Falling: A Novel

Newman uses a laptop and the FaceTime communication app to suggest how the very technology that connects with loved ones also leaves us vulnerable. This symbolism of technology parallels the theme of The Power of Strong Relationships, indicating the dual nature of this power: just as deep bonds can empower us, loss of those bonds can drive us to do terrible things. Similarly, just as these tools usually close distances, at least figuratively, Sam uses them to create a keen awareness of the physical distance between himself and Bill: Bill seemingly has no means of rescuing his vulnerable wife and children. The laptop and FaceTime app go from allowing Bill to communicate with people he trusts to allowing Sam, his family’s kidnapper, to manipulate Bill while he struggles to fly a commercial aircraft. By using tools that Bill normally uses to keep in contact with his family as a source of threats, Sam compounds Bill’s sense of lost control.

The novel’s use of a social media influencer, whose fame and influence spreads the word of the hijacking, further builds on the dual impact of technology. The influencer places a picture of himself in an oxygen mask on social media and gives the explanation the flight attendants gave him, only for the falsehood to be quickly corrected by his many followers. This manner of crowd-sourcing can offer powerful checks to the truth: within a short span of time, the lie is undermined. The attention this one influencer wields, though, contrasts with the lack of attention paid to the victims that Sam and Ben are seeking to avenge. In a world where information is more freely available and widely and rapidly shared than ever, Americans are nonetheless ignorant of their own country’s international impacts.