Seat 7a by Sebastian Fitzek

 

Mats Krüger is a German psychiatrist living in Argentina. Despite treating phobias and other psychological conditions in his professional life, he ironically suffers from aerophobia, an irrational fear of flying. Mats is estranged from his daughter, Nele, after running out on his wife on her death bed and having an affair. Nele is heavily pregnant and Mats is intent on flying back to Germany to be with her at the birth, with the hope of patching things up. But when she books a taxi to take her to hospital for a caesarean, Nele is kidnapped and taken to a derelict dairy. There her kidnapper ties her up and points a live video camera at her. He rants about the cruelty of the dairy industry and what misery cows have to live through. Meanwhile, a mystery caller contacts Mats on board the now airborne flight and orders him to psychologically destroy an old patient of his, who works as a flight attendant on the plane. The caller wants the woman to become psychotic and homicidal and cause the plane to crash, killing all onboard. The caller tells Mats that if he fails to do this, the kidnapper will torture Nele and the baby and kill them.

Thus we have the setup for another madcap psychological thriller by the German author Sebastian Fitzek. Fitzek has made a name for himself with preposterous plots and over-the-top stories. Seat 7a is no different and takes as its inspiration several disasters which have afflicted aviation over recent years. Most notably the German Wings disaster of 2015, which is mentioned during the narrative, in which a disturbed pilot crashed a jet into a mountainside killing all on board. Equally pertinent might be Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which though as yet unfound, many believe the pilot or co-pilot to have purposefully crashed into the sea (though I think Seat 7A was published before the MH370 disaster). But regardless, these disasters and others like them have led the European Union and others to debate what they can do to stop them, including mandatory blood testing and psychological screening. 

As with one of Fitzek’s previous titles, Passenger 23, the plot of which took place on a cruise liner, Fitzek has clearly researched air travel extensively. For example, he references the safest places to be on a plane during a crash, and those where you’re guaranteed to die. I haven’t checked these facts out for myself, but I checked out some of his research for Passenger 23 and it all proved correct, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was accurate here, too. It all helps him to spin a fiendish web of intrigue.

Factual detail aside, Fitzek’s books are always extremely far-fetched and require a suspension of disbelief. But to be fair to him, that’s all part of the fun. He’s the antithesis of a certain type of police procedural writer, who strenuously strives for believability. Instead, Fitzek offers a rollercoaster ride of plot twists and non-stop tension, and if you accept that and run with it, his books are a very enjoyable read.