Twenty Years Later

Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea 368 pages 

Welcome to another novel that was nothing like I expected…sort of. It was the cryptic postcard that serves as the book’s synopsis that made me want to read this one. Only one aspect, 9/11, was what I expected but not in the way I expected it.

A little over twenty years ago, 9/11 happened. Victoria Ford was visiting her lawyer, prepping for her murder trial when the Towers fell. Victoria, like so many others, was gone without a trace. But a trace did remain.

Fast forward to 2021. The New York Medical Examiner’s Office* has made a discovery. For the first time in many years, the OFFICE has made a successful identification. Using advanced DNA technology, a tooth recovered from the wreckage has led to the identity of one of the victims: Victoria Ford.

Avery Mason is a national television celebrity who hosts “American Events.” She flies to New York to learn more. With the 20^th anniversary looming, Avery knows looking into how Victoria was identified will be ratings gold.

But then Avery learns that Victoria was the primary suspect in a grisly, yet abandoned, murder investigation and heck, what kind of reporter would she be if ignored that? Victoria did leave one piece of information behind: In a last phone call to her sister, Emily Kind, she begs her to prove Victoria’s innocence. Emily has tried, but no one will take the case. It seems pretty cut and dry, but there wouldn’t be a thrilling novel if that was the case.

As Avery discovers, “Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.”  But as she pushes deeper into the past, Avery’s own past begins to surface; a past that the network and her fans would find very troubling.

This was quite the thriller until the climax. Events and people appear without any foreshadowing that makes the final fourth of the book implausible.

 Still, up to that point it was a great read, but “Twenty Years Later” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

*To date, The New York Medical Examiner’s Office has successfully identified 1,646 9/11 victims. There are still 1,106 remains that have not yet been identified.

 

Only Plane in the Sky

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M Graff, 425 pages

Even now, twenty years later, when the subject of 9/11 comes up, the conversation almost invariably turns into an exchange of personal experiences:  "This is what I was doing when..."  Virtually every person in the United States, and large numbers outside the US, were affected, emotionally if in no other way, by the events of that day.  The Only Plane in the Sky collects the "Where were you?" stories of hundreds of people, most of them uncomfortably close to the horror as it unfolded.

There are some notable lacunae - for example, the stories of the passengers and crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 1989 and Korean Air Flight 85, both erroneously believed to have been hijacked, are completely absent -  but those are filled elsewhere in the considerable amount of literature produced on the attacks.  This same literature poses other challenges - those seeking a comprehensive account of what happened inside the WTC are far better served by the excellent 102 Minutes, and detailed accounts of what happened in the White House and onboard Air Force One are not hard to come by, while the ATC and military response was recreated in a manner more truthful than most documentaries in United 93.  Where The Only Plane in the Sky shines is its relatability.  The current of testimonies of ordinary people suffering through what seemed unimaginable draws the reader on and on.  The result is a compelling portrait of a moment in time.

Sounds like Titanic

Sounds like Titanic: a memoir by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman, 250 pages

Summary from Goodreads: "A young woman leaves Appalachia for life as a classical musician—or so she thinks.
When aspiring violinist Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman lands a job with a professional ensemble in New York City, she imagines she has achieved her lifelong dream. But the ensemble proves to be a sham. When the group “performs,” the microphones are never on. Instead, the music blares from a CD. The mastermind behind this scheme is a peculiar and mysterious figure known as The Composer, who is gaslighting his audiences with music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic movie soundtrack. On tour with his chaotic ensemble, Hindman spirals into crises of identity and disillusionment as she “plays” for audiences genuinely moved by the performance, unable to differentiate real from fake."

The summary is pretty good but I have a problem with one part of it and the memoir is more complicated than what is in the summary. I don't agree that the Composer was gaslighting his audiences. I think he was sincerely trying to entertain and help people. 

By the time Hindman joined the ensemble and went on the tour that is at the center of the book she already knew that she wasn't the greatest violin player and had changed her major to Middle East studies. She wanted to become a journalist after 9/11 but found it hard to get a job. She stuck with the ensemble as a way to make ends meet. She also deals with mental illness. 

Overall, I would characterize the book as a young woman trying to find her way in the world. I appreciated her perspective on 9/11 and the aftermath. I would recommend this book to those people that like biographies and memoirs.

The Red Bandanna

The Red Bandanna by Tom Rinaldi, 216 pages

This is a memoir of Welles Crowther’s short life. This amazing man gave his life to help people escape the Twin Towers on September 11^th.  It’s not very long; he was only 24 years old when he died, but he had a huge impact for several people who survived the attacks because of him.  He was an employee in the building but had been a volunteer firefighter and was applying to be a firefighter in New York.  This book made me cry, which doesn’t happen often.  It was touching and amazing.  I would highly recommend this to people who like biographies, or anyone interested in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.