A Beginner's Guide To Free Fall by Andy Abramovitz

It will come as no surprise to anyone that knows me that I loved this book.  Heck, our main protagonist is a Roller Coaster designer and I am a Coaster Enthusiast (polite term for an idiot that loves Roller Coasters beyond what is normally considered acceptable).  There is plenty of detail about Davis's job and the design process he goes through for each ride, even the fated Flume that sees him on, ahem, "Administrative Leave" when his personal life implodes.  Throw in the desire to create a Maglev Magic Carpet ride and I was hooked.  Heck, the whole book could have simply been about Davis and his creations and I would have sucked it up.

However, it isn't just about Davis.  There is a healthy dose of his journalist, introvert sister Molly.  Not only are their careers chalk and cheese but their personalities seem diametrically opposed too.  It should have felt contrived but the author made it work and really sucked you in to the story told from the viewpoints of Molly and Davis.  I particularly liked that even though Davis's relationship with his wife has imploded his sister still kept her closeness with his estranged wife and child and was the same Aunt she had always been.

As characters Davis and Molly are well thought out and rounded individuals.  Yes, they both have quirks and aspects of their personalities that are less than appealing but it made them feel so real.  Somehow I managed to connect, on the page, with these fictional people whose life experiences were so different to mine.  Yes, they frustrated me.  Yes, I wanted at various times to just hug the hurt away for them.  Yes, they made me laugh.  On occasion I even wanted to slap them.  Their individual journeys (goodness, how I hate that word) felt relatively realistic but some of the twists and turns in the story just went a little too far for plausibility to be maintained and it lost you 1 Star Mr Abramovitz.

I really don't want to go in any detail on the plot at all - the publisher's blurb covers it adequately.  There is a lot of nuance in the telling and to break it down to the bare bones would do the whole an injustice - plus, it would give a LOT away and it bears reading just to get to the final resolution.  Well, it would if there was a neat little tied with a bow ending.  That's something else I loved about it that there was no neat little ending to the book, you could sense the characters moving forward with their lives after the book has finished and with so much ahead of them it felt tantalising rather than frustrating.

It is a wonderful study in family dynamics and learning to value yourself for who you are not who you think you should be.  A refreshing read that didn't rely too heavily on cliches and it featured Roller Coasters (can you tell that pleased me!).