Great Circle

 

I really loved this book--at least the first half or so.

It had such a great beginning. Switching back and forth between Marian Graves, a female pilot in the 1930s and 40s who disappeared and was presumed lost after attempting to circle the globe from pole to pole, and Hadley, an actress in present day Hollywood, attempting to save her career after some major mistakes, who is cast to play Marian in a biopic. 

Marian and her twin brother, Jamie, were sent to Montana to live with their uncle Wallace after their mother vanishes and their father is sent to prison. Marian and Jamie pretty much raise themselves (Wallace is a gambler prone to drinking too much, a nice enough guy, but definitely not parent of the year material). Marian develops an early interest in flying and catches the eye of a bootlegger named Barclay. She has no interest in Barclay, but she does accept his offer of paying for flying lessons, with the caveat that she can run illegal booze in from Canada for him once she's able to fly on her own. 

Hadley's parents were killed in an airplane crash when she was little and she too was sent to her uncle Mitch, who was a lot like Wallace. She got into acting early and landed a plum role on a teen show, then as the lead in a series of supernatural romance films (I'm guessing a "Twilight" meets "Fifty Shades of Grey" sort of thing based on the description). She gets booted from the franchise for "not protecting the brand" (daring to have a life of her own) and is intrigued by her neighbor's suggestion that she audition for the role of Marian. Hadley read Marian's book when she was a little girl and felt draw to the pilot. 

And then we come to the second half and it felt like I was reading a completely different book. The first part was so richly detailed and the second part just felt glossed over and rushed. It was disappointing, considering it was almost 600 pages long. The balance could have been better, I think. And the ending was so clichéd it was almost painful. It's too bad, after such a great start, by the time the book turned I had invested too much time not to finish it.