"Would you die for a stranger?"

Would you die for a stranger? In light of the horrible events of September 11, 2001, this question has been asked over and over again. Everyday people have been heroes as well as those who have occupations where saving a human being is often an everyday occurrence.

IN THE SEAT BESIDE ME, Nancy Moser explores this question and much more via the survivors of a tragic airplane crash and the lessons they learn from those who died who were sitting next to them.

Sun Fun Airlines flight 1382 to Phoenix has been delayed because of snow. As the airplane sits on the tarmac being de-iced, several of the passengers begin to talk to those sitting next to them.

Merry Cavanaugh is a young wife and mother who wants more. She has a friend in Phoenix who is footloose and fancy-free and she is looking forward to spending some time partying with her and forgetting her real life for awhile. Imagine her shock when her husband and young daughter join her on the flight as a surprise.

George Davanos is going to Phoenix to kill himself. His wife of many years died of cancer seven months previously and he is still so grief-stricken that all he wants to do is join her. The man sitting next to him is a man who has just received a new awakening in his spiritual life. He is on a business trip, taking the place of a co-worker who has a wedding to attend.

Schoolteacher Tina McKutcheon is traveling to Phoenix for some fun in the sun and a break from her boyfriend and her students. She is so tired of surly teenagers. When she spots a teenage girl entering the plane she looks at her decides she wants anyone BUT her to sit next to her. Of course, she doesn't get her wish and instead teenager Mallory sits next to her and starts up a conversation.

Sonja Grafton is on the plane because she pulled a dirty trick on a co-worker, causing her superiors to select Sonja to go to the convention in Phoenix. She would rather just relax on the way to Phoenix and not talk to anyone. Her seatmate, Roscoe Moore, has different ideas.

Plastic surgeon Anthony Thorgood is a pompous, arrogant man who thinks he is so much better than anyone else. When he sits next to a rather large, unkempt woman he makes several preconceived observations of her.

When the plane crashes into a bridge and then into a river on take-off, there are only five survivors. Those five survivors, Merry, George, Tina, Sonja, and Anthony, are forced to take another look at their lives. In addition, who was the mysterious man -- dubbed a hero by the media -- who passed a lifeline to others not once, not twice, but a total of four times before disappearing in the icy water?

In addition to the survivors, playing a significant role in the story is reporter Dora Roberts who had been scheduled to be on that same flight in order to be with her mother in Phoenix who was to undergo surgery. Just before she's to leave, her mother calls with the news that her surgery has been cancelled as she apparently has been miraculously cured. Of course Dora just figures that the doctors had been wrong initially. But instead of being a victim of flight 1382, she writes about it.

One of the words one could use to describe THE SEAT BESIDE ME is intense. It is also fast-paced and a quick read which is ultimately uplifting as lessons are learned and the characters learn what is truly important in their lives.

Evangelistic Christians are the targeted readers of this book. Others may find this book more than just a little bit "preachy" and feel that with the focus of the book being as it is, that the author is mainly "preaching to the choir." But as a more liberal Christian myself, I still found the story compelling and worthwhile. I read the book in a day, and that is high praise indeed for someone who is normally a slow reader. My recommendation is for readers to keep an open mind and enjoy the story itself, for the lessons the characters learn are very worthwhile and speak to everyone.

Reviewed by Maudeen Wachsmith
Posted October 22, 2001