Passenger by Alexander Maksik is a piercing portrait of a father and daughter as Nina who is a smart and cynical daughter in the twilight of her twenties and Ivan a solitary man in his seventies, set in his ways and haunted by the failures of his past, navigate not only their fractured bond but also a world teetering on the brink of collapse. A story of loving across gaps-between parent and child, between things said and unsaid- and about what happens when the outside world finally mirrors the chaos within, passengers is Maksik’s most timely and accomplished novel yet.

Ivan proposes a trip to Europe in hopes that it will bring them closer together, Nina reluctantly agrees. They meet at LAX, where their departure is delayed, and delayed again and again. As the hours drag on, their sharp, caustic and wide-ranging conversation reveal a lifetime of misunderstandings, unhealed wounds, and stubborn love.

Soon more flights are cancelled, security tightens, airport staff grow evasive, and it becomes clear to Ivan and Nina that something is wrong. They begin to suspect that they’re being held prisoner- sequestered from the world without explanation. At last, the surreal starts to overtake the mundane, and their need to escape- and to protect each other-turns increasingly urgent.

Passengers by Alexander Maksik, Europa Editions, 256 pages.