Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

I love Erik Larson's historical nonfiction books. I finished reading Dead Wake the other day, and it was one of his better ones. 

One thing I really enjoyed was the way Larson delved into the people's lives during this tragedy. For example, President Woodrow Wilson was depressed and then courting a woman he would later marry... that is, he was distracted. 

The British government didn't provide military escorts for the large luxury ocean liner when it entered the channel between Ireland and England. 

So many things happened that could have eliminated or reduced this tragedy.

I don't remember reading about this bit of history before and found it fascinating.


Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

If you haven't read Paula Hawkin's debut novel The Girl on the Train, do it! This mystery novel kept me guessing till the end. 

Rachel Watson is a drunk, a fact that causes her memory to be less than stellar. When Megan, a local woman, goes missing, Rachel gets involved because she watches the woman and her husband from the train each day. The fact that Megan lives a few doors away from Rachel's former home, the home she shared with her ex-husband, complicates matters.

Read it and see if you can figure out what the girl on the train saw.

The Girl on the Train