William J Mcgee

This realistic book takes place over 4 summers as Mike navigates the custody battles over his son Benjamin. It's divided into 4 sections - in section 1, Benjamin is 2 1/2 and in section 4, he is 4 1/2. As the initial battle becomes not only visitation but when his mom moves out of the country and abducts the child, it become a battle for total custody. All Mike wants is the chance to have his son in his life and be able to be his father. As the custody battle escalates, Mike begins to have trouble at his job and goes bankrupt trying to pay lawyers as he refuses to believe that it is fair that he have a life without his son in it.

This is an interesting and well written novel. What's so sad is that this battle goes on every day and no one - especially the courts - have much sympathy for the father.

Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.… (mer)

If you've been flying anytime within the past 10 years, you may have noticed how conditions have changed since the "golden age" of flying. Long security lineups, crammed cabins, rude passengers, harried flight attendants---and then there are the problems with outsourced maintenance and lack of federal oversight that the average flyer does not know about but perhaps should be aware of.

The author has worked in the airline industry himself, then later turned to travel journalism and eventually consumer advocacy for airline issues. In this book he paints a pretty horrifying picture of the current state of affairs in the so-called friendly skies of the United States. The FAA is widely derided as being in the airlines' pocket, being unwilling or unable to enforce regulations and ensure that planes are safe and that people outside of major metropolitan areas have some level of access to flights. Airlines continue to put profit above all else, cramming increasing numbers of people into the same space and outsourcing maintenance to shops outside of the country, where qualifications are practically non-existent and adequate monitoring is impossible. It's very dispiriting to read about; even if you're not in the US, the complaints about airline services are pretty widespread. (I myself am 5'4" and do not think there's enough legroom! And if I'm complaining, imagine what the 6'5" fellow is going through.)

Unfortunately there are no easy solutions, and there are plenty of people who are fine with things as they are and will resist any attempts to change. Still, reading this book provides something to think about next time you hop on a plane.… (mer)