I have a love hate relationship with Chris Bohjalian. I started with “The Guest Room” (published in 2016) and was swept away with the suspense and moral ambiguity. The story of a bachelor party gone wrong with a murder made for a compelling read. I continued to read earlier novels with mixed results. His new book “The Flight Attendant” again has an enticing conflict. It starts with an alcoholic flight attendant waking up to a dead one-night stand during a stop-over between flights. She doesn’t know if she killed him. Her life spins out of control due to the consequences of her actions. The novel runs out of speed with espionage subplots and double agents. The smashing ending and epilogue make up with the languid center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flight_Attendant_(novel)