Falling is approximately 83,600 words. At an average reading pace, it takes about 5 hours to read.

Is Falling difficult to read?

Falling has a difficulty score of 1.9 out of 10, making it relatively accessible. Key factors include vocabulary complexity (2.0/10), sentence structure (1.8/10), abstract concepts (1.8/10).

What genre is Falling?

Falling is categorized as thriller, suspense, aviation, crime fiction. It was published in 2021.

Is Falling worth reading?

Falling is notable with a literary regard score of 1.6/10. Visit ReadingRate for the full difficulty analysis and reading guide.

Falling

Published 2021 · 83,600 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · thriller, suspense, aviation, crime fiction

How hard is Falling to read?

Falling scores 19 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 20 out of 100: Newman writes in transparent, everyday language with minimal technical vocabulary. Aviation terminology appears occasionally—altimeter, transponder, descent rate—but never in quantities that slow a general reader. The prose prioritizes speed over register.
Sentence structure: 18 out of 100: Short, punchy sentences dominate, often single clauses, sometimes fragments for effect. Dialogue drives the pace. Sentence structures are simple subject-verb-object throughout, calibrated to produce a racing-heart reading experience rather than a contemplative one.
Abstraction: 18 out of 100: The novel is almost entirely concrete: a pilot's hands on the controls, a family bound in a house, a phone call with a countdown. The moral dilemma—143 strangers versus his own family—is stark and simple, never philosophically elaborated beyond its gut-level terms.
Information density: 22 out of 100: Newman includes just enough aviation and FBI procedural detail to establish credibility but never lets information accumulate. Each chapter functions as a unit of tension rather than a unit of information. Density is low by design, clearing the path for pace.
Narrative indirection: 22 out of 100: The novel alternates between two reliable perspectives—Bill Hoffman in the cockpit and events on the ground—creating structural tension without narrative ambiguity. Both streams are narrated straightforwardly; there are no unreliable voices, withheld revelations, or hidden information.
Symbolic density: 16 out of 100: The title's double meaning—the aircraft falling, moral free-fall—is the book's only notable symbolic layer. Newman does not build a web of imagery or allegory. The story operates on a literal, action-driven plane throughout, with no sustained metaphorical register.
Ironic distance: 100 out of 100: No ironic distance whatsoever. The novel is entirely earnest about its stakes, its characters, and its moral dilemma. The authorial voice is never sardonic or detached. This is sincere genre fiction executed straight, with no gap between surface and intention.
Resolution withholding: 20 out of 100: As a thriller, the novel maintains tension by withholding outcome, but all major questions resolve cleanly by the end. There are no ambiguous threads, unresolved mysteries, or open endings. The resolution is decisive and fully conventional for the genre.
Structural complexity: 25 out of 100: Chapters alternate between Bill's perspective in the cockpit and simultaneous events on the ground where his family is held, creating parallel-timeline pressure. The dual-strand structure is the novel's main formal feature; neither strand is complex in isolation.

How Falling is regarded

Falling holds a literary regard score of 16 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.