Learning to Fly

A friend loaned me "Learning to Fly: A Thriller" and said that I wouldn't be able to put it down. Well, she was right! Once I started reading the story of Free Meeker, I didn't want to stop.Free is a 19 year old alternative girl (nose ring, shaved head) living in a small town in Oregon. When she finds out she's pregnant, she realizes that she has to go to Portland to tell her parents. Her boyfriend will be of no good, because she knows he's been cheating on her.So Free is on her way to Portland, stops to pick up a hitch hiker (Lynda) to keep her company, and then a huge dust storm takes over the road and results in a huge pile up of cars. Lynda ends up dead. Free encounters a bleeding man who is frantic to find his duffle bag. They find the bag, but the man dies.Free leaves the accident scene with the duffle bag and Lynda's wallet and checks into a motel. She flips on the television and discovers that she is listed as having died in the accident. This gets her mind swimming. She is listed as dead, she has Lynda's identification... and lo and behold that duffle bag is loaded with lots and lots of money! This is the perfect scheme to start a new life for herself. She will go to Portland as Lynda and have a whole new life.Of course, "Learning to Fly," is a thriller so things will not end all tidy as Free hopes!Lynda was out hitch hiking that day because she was running away from her abuser and now he's after Free.The duffle bag full of money belongs to a drug dealer and he wants it back.So Free gets more than she bargained for, but don't give up on her just yet! She'll take you for quite a ride!

I picked up Learning to Fly: A Thriller because I am originally from Oregon and get a kick out of reading books based in or about my home state. I didn't know what it would be about nor have I read any of April Henry's other books, so I blindly started reading the story of Free Meeker. Free is a teenager who makes her living as a pet groomer, she shaves her head and is (obviously by her name) the child of hippie parents. Free is also dating a not so nice guy who is cheating on her. Things don't seem to be going so great for her when she finds out that she is pregnant. She decides to drive to Portland to tell her parents. The five-hour drive from Medford to Portland is usually uneventful, but on this day! Free picks up a hitchhiker, a woman named Lynda, and there's a dust storm that causes a huge horrible pileup on the freeway. Lynda is killed in the accident. Free swipes her wallet and then meets a man who is desperate to find his bag, so she helps him. They find the bag, but then the man dies.So what's in the bag? A whole lot of money! Free discovers herself in a unique situation. Her name is on the list of those who perished on the freeway, she has a wallet with Lynda's identification and a bag full of money ($740,000 to be exact). With not much to leave behind, she decides she'll take this opportunity to reinvent herself, buy a wig, get an apartment.Only there are people who want that money back. And a man who is pissed that his wife Lynda left him. They have their sights on Free and are hot on her tail.Oh wee! This book is a thrill ride! I had such a good time reading it and rooting for Free to make a clean getaway with all that cash. If this is any indication of what April Henry's other books are like, I'll be buying them as soon as possible.

Nineteen-year-old Free Meeker is the child of Hippie parents, who named their daughers Free and Moon. Free shaves her head, has a nose ring, a lousy two-timing boyfriend, a secret desire to be normal and she's pregnant. She's on her way from Medford (a good town to be from, I know, because I just left for greener pastures) up to Portland, Oregon to tell her parents. She picks up a hitchhiker named Lydia and is driving along when a freak dust storm causes a fifty-two car pile-up on the freeway. Lydia is killed. A bleeding and desperate man wants Free to help find his Nike bag, she does, but he dies.Free leaves the scene with Lydia's wallet, goes to a motel, then finds out she's been mistakenly listed among the dead. The gym bag has $740,000 in it. So with Lydia's ID and the money, Free goes to Portland, buys a wig, moves in with a roommate and makes plans for her new life.However, Lydia was fleeing a sadistic, abusive lout who now wants to find her so he can kill her. And that money belonged to a very unhappy drug dealer, who wants it back. They are both hot on Free's trail in this book that you will be up all night reading. Ms. Henry has severed up a delicious thriller and garnished it with characters who seem all two real. I just loved this book. It's a keeper, one I'll read again and again.

Henry scripts a fast paced page turner filled with multi dimensional characters. I couldn't stop reading this book and I loved the protagonist, Free. She reminded me of just what it was we might have done wrong with all that political correctness a while back, raising our children to be back to the earth in the fanatical hippy fashion. I also was impressed by the way Henry smoothly created a remarkably believable bad guy in Don.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. The authors description of the multi car pile-up made me feel I should brace myself from oncoming cars. It's the kind of book you can't put down. At bedtime I said, just one more page. That one more page turned into three chapters. It holds your attention to the very last word...very well written.