The Way the Crow Flies, penned by Ann Marie MacDonald, follows the life of the McCarthys. World War II has been over for about ten years and people are holding their breath over the Cuban Missile Crisis. Jack McCarthy, the patriarch, is an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He and his wife, Mimi, and their two children, Mike and Madeline, move to Centralia, Canada, where Jack oversees an officers’ school.

The story is mainly told through the eyes of Madeline, a nine year old who wants to be just like her father. When the new school year begins, she immediately dislikes her fourth grade teacher, Mr. March. Mr. March makes Madeline and four other little girls stay after school and do “exercises” at his desk.

During Madeline’s short time in Centralia, a little girl in her class is murdered, a young boy is wrongly convicted of the murder and Jack, her father, gets involved with a government conspiracy that threatens to ruin his family life. Everyone should read The Way the Crow Flies to learn how each family member copes with lies, deceit and murder.

The Orlando Sentinel said, “Murder mystery, spy thriller, historical novel, morality play—The Way the Crow Flies is all of these. Add several interconnected plots and an undercurrent of evil in an age of innocence and you’ve got an engrossing tale.”

A book from the Today Show’s Book Club, I like the first part of The Way the Crow Flies. Reading about how nine year old Madeline dealt with the turmoil around her was interesting, funny and endearing. However, Part 5,or the last 200 pages in the book, had no relevance to the story.

Part five shows how Madeline dealt with the confusing time she had in Centralia. Madeline is all grown up and still deals with her past in her own special way. Some people might think Part Five wraps the story up, but to me, it’s a sloppy way to end the book. It almost read like Ann Marie MacDonald became tired of writing about nine year old Madeline. She wrote about Madeline grown up and living on her own and used that as the end of the book.

The Way the Crow Flies is still a great book even with Part Five. It just feels out of place with the rest of the book. In my opinion, The Way the Crow Flies could have been even better if Part Five was cut from the book.