A review by nordstina
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

The Way the Crow Flies is a overly long novel about a mysterious death on a military base during the Cold War. Madeliene is in elementary school and has just moved to the base with her parents and brother after living in Europe. Her father Jack becomes caught up in a secret operation which leads to unforeseen consequences. The propelling plot point is the death which doesn't take place until hundreds of pages into this book. Several red herrings are thrown in and in the end, while I plugged along until the end, I did not find the resolution very rewarding. The book jumps ahead in time towards the end, which did not really serve much of a purpose. For a book of this length, I was expecting a wide sweeping narrative and it did not have much to show for it in the end.