146. The Last Flight by Julie Clark

read on Audible
narrated by Kristine Hvam and Lauren Fortgang
Unabridged audio (9:23)
2020
302 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 12/4/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.13 - 33,696 ratings

My rating: 4
Setting: mostly Berkeley, CA, contemporary

First line/s:  "Terminal 4 swarms with people, the smell of wet wool and jet fuel thick around me.  I wait for her, just inside the sliding glass doors, the frigid winter wind slamming into me whenever they open, and instead force myself to visualize a balmy Puerto Rican breeze, laced with the scent of hibiscus and sea salt."

What I posted on Goodreads:  A story of two women switching places, one abused, one running for her life because of bad choices.  Certainly kept my interest!  Set mostly in Berkeley, California.  Great readers.

Goodreads synopsis:  Two women. Two Flights. One last chance to disappear.

          Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of ten, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns as bright as his promising political career, and he's not above using his staff to track Claire's every move, making sure she's living up to his impossible standards. But what he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish.
          A chance meeting in an airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets ― Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland, and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico as Claire. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. Cut off, out of options, with the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity, and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.
           The Last Flight is the story of two women―both alone, both scared―and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.