach a satisfactory ending and I had a fear that I was going to left heartbroken and without answers. However Liane Moriarty steers it just right; there is sadness but also reflection and hope and I felt content with the ending.

I really enjoyed this one, it’s such a thought provoking read and it would make a fantastic book club pick. I can imagine reading groups discussing this for hours.

An interesting concept and I enjoyed getting to know the different characters. There was a lot of switching between stories however and sometimes struggled to keep up!

This was a highly entertaining and thought-provoking read, featuring a unique and captivating storyline.

Consider this hypothetical scenario: you are informed of the precise date and cause of your demise. Would you choose to alter your life's trajectory or dismiss it as the mere musings of a charlatan?

An ordinary flight from Hobart to Sydney becomes a catalyst for profound change in the lives of all its passengers. The catalyst for this transformation is not the 92-minute delay, but rather the unassuming woman occupying seat 4D. Initially overlooked and disregarded, she astounds everyone by rising and making a series of seemingly absurd predictions. Who is this enigmatic individual known as "the Death Lady," and what compels her to feel a connection with the passengers on this flight?

We are introduced to a diverse ensemble of characters, each profoundly impacted by their encounter with "the Death Lady." The ramifications of her predictions extend not only to their own lives but also to those of their loved ones.

In addition, we follow the life journey of Cherry Lockwood, from her childhood to the present day.

There were so many characters in the book that I had a hard time keeping track of them at first, but I ended up getting really invested in all of their lives!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Michael Joseph for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Loved the idea of this book with the woman on the plane predicting how and when all the other passengers would die! It was an engrossing read seeing how the predictions affected the lives of the passengers and it got really exciting when they started dying!
Loved how the tension built, Initially I found the ending a little disappointing, BUT I’ve been thinking about it more now and am feeling fine about the ending now and feeling it’s more a message about living each day to the fullest!

This is such a good book! The characters, even though there are a few of them, are easy to keep track of and I was invested in them right from the start. I really enjoyed finding out all about Cherry, I thought she was brilliant. Death happens to us all, and if we are lucky, we don’t spend much time thinking about our own. The book follows the lives of a few of the passengers who on one fateful flight find out their cause of death and what age they will be. It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s about living your best life. Definitely recommend this book. Thank you #netgalley

This one is definitely a thought provoking read. An old lady on a plane gets up and starts to walk down the plane telling everyone as she goes what age they will die and also what cause of death too. This has a big knock on effect not to just the fellow passengers but also their families and friends when they hear the news. After a couple of deaths not long after this event people start to panic as it seems the lady and her predictions seem correct. What would you do if you knew exactly when you’d die? Would you change your life and lifestyle? It’s an interesting thought and makes you think even though we don’t know how long we have we should really live our lives to the full.

As always a great read. Beginning on a delayed flight from Hobart to Sydney, and elderly woman, Cherry, wanders the plane making predictions as to age and cause of death for each passenger. When three deaths occur in quick succession, passengers seek each other out and try to find the mystery fortune teller. Gentle Ethan worries about being attacked after his next birthday which is fast approaching; Leo considers giving up his job to avoid dying in a workplace accident; newlywed Dom is terrified that he will kill his bride during a sleepwalking episode. And a young mum obsesses over teaching her baby to swim to avoid drowining in a childhood incident. Cherry has no idea she has done this until she too reads it online. Parallel to the current day story,we are taken through Cherry's life with her fortune telling mother "Madame Mae" and see how life events may have affected her. #netgalley #hereonemoment

Here One Moment is a brilliant 5 star book from Liane Moriarty.
I particularly enjoyed the final few chapters as connections between characters were revealed.
Will definitely recommend to others!

Oh my. This book. I was going crazy with it. I mean, I really like Liane Moriarty, like, really. But this one... I have struggled, all the way. Especially at the beginning, and the beginning was about 44% - the author was describing what felt like million characters, in every single details, their lives - the amount of the POVs was enormous and actually till almost very end I was never sure if this character is the one I am thinking they are. Each of the characters had a family, friends, children, whatever, so yes, it felt like reading a telephone book. I think it's simply impossible to care about the characters if you are not able to say who is who and what's their background - you must really think hard. And so I eventually found myself skimming and skipping.

The book dragged on, very much. It started to feel quicker after the first death and I also started to enjoy Cherry's chapters, her story was really great. It's probably Cherry that saved this book for me.

My other problem is, why this book? What was the point of it? Because, you know, I eventually came to the end and... And what? And nothing. No big revelation, nothing, so I'm feeling a little cheated.

Nevertheless, it'S of course very well written and I can see there are many great reviews, so maybe it's just another case of "it's not you, it's me" - give it a try, preserve, maybe it will be worth your time.

To be honest for the first 15% of this book I just wasn’t sure if I would be able to read to the end. But as I have read previous books by this author and enjoyed them I carried on. Her writing style is good and the characters are always delivers and interesting.
There seemed to be some places where a new chapters or proper break when the person that was being talked about changed would have made reading this much easier.For this reason I deducted one star as it did affect my enjoyment of the book.
Overall good storylines for each of the characters and an interesting way that each of their stories interconnected.
3.5 stars

Liane Moriarty's *Here One Moment* feels like a conversation with an old friendᅳfamiliar, comforting, but still surprising in the way which only she knows how to do! ⁤⁤The story is about love, life, and those small, everyday moments that end up meaning everything. ⁤⁤Moriarty has a knack for creating characters who feel like real people, with real struggles and joys. As with all her other books, it made for a great read and I suspect it will be turned into a movie or a Netflix series in the not too distant a future!

HERE ONE MOMENT - LAINE MORIATY - ARC
When I started reading this I was so confused by the multiple POV there's no distinction between who's who so took me a while to realise which character we were catching up with at that time. However as the storyline evolved I kind of understood a little bit more and by about 60% through I was hooked. I'm not sure if all of Laine's books are like this and it's just the style or if it's just this one as this is the first I've read but I will give another a go to find out.
The storyline is fascinating though and I think I may have stuck it out due to sheer morbid curiosity rather than anything else but I did manage to enjoy the storyline!
@rachaelmcreads

i wanted to love this book and for the first 20% i was hooked and i couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. it then kind of lost me in the middle and i found the constant switching of stories confusing and hard to take in.
did i enjoy it yes i did, did i love it sadly no

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to fight fate? That's the brilliant premise of this as six people are given imminent 'death' predictions from an old lady. The chapters alternate between them all so you really get to know and get attached to them, to the point where it's difficult to read as you worry about their deaths. And that's what makes this fascinating, how they each handle their predictions so differently and the unconscious impact it has on their decisions and actions. You also get the 'death lady's' backstory and POV although hers didn't grab me quite as much and it probably wasn't necessary to hear from her quite as often as we did. It's definitely the sort of thought-provoking book that stays with you and you talk to people about afterwards. I totally recommend it.

A book about fate and destiny.

A lady stands up on a flight and starts telling people their cause and age of death.
The repercussions in those lives following the predictions is a great concept for a novel. Well written as you would expect from Liane Moriaty.

A great read, if a little long.. it kept me engaged to the end.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.