Her Last Flight
“I’ll tell you something, the facts are the least important thing about a person.” “Oh? So what’s important?” “The fictions. The lies we tell to other people, the lies we tell to ourselves. The stories we make of our lives, the heroes we fashion of our own clay. The myths of our own creation. Those are the real stuffing of a person, in my opinion. What makes each one of us different from the other fellow.”
Nothing says summer reading like a big, thick page turning novel. Love. Intrigue. Deceit. Mystery. Dynamic Female Characters. Honor -- Beatriz Williams has done it yet again with this tale of two strong throw-convention-to-the-wind women.
As in any of Beatriz Williams’ books, she does a fantastic job of sweeping her readers back to another time and place. I absolutely loved the suspense, the romance, the mystery of it all as the story is told from the point of view of two narrators and time periods.
In 1947 Janey, with her outlandish behavior boldly takes on the research of the dynamic life of Sam Malloy, stunt pilot extraordinaire. The story begins in Spain where Janey discovers Malloy’s crashed plane (where he aided in the Spanish Resistance) and his body. Hidden behind his body is Malloy’s own personal journal that leads Janey further into Sam’s mysterious last days. In order to learn about Sam’s real past, Janey must find presumed to be dead and even more famous pilot Irene Foster. Janey believes that Irene is the only person who can shed light on the true story of Sam. Her hunt brings her to Hawaii and the island of Kauai where Irene Lindquist, who runs local flying tours, is revealed to be the long lost Irene Foster.
Flash back to 1928 and we see how the story of Irene and Sam meet and become a flying duo. The story of Irene and Sam is told in the form of a draft of a book that Janey is writing. The growth of Irene and Sam’s relationship, their amazing flights, and their tragedies are told in a dynamic, fascinating and truthful fashion. We see Irene’s star in aviation and the media rise as she becomes a worldwide sensation and the most famous woman in the world.
The plot throughout is engrossing, the story fascinating, the dialogue filled with witty banter, and the setting luminous and vivacious, but the real draw of the novel is that feisty, zingy, complicated, pour that bourbon neat while giving the gossip voice of the narrator, Janey. The reader will know after approximately one page with Janey that they will devour the next 400 pages just to lean a little closer and hear the story, mystery and research she has to share. This is the main reason I’m so drawn to Williams’ books. Her characters are steeped in truth and they carry their own real flaws just like we the readers.
I loved following Janey’s story and mystery as she worked to find out what really happened to Sam Malloy, his true relationship with Irene Foster and the true cause of his death. As soon as I read last the last page I wanted to start over from the beginning. If I didn't have a stack of books waiting to be read on my night stand I would be fully immersed in Janey and Irene’s stories all over again. I hope to hear more from them!!
“Life is not divided neatly into good people and bad people, good parents and bad parents. We are all of us human and scarred with sin. We make mistakes, some small and some terrible.”
I’m so thankful to HaperCollins and Netgalley for this advanced copy of Her Last Flight.
