Corey Mead

By the time I actually got around to reading this book, I appreciated that it was more of an exercise in true crime than aviation history, though without the great post-Lindbergh aviation craze this ultimately tragic tale couldn't have happened. Still, William Lancaster and Jessie Miller were stars for a day, having managed to fly a single-engine biplane from Great Britain to Australia. Then the Great Depression arrived and, in an effort to make financial ends meet, Miller takes up with one show more Haden Clarke, ostensibly to ghost-write Miller's memoir, only things get badly out of hand on the romantic front, with Lancaster probably murdering Clarke. I'll leave it to the interested reader to pick up the story from there. The main impression I'm left with is that none of this trio had the best impulse control in the world. show less

This book made me understand the appeal of true crime podcasts...right until it got to the end. Ruth Finley has a stalker. A man, presumably from all the sexually predatory messages, who goes by, 'the Poet.' This book follows the whole police investigation that took place in order to solve the case and revealed how the real criminal lived at the home all along.

It's a true crime that reads like fiction, despite it being slow and mainly in the form of the police deciphering letters all the show more time, the book had me hooked. I waited with bated breath to see who the stalker would turn out to be. I legitimately read it in one day!

I won't spoil it, but despite Corey Mead being a fantastic writer, I had to deduct two points for the final chapters. The graphic child abuse was not needed. Knowing the excruciating detail in which he describes a three-year-old Ruth being assaulted by a neighbor felt gratuitous and deeply exploitative. Furthermore, openly calling into question the separate story of what happened to Ruth when she was 16 feels like unneeded ammo in the current climate, which is so horrifically anti-woman

Thank you NetGalley and Little A publishing for the chance to read this book! show less

In the 1920's, this is the story of two adventurous pilots - a man from England and a woman from Australia. They are married to other people when they team up to fly from Europe to Australia in the age of Lindbergh. This book has crashes, sex, romance and even murder? This is a story that would be hard to believe if it didn't happen. Luckily for the author, the pair left highly detailed diaries and they were widely covered by the press. A nice non fiction book on the world of early aviation.

Mead's short book startled me with his discussion of the influence of the U.S. military over education, among other things. Worth reading if only for that. Although Mead mentions David Grossman's work, it is only in passing but I believe the charge by a military officer who is a psychologist that the use of video games desensitizes the players to violence and suffering merits more discussion. There is a "Gee Whiz!" tone to this book that made it enjoyable and easy to read but at the cost of show more sugar coating the real questions which Mead raises. show less