By David Healey

In her ambitious new novel, author Cara Putman takes on so many topics that this thriller is hard to classify. The story touches on human trafficking, the issue of fake news, the consequences of social media, and even alcoholism within families. Where to begin?

“It is hard to put it into a box,” Putman says. “I would call it a legal romantic suspense. It wasn’t a book where I set out to make a statement. It started out more with the theme of ‘Finding truth in a fake news world.’”

In FLIGHT RISK, attorney Savannah Daniels is struggling with her small practice when several worlds collide. First, her ex-husband is accused, along with a famous baseball player, of taking part in sex tourism in Thailand. Next, there is a terrible plane crash in Washington and her former husband was a passenger on that plane. Savannah’s most important legal client becomes embroiled in the crash due to their black box flight recording software. However, her biggest collision may turn out to be with journalist Jett Glover, who wrote the article about her ex-husband. Both Savannah and Jett—who are drawn almost inexplicably together—soon find that the truth may fall between the lines of that article.

“A lot of my book ideas come from headlines,” Putman says, adding that FLIGHT RISK was inspired in part by reading about a baseball player involved in a storyline very similar to the one in the book. “I thought, ‘That is so amazing.’ That kicked everything off.”

But this wouldn’t be a thriller if there wasn’t a twist or two.

Read the complete article in the April issue of The Big Thrill.