GENRE: CONTEMPORARY FICTION

 I read ‘Here One Moment’ in about three days, even though the early stages of it were quite heavy-going and could perhaps, have been more concise. Stick with it and the rewards will be worthwhile.

 It’s a departure from Moriarty’s usual chick-lit format but still showcases her excellent character-development talent with a diverse cast of characters and multiple protagonists. She weaves a compelling narrative beginning with a routine flight from Sydney to Hobart that is running late for take-off due to a pilot issue unrelated to actual safety. A woman leaves her seat and in a trancelike state, begins predicting how each passenger will die. Passengers and cabin crew are left to face the existential questions of mortality and choice after the flight.

I don’t want to give too much away, but imagine, if you will, the panic when the first person dies just as predicted. Brilliant characterisation draws you right in to the lives of the characters and there’s an inevitability—a Stephen Kingish sense of something bad going to happen. We know exactly what it is, but like the characters, are helpless to stop it. It’s ambitious storytelling with more than a touch of emotional resonance. Subtle humour is  blended skillfully with the deep questions

Themes are free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. Moriarty’s a modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery. Thought-provoking and heartstring-pulling in places—an I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel …