Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley

Noah Hawley, creator of the TV show Fargo, is known for his engaging, complex, thrilling screen-writing, and he has now brought that skill set to a novel.

Before the Fall is an unputdownable book which I wished I had the time to read in one long sitting. It begins with a plane crash. Eleven people are on a small jet which crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. One of them, a down-on-his-luck painter, pulls a small boy to safety. The boy is the son of the wealthy family on board.

Where do we go from here? A huge plane crash and epic escape through icy waters seems more fitting for the end of a book...

But Hawley weaves a fascinating story that cuts to the core of modern life. This novel is set last year - 2015 - which still seems futuristic to me. Yet he paints a vivid picture of our modern society. Yes, the tender story the saviour and the child might be timeless, but for me that wasn't the key theme of the book.

While Hawley blends backstories with twists and turns in the days following the crash, only explaining why the plane crashed at the very end, what made the book interesting to me was the exploration of how we - as a society - deal with tragedies.

One thread of the book explores the fascination we have with celebrity, and comes at it from the conservative stand point. There is a TV channel in the book which clearly represents FOX News, and one of their bombastic hosts. These people doggedly chase our book's hero, trying to sully his name.

If that sounds unfair to conservatives, so be it. It could also have been about Gawker or any number of celebrity-obsessed modern media outlets. Eventually these onlookers come to dominate the story as they bugged phones and hack e-mails, essentially trying to make the news as much as cover it.

I also liked the story of the co-pilot and flight attendant, which unfolds seemingly as an add-on later in the book, but whose importance becomes very clearly towards the end.

I seldom read novels these days but this one made me yearn for more thoughtful yet exciting modern fiction. I highly recommend it, and look forward to more from Noah Hawley.