"When I first saw this book at the bookstore, I happily overlooked a major error in the title and purchased it. Being a (supposedly) non-fiction account of a storm that his my home state, I was willing to ignore the title. For future reference, these storms are called "nor'easters." True Mainers do NOT have the "th" in there. I quickly became even more disgruntled when the author (and, presumedly the editors agreed) did not capitalize the branches of the military. It is the Navy and the Coast Guard when referring to the branches of our nation's protectors. (I am admittedly a bit sensitive to this, being a wife of a veteran and the mother of an active-duty Coast Guardsman.) Setting those foibles aside, now we get to the writing and the story.

The story was ok. However, there was a fair amount of useless information that I am guessing was put in to increase the length perhaps? I mean, several references to Elizabeth Taylor's upcoming nuptials was not needed. The only connection she had with the storm was stopping in NYC before she continued her flight to Europe. I also found the mention of how a man who died from a heart attack urinated upon his death distasteful. Really??? Readers needed that tidbit??? The author also frequently put in what the various people had going on in their minds. And then, they died. So, how does the author know for sure that one man was thinking of his family? Or that another was thinking how his doctor had been correct? This was done with several of the various people within the book. The writing was haphazard, in that it felt like she jumped around much more than necessary. The epilogue (which usually explains what happened to the various people after the even in question) was full of things that they had experienced before, even as far back as their childhood. There were so many gaps, jumps, and overall messiness that I just wasn't able to fully enjoy this. Which saddens me. I had expected to really enjoy it. "