Book ~ "The Last Flight" (2020) Julie Clark

From Goodreads ~ Claire Cook has a perfect life. 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. 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. 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.

Claire and Rory seem to have a rich fairy tale life. But Rory is actually a controlling and abusive husband and over the years, the physical abuse has gotten worse. Knowing no one would believe her if she spoke out and that she would be punished by Rory if she left, she devises a plan to escape and disappear and is counting down the hours. A last minute change in her travel plans, though, ruins everything.

Eve was raised in foster homes.  After getting kicked out of university 12 years ago, she did what she had to do to survive. But that's all closing in on her and she knows she has to run. She meets Claire in the airport bar, each telling their stories about wanting to disappear and decide to swap tickets ... Claire is going to head to Oakland and figure it out when she gets there and Eva was going to head to Puerto Rico and live on the money she banked in overseas accounts. Except the plane to Puerto Rico crashes and all aboard are killed ... and it's assumed that Claire is among them.  That suits Claire fine but with no money and no contacts, she heads to Eva's house and now has to deal with what Eva was running away from. Eva at the last minute decided to not get on the plane after all ... and Claire suspects she didn't.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I liked it. The story was interesting and I liked the writing style. It jumps back and forth over six months and I was okay with this as it built up the back stories. It's written in first person perspective in Claire's and except for a couple chapters in third person perspective in Eva's voice (the chapters are labeled so you know who is the focus). I liked both Claire and Eva and was cheering for them. I was happy with the ending. It was farfetched at times but I went with it.