Book of the Week July 16, 2026
Maloney’s impressive debut opens with what should be an ordinary train journey, until hijackers throw everything into chaos. Reluctant hero Claire Fitzroy finds herself stepping up, rallying fellow passengers and methodically working through the train cars to neutralize the armed threats one by one. Claire is the unlikeliest of leaders, and once the dust settles, public opinion is sharply divided: was she brave and decisive, or did her ego turn a bad situation catastrophic? Claire is haunted by her choices on that fateful day, desperate to put it behind her, but a fascinated public refuses to let her disappear quietly. The story unfolds across two timelines: the tense, visceral hijacking itself and the courtroom drama of the hijackers’ trial, weaving between them with skill and purpose. Maloney’s decision to structure the narrative this way pays off enormously; the back-and-forth between past and present generates a tension that a straightforward chronological telling simply couldn’t achieve. As for the title, 10:12 carries a double meaning: the time the train departed, and, fair warning, the number of hours you’ll lose sitting motionless, completely unable to put this book down.—Jeff Ayers
